Adam Street's Blog
The spiritual and practical path to freedom to do your art

Marketing so simple a third grader could get it

I’m a huge fan of simplifying your marketing messages.  

This is why elevator pitches and other ways to “cut the fat” off your marketing are so popular.  Since we all have the attention span of goldfish, you need to illustrate ASAP what you do, who you serve, and why we should care.

There was an artist I knew years ago who was always working on BIG ideas and projects.  He wanted my buy in but couldn’t explain anything to me without signing an NDA.

I figured if he can’t explain what’s he’s doing in a few sentences I probably shouldn’t waste my time.

Donald Miller said, “what if the problem wasn’t the product? What if the problem was the way we talked about the product?” 

In my artist buddy’s case, he was definitely the problem.

No matter how sophisticated you get at marketing, make sure your message is as clear and memorable as possible.  Not just editing it down for space, think proverbs.  Don’t remember what a proverb is?  Let me refresh your memory.    

A proverb is a simple, concrete, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense. Here’s some examples:   

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder 

Never judge a book by its cover 

Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all.

You want your ideas to be as simple and profound as you can get them.  You sacrifice saying important things to hit home THE MOST IMPORTANT thing.  

When President Trump ran for office in 2016 he said, “I will build a great, great wall on our Southern border.”    

In 1992 political advisor, James Carville, needed to narrow down ideas for Bill Clinton’s campaign, and he came up with “It’s the economy, stupid.”   

What about Geico’s, “15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance.”  According to Cynthia Herr at HawkPartners this slogan has a recall rate of 90%.  

If we could all be so lucky…

Make it so simple a third grader could memorize and understand it. 

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Adam

Putting a Face on the Problem

I was watching an episode of Star Wars Clone Wars last night.  The Galactic Senate was arguing back and fourth about taking on new loans to create new troops for the war.  About half the senators were for new troops and about half were against it.

If you aren’t familiar with the “Clones”, the clone troopers are humans created in a lab by the Kaminoans.  The clones age faster than regular folks and they’re genetically built for battle.  That means the Republic has no need for recruitment offices or Uncle Sam posters.

Ok, back to the senate…

Senator Padmé Amidala (Princess Leia’s mom) thinks they should scrap new loans and focus on ending the war.  It seems peace is a helluva lot easier on the pockets.  But between fear and corruption, not enough senators agree with her.

She debates the others about interest rates and the loss of human life…but nothing sticks.  

Many of the senators don’t consider the clones human.  And since none of the clones can vote them into office, why should they care?  

Padmé gives one final speech to influence her position and win more votes against the war. 

In her preparation she asks one of her helpers, how has the war affected you?  After getting the low down from a real person about her authentic experience, Padmé gives a different type of speech.  

Instead of budgets and facts and figures she talks about how fueling the war keeps money out social programs and how the war makes everyday people struggle.

She put a “face on the problem” and tells a different type of story.  

When it’s all said and down, we know years later the war continues, the Emperor takes over, and Darth Vader is born but that’s not the point…

It’s about empathy.

It’s about integrity.  

Doing what’s right, even when no one is looking.  

And never losing focus on who you serve.

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Adam

Speed your way to better storytelling

When I started going to San Diego comic con I wanted to find “work” but I also wanted to meet some of my favorite artists.

Sometimes I just wanted to geek out my inner fan-boy and sometimes I wanted a portfolio review.  Pro tips are the best! One or two tips from a working artist can take months (sometimes years) off a learning curve.

One thing about comic-con used to get under my skin though…

This isn’t exactly rational but…  When I looked at the lines of fans waiting to meet the creative teams, the writers usually had the longest lines.  

This was, well, odd to me.

I always read comics for the art.  I followed my favorite artists from project to project.  I figured if I only wanted to read the stories I’d just buy regular fiction books.  

Right?

Well…  Come to find out, most fans approached comic book buying differently than I did.  Like, almost all of them.

The art may be why I bought comics but it’s the stories that keep most fans coming back again and again.

This is true with movies too.  People may have loved the movie Speed, but if the plot keeps getting dumbed-down (like, Speed 2) people stop watching.  

And you get wonderful reviews like…

“They truly ruined a whole franchise in just two movies…  [from Rotten Tomatoes]

On the surface it’s easy to think the movie was horrible because Keanu Reeves wasn’t in it. Which is partly true.  But the real reason is because the story sucked.

This is why it is so important that you tell YOUR story in your marketing.  And to get better and better at telling it.

Stanford Marketing Professor Jennifer Aaker said, ”Stories are remembered up to 22 times more than facts alone.”

People won’t always remember your USP or proprietary mechanism as much as they’ll remember you story and what inspired you to do what you do.

One book I recommend to help you do this is Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling by Matthew Dicks.  

It’s an awesome book.  Study it.  Apply it.

Adam

Storytelling advice from JK Rowling

Want a fast and easy way to tell better stories for your emails?  Start your story the opposite of how you will end it.  

That’s why in romantic comedies they start with a girl getting dumped by her long-time rich CEO boyfriend.  And to up the stakes she was probably tossed to the curb with a text message.  Or she found out her man was cheating on her with her best friend.

When this happens you know by end of the movie she’ll have found “true love” with some broke fun-spirited guitar player.

This is exactly what JK Rowling did to start Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. In the beginning, there’s no magic, no nuttin’.  She doesn’t even talk about Harry the star of the book!

She starts immediately with the Dursleys, Harry’s anti-magical boring aunt and uncle.

Her first line in the book is:

“Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.”

[Which means Harry is abnormal….]

“The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.”

[Which means Harry is NOT a fine boy]

For Harry Potter to graduate into a world of magic and wonder he first must drudge in the opposite of that.  

Your message is the same way.  It needs contrast.

I talk about the contrast principle in my free PDF: 7 Mistakes Coaches and Course Creators Make Promoting Products and Services with E-mail.  

You can download it for free here:  https://adamstreet.net

Adam

Sales Fast Food

Back when I sold insurance I made most of my sales from Internet leads.  After a while I received referrals too but my bread and butter was the online ones.

If I could beat the rate the prospect was paying (and the other quotes) I usually got the sell.  I was an independent agent so I had access to more than one company.

When I swung into working with car lots, I thought I hit the holy grail.  People who didn’t have insurance who needed it to buy their new cars.  It was a match made in heaven.

It wasn’t all rosy though.  There was a price for eating all that insurance sales “fast food”. 

When car salesmen needed quotes they wanted them with swiftness of Flash (from the CW TV show).  If you didn’t call them back in minutes they rolled on to the next insurance guy.

Even when I sold the policy things could get sketchy.  Sometimes financing wouldn’t workout and the policy would cancel in a few weeks.  Or the customer would leave in 6 months and go with another company.

And don’t get me wrong… Sales fast-food It’s not just for the insurance industry.  Business owners and entrepreneurs do it everyday.

They focus on going wide instead of going deep.  

I used to buy lists and I was really good with cold traffic.  Even though I made sales it wasn’t the same.  No matter how enchanting  my words were, I mainly attracted people who  shopped on price.  

In the end it was sales fast food all over again.  I could have built the relationship later after I provided the service but I was so into churn-and-burn that I just kept looking for the next dopamine hit.

That’s why it’s so important to “eat your veggies” and build your business the slow way.  My Blockbuster Marketing process may take you longer but you’ll have a more sustainable business and you’ll connect with your prospects and clients.

Like real fast food limit the amount you consume.  Too much of it can make your business feeble and flabby.

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Adam