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

How to get Die-Hard fans

One of the legs of my Blockbuster Marketing framework is to put more of YOU in your marketing.  

A lot of people deny this.  They treat talking about themselves like niching down.  They fear showing more of who they are will narrow their audience too much.

If I talk about ME and my story, isn’t that narcissistic? 

Won’t people get tired of me?

Am I even that interesting?  

Yes.  You.  Are.

Keep in mind you can explain yourself in a very BORING way, but that’s not my point today.  My point is you’re taking the most unique thing about your marketing message and… 

You’re throwing it away. 

Megan Macedo said, “a lot of how things are talked about in the world of business ignores the fact that we’re human beings. There’s this switch that people flip where it’s like, “This is my personal life and this is my professional life.” It doesn’t work like that. Your brain is not divided in two.”

Everyone has different degrees of transparency and there’s things that you do and do not want to share with your audience.  And that’s fine. 

You’ll never see Seth Godin talk his family for example. Yet Wayne Dyer talked about his kids in his work all the time.  It’s totally up to you.

Just know the more transparent you become you will lose some people.  But on the other hand, you’re separating the wheat from the chaff.  

The more you peel away your “brand” like an onion the more die-hard fans you’ll have.

Cheryl Strayed said, “ One of the most important lessons I learned though the success of Wild is that if you take that risk, if you take chance, if you tell the truest, hardest, deepest story that you have within you, you’re not going to step into the light and find that you’re there alone.  You’re going to be surrounded by people who are there with you.”

If you want more die-hard fans… 

https://adamstreet.net

Adam

Don’t hype, fascinate

When I think of ‘hype’, for some reason Flavor Flav comes to mind.

Not the newer more slightly grown up ‘Flavor of Love’ Flavor Flav (if you’ve seen the old VH1 show).  I’m talking about the super obnoxious young Flav.  Like back when he rolled with the group Public Enemy.

When he never shut up like a neurotic chihuahua near a creaky screen door.  

So when you write email subject lines (or any headline), hype can hurt you.  Why?  Cause too many people don’t believe the hype.

Take email subject lines these…

How to make wrinkles miraculously disappear overnight!

Or

You won’t believe what my client did after his first session.

You will get people to click, that’s not the issue.  The issue is they’ll click once.  Maybe twice.  A few times if you’re lucky.  And before you know it, they… Can’t truss it.  

That’s why you should fascinate instead.  

The word “fascinate” comes from the Latin fascinare which means, “to bewitch or hold captive so others are powerless to resist.  

I’m not saying go all full-blown Harry Potter Imperius Curse on them.  

To fascinate you want to be less Flavor Flav and more Scarlett Johansson.  Make your copy tease a bit and be a little tantalizing.

Like this old classic headline:  “Do you make these mistakes in English?”

Doesn’t that just invite you in?  Don’t you just wanna read more?

Or this email subject line from Ben Settle:  “Marketers escaping the U.S. like it’s the Titanic”

If you’re a marketer (or need to hire one), you’re probably going to want to read more.

It’s interesting.  It makes you curious.

Better to consistently do THAT instead of…

DANGER! Why marketers  are escaping the U.S. like it’s the Titanic

To learn how to fascinate and tantalize your list with your emails (without sounding like the National Enquirer) join my free daily email tips at https://adamstreet.net .

Adam

Adding flair, Jennifer Anniston style

The movie Office Space has so many hilarious moments.  One of my favorite scenes is when Joanna (Jennifer Aniston) gets lectured by her manager Stan for not having enough “flair”.  

Flair is little buttons and trinkets on their uniform.  If you haven’t seen the movie, you can see the scene here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vdcw415OcQ  

Here’s how their conversation went down:

Stan, Chotchkie’s Manager : Fifteen is the minimum, okay? It’s up to you whether or not you just want to do the bare minimum or…

Joanna : Okay. So you… you want me to wear more?

Stan, Chotchkie’s Manager : People can get a cheeseburger anywhere, okay? They come to Chotchkie’s for the atmosphere and the attitude. Okay? That’s what the flair’s about. It’s about fun. 

Joanna : Yeah. Okay. So more then, yeah?

Yaas, more flair Joanna!  

And the same is true for you too!  People can get your “hamburger” from anywhere.  The flair you bring to the party is what sets you apart.  

Jesse Cole who owns a minor league baseball team and more than one yellow tuxedo (cause you’d think one would be enough), said this in his book Find Your Yellow Tux.

“We have a responsibility to entertain our customers.  If you’re all about selling and nothing more, you’re going to lose out eventually.”  

Think about this…

How can you add more flair to your emails?  To the atmosphere you create?

Your processes…and your procedures?

To add more flair to your email  marketing subscribe to my daily email tips at https://adamstreet.net .

Adam “flair” Street

The Massive Myth

Check out this email subject line that was in my inbox this morning:

“Adam, 12 Days To A Massive Pay Day Online (Step-By-Step)…”

Then of course came the ever so common… 

“This changes EVERYTHING… “

Next, insert a big-ass testimonial about making massive dough with the next big thing in marketing…

When you market like this in email, this is the equivalent to yelling in person.  Would you walk into an office and start screaming at people?  Probably not.  Well, maybe if you’re the guy from the Bar Rescue show.  Or Plankton from Spongebob who said the louder you talk the more authority you have.  

If you keep using aged tactics like Plankton and Mr. Next Big Thing guy, you may as well dump streaming, find a high-quality VCR, and watch all your favorite movies from 1984.  

These Business Paradigm kats crack me up.  You could use the copy in that email to sell his “system” or you could use it to sell vacuums.  It has little distinction. 

Maybe it’s a good product.  I don’t know.  But the copy in that email is like Voldemort, it has no soul.  

Us in the Artist Paradigm cast different spells.  We care about what we do, how we do it, and the transformation it gives our clients.

Believe me…I like dinero.  I didn’t buy my iPhone 12 with positive energy or unicorn farts.  

MASSIVE hype is noise .  It’s easy to ignore because unless you live in a cave…without WiFi…  It’s something we’ve all heard before.  And if you’ve heard it before that means it’s easy to ignore.

Michael Masterson put it this way:

“Great sales letters don’t tell the customer what to think … or feel … or want. They locate the prospect’s feelings, thoughts, and desires, and then stimulate them. They provoke the prospect to do the feeling and thinking on her own.

Don’t be Voldemort.  Don’t be Dr. Doom either.

Persuasion and good copy has it’s place but— If you can’t empower your prospects to think and act on their feelings, why should they buy from you?

To receive daily messages like this go to https://adamstreet.net and subscribe now.

Adam

Turn up your volume

“Those who tell the stories rule the world.”  

Hopi Native American proverb

I disagree.  Those who tell entertaining stories will rule the world.  

That’s why I’m always rambling about adding Blockbuster Storytelling or SHOW to your words.  An ounce of entertainment can go a long way.  It’s like adding caramel and candy sprinkles to vanilla ice cream. 

That’s why the media loves Donald Trump.  You may not like what he says but you know it’s probably going to be interesting.

‘Entertaining’ is also how we can connect with our audience.  But it doesn’t always come naturally to most of us.  

So how can you do it effectively and keep it real?

When you return calls, send emails, and post on social, it’s you.  It’s you BUT with the volume turned up.  

If you listen to “Stupid Love” by Lady Gaga on level 3, you’ll hear it.  If you turn up the volume to level 9, it’ll be even louder.  Same song, same lyrics.  

Just louder.  

You give your audience more of you.  More of your thoughts, philosophy, personality…all the good stuff.

What you’re doing is what Perry Marshall calls racking the shotgun.  When you press send or post you’re qualifying and disqualifying leads.  The louder you and your message are the wrong people leave and the right people lean forward to hear more.

Adam