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Seven Key Types of Attention Grabbing Headlines, Email Subject Lines, and Tweets

Seven Key Types of Attention Grabbing Headlines, Email Subject Lines, and Tweets

I am constantly identifying micro-content that grabs attention. In a world where people have adult ADD (attention deficit disorder), getting their attention is an ever increasing challenge.

What is interesting is that if you study the mini-messages that work, you begin to see that there are special characteristics that fall into a small but important series of categories. Here they are:

1. Problem Identified
2. Problem Warning
3. Problem Solved
4. Someone in Trouble
5. Someone Saved or Rescued
6. Something Bad Happened
7. Something Good Happened

You can look at newspapers or magazines and news search engines and see these categories everywhere.

If you are trying to create galvanizing micro-content, these alternatives make it really easy to identify some ideas for you.

Simplifies things, doesn’t it?

Biggest challenge I see about using Twitter

Commentary and analysis of using Twitter for marketing and PR

People are asking lots of questions about using Twitter, particularly as a marketing tool and as a tool for PR.

The biggest challenge I see about using Twitter as a marketing tool is trying to get an answer to the following question:

What ROI am I going to get out using Twitter and why?

The ROI people receive from participating in Twitter is an open question. Some people get lots of tangible ROI and many don’t.

If you are an Oprah or an Ashton Kutcher, you may have a million followers. You can cultivate and perpetuate brand image by being a fun enjoyable person with your tweets.

Each one only follows a handful of people. That’s not conversation, it’s performing.

How much time do you think they really spend Tweeting and looking at other people’s Tweets?

Twitter is seen as a conversational medium and it takes time, effort and care to develop and cultivate relationships.

If the celebrities are using Twitter, is it because it will have a positive effect on their ROI? Look at how that happens.

Can you develop meaningful relationships with people on Twitter? Apparently so. Some people do anyway.

Can these relationships produce ROI?

Maybe. Some people may be able to mine the relationships and produce ROI but for most people that I know, this is not the case.

Is it because no one is really listening? Text message communications not all that easy to make motivational or galvanizing. Headlines in articles, news releases and the subject lines of email messages present many of the same daunting challenges. Look at the latest string of Tweets from anyone and see if what they say impresses you enough to spend lots of time each day keeping up with what they are saying.

120 to 140 characters with a snip link and say something of helpful, funny or useful with real value you may get someone to click on the link.

The same one liner may be forwarded.

You won’t sell product or services simply by tweeting three times a day if what you tweet is sales talk and links to your web site.

You may get friends and get followers if you post helpful or valuable information.

Tracking sales from individual tweets is going to be pretty difficult. Tracking traffic from Tweets may be easier.

Will it be worth the time and effort compared to other things that you can do with your time, energy, and money available for marketing?

Maybe. Maybe not. It depends what you do and what you receive from your Twitter efforts as compared to other things you are doing.

You can target using Twitter search and find people who have mentioned a keyword in their Tweets. Is this really a great targeting tool? Are you reaching people who are truly receptive to a direct message from you.

If what you posted had real value and if it helps people, then they may be grateful. They may spread the word to other. They may help you build a reputation for that value. Yes, it may bring new people to your site and you’ll get some ROI.

But is ROI you receive from this attenuated pathway really based on your Twitter post? Or is it because of the value in what you’ve created independent of your Twitter post.

Did you need Twitter to connect with someone to help them? Can you use all sorts of other methods of communication to meaningfully connect with people?

Is Twitter as valuable say as a regular phone call? A web seminar? A detailed post to a forum? An article in a trade publication? An interview on radio or TV? A podcast interview or an interview on Sirius satellite radio?

The answers may depend on who you are, what you do, and what you can give to others, and then of course, in what you have that brings you income that Twitter people will buy.

I believe that if you focus on the creation of real value then you won’t necessarily need to use Twitter at all.

In fact, unless you create something of real value in the first place, it won’t matter no matter what technology you use to communicate with people.

The quality product or service is the most important thing you need to focus on first and foremost.

Of course, if you do create something truly re-markable, other people will do all the talking for you anyway.

There are good reasons why companies need to be on Twitter and follow what people are saying, and even converse once an issue or even a crisis erupts.

But is it worth the time, effort and money it takes to be on Twitter for small businesses?

Maybe. It depends on you, your product, your services, and on the value of the relationships and the quality of the communications you have with the people you need to produce your income.

If you can have meaningful little tiny snippet text communications that relate directly to the mental factors that determine or influence sales decisions in your target audience then maybe Twitter is for you.

If on the other hand little tiny snippet text message communications don’t cut it, then maybe you don’t need to be using Twitter at all.

President Obama knows one of the real secrets of publicity and marketing success

President Obama knows the real secret of publicity and marketing success

Connecting in a caring way.

You can write an email. You can write an article. You can write a news release. You can create a script for an interview.

You can now send it out and try to get people to pay attention to you.

You can post it on web sites and make it available to millions of people who are searching using key words. That’s the idea. They search and they find you.

Will anyone pay any attention to you?

Not unless you care and they realize it.

There 20,000 people posting on blogs every hour. There are millions of people and businesses updating their web sites every day.

There are millions of people twittering away merrily with their little snippets of ‘wassup’ messages.

Are they connecting with you in a caring way?

Which ones actually get through to you? Which ones do you pay attention to?

Our newly elected President Barrack Obama knows how to connect.

I just signed up to be a follower on his Twitter account.

Within minutes I received the following email message:

“Hi, pjkrupin (pjkrupin).

Barack Obama (BarackObama) is now following your updates on Twitter.

Check out Barack Obama’s profile here:

http://twitter.com/BarackObama

Best,

Twitter

Can you believe it? The President of the United States is following my updates on Twitter.

In fact as of today, he’s following more people than are following him.

He’s following 166,088 people, and he has 144,000 followers.

He (or someone on his staff) is listening to more people than there are people listening to him, at least on Twitter.

This is amazing to me. This gives me a unique online experience.

He’s connected with me and he says he cares.

Try it yourself. Sing up at http://twitter.com/BarackObama

See how you feel when you get that message that says, “Barack Obama (BarackObama) is now following your updates on Twitter.”

What an example to emulate.

Publicity and the Law of Attraction

Publicity and the Law of Attraction

Back from the PMA University and the Book Expo America in Los Angeles – what an incredible week.

Just before I left for LA, I donated my copywriting and news release distribution services to a fundraising effort in NYC to help the Chinese recovery from the devastating earthquake two weeks ago.

I wrote a news release and transmitted it to the NYC media highlighting the efforts of a small but exquisite restaurant who was going to donate the entire day’s receipts to the relief effort. This email news release was transmitted May 23 for the one day May 28 event.

Marc Preven, owner of the Neurotic New York City Tours company wrote me an email to tell me what happened. Here is his email:

>> Paul

Thank You, once again for your help.

it’s nice to know there are a few mensches left in this world.

the PR went out a week ago from this past Friday.

I walk into the restaurant and the joint was packed.

Helen tells me the NY Times called but didn’t show up.

I finally get a seat at a table, my neighbor is a round eyed dude

we are distinctly in the minority amongst the patrons.

“hey man, have you eaten here before?” I say to my neighbor at the table next to me.

he replies in the negative.

i start telling him about how much I enjoy the food and helped them issue a press release.

I then tell the gentleman that the owner told me about a reporter from the NY Times called but he didn’t show up.

the dude next to me looks at me kind of funny

he says, “I’m the reporter from the NY Times.”

It was my turn to express surprise, “No shit, man!”

He then goes on to explain how his colleague in China saw what you sent and forwarded it back to the US of A.

Because he is working on the story about relief efforts here.

Below is the the quote from Sundays NY Times Story

see link below for the whole piece.

as I was writing you this email the handyman from the building has asked me to write him a pair of simple letters for one of his neighbors.

Time to pay it forward . . .

Cuz-N Marc E Marc

Excerpt from the article:

Helen Thong, the owner of Taste Good, a popular Malaysian restaurant in Elmhurst, Queens, held a benefit on Wednesday, allocating the day’s proceeds — more than $9,000 — to earthquake relief. At dinnertime, the line of patrons, representing a broad swath of the Chinese diaspora, snaked out the door of the small restaurant and onto the sidewalk.

“You see those pictures on TV, right?” she said. “The children and the people who are helpless under the rubble? It breaks your heart. Basically we are all human. We have compassion. That’s what motivates us.

Begin forwarded message:

From: Marc Preven
Date: June 1, 2008 11:32:45 AM EDT
To: Marc Preven
Subject: helen taste good China Earthquake – NYTimes.com

Setting Politics Aside to Help Victims of China Earthquake
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/nyregion/01aid.html

Cuz-N Marc E Marc

aka

Marc Preven

Why JUST have an Ordinary New York Tour . . .
When you COULD have a NEWrotic New York City Experience?”
T: (718) 575-8451

Seth Godin explains his theory on flipping the sales funnel

Seth Godin explains his theory on flipping the sales funnel

Seth Godin explains his theory on flipping the funnel. This is a very important strategic choice you make. Seth says you need to make sure your product customers act as a megaphone and tell the people they meet all about you and the story experience they had with you. He encourages you to do all sorts of things to make it really easy for your clients to do this.

This is very helpful and useful guidance.

Word of Mouth – marketing on the Internet

You Tube video from an MSNBC interview describes word of mouth strategies for marketing on the Internet

This is a very well done educational segment from MSNBC where two experts are interviewed talk about work of mouth marketing and building success with your products on the Internet.

It’s covers the bases in a pretty solid manner.

Word of Mouth Marketing strategies! There are no silver bullets.

Make a remark-able product.

Go beyond normal performance.

Dramatically exceed expectations.

Undersell, over deliver.

Make it easy for people to share and talk about.

Capture what people say about why it’s cool and good and use technology as a force multiplier to share that message.

How do you create something remark-able?

How do you create something remark-able? Seth Godin talk on creating remarkable products.

The incredible Seth Godin talks about sliced bread and other marketing ideas in this amazing 18 minute You Tube video posted by the TED Ideas Worth Spreading.

Can you get your ideas to spread? How do you do that? What do you say and to whom? Where? You can also read my own thoughts and a process I describe on how to develop and create something ‘remark-able’ (e.g., worth talking about) in my article The Magic of Business (published as Chapter 27 in in Elite Books Einstein’s Business (Jan 2007) . Here is the link to a pdf file of the same article. By the way, the picture at the beginning of the chapter/article is me standing in front of a famous picture at the Museum of Natural History in New York City. My kids think this is proof of reincarnation. See the wrinkles? Same place!

The key to marketing effectively is to create something that certain people just really really like, and figure out where they are and how to talk to them. Pretty simple to say. very hard to do. But it’s a goal that you can describe in a phrase and that’s a big start.

Best quote in this video is when he points up to his presentation slide and says “That’s Soap Lake in Washington. If that’s nowhere, Soap Lake is right in the middle of it.” Followed by audience laughter…

Hell I live just an hour away!