|
Or HUMOR ME You've a very small window to impress people with whatever it is you are trying to impress them with. People have no attention span., Despite the fact you think you're delivering the wisdom of Solomon, chances are your email will be trashed like the principles of Archie Bunker. Your newsletter, replete with hundreds of fantastic marketing tips and can't-miss money making opportunities, might just be seen as another rag hawkin' an ebook, looking for subscribers, and stocked with articles linked to other people looking for subscribers, hawkin' THEIR eBooks. Even if you are in the business of bringing business to others, you have to stock your missives with material that's original, more or less, and which appeals to people -- hopefully more THAN less. I get really bored reading about reading about. What intrigues me most, in email, ezines, e-ads, newsletters or those things we actually used to pick up off our driveways, or get in through the US mail, or take out at a "library", are writings that can entertain AND inform me. I can't possibly remember everybody's "10" points. Jeez, if I kept track of all the "10" points I need to remember, I'd have to remember about "10000" of them. I have enough trouble with my wife's birthday. But I do remember an awful lot of what I read, or heard, or saw, when it was delivered in a funny context. Humor makes you feel good. And makes you think sharper. And makes you remember more. Its' GOOD for you. Take THEIR word for it: Therapeutic humor... any intervention that promotes health and wellness by stimulating a playful discovery, expression or appreciation of the absurdity or incongruity of life's situations. This intervention may enhance health or be used as a complementary treatment of illness to facilitate healing or coping, whether physical, emotional, cognitive, social, or spiritual.(Check out these links. LATER!!!!!!! NOT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M TALKIN' HERE!!!!) Humor: International Journal of Humor Research (http://www.uni-duesseldorf.de/WWW/MathNat/Ruch/Journals.html) International Society for Humor Studies (http://www.uni-duesseldorf.de/WWW/MathNat/Ruch/SecretaryPage.html) (ISHS) The point is this: if you want to keep the attention of those mice passing in the night, try giving them better cheese. Something to make them smile. You will begin distinguishing your publication from the great MessofLousyMarketing. You will show the really-mean-business person side of you, including content for value, not because you swapped another ad. You will show a human side that translates into a less frenetic, more determined, more patient, and much better rounded businessman. The image YOU portray and give your publication significantly impacts the impact your publication has. And remember this: "Anyone who thinks that business is no place for humor has never been in business. |