“Any Kind Of Misery You Want”
Check out this weird little video I put together for you. It’s not about “marketing” exactly, but it will challenge a lot of ideas you might have about making money online.
Glaring up at me from my leather couch.
Just picked up a bluetooth keyboard for my iPad. Took me a few minutes of bleary-eyed, post-party decisionifying to decide between the bluetooth and the Apple keyboard dock (especially since nefarious Apple made them the EXACT SAME PRICE) but the bluetooth won out in the end for versatility reasons.
Really impressed with the iPad as a “writing machine.” Reminds me of my old Brother word processor from high school. Clean and useful and not mucked up with a bunch of extra stuff you don’t need.
Planning on taking notes on a book I’m thinking about writing on this thing over the next year. Will report back with thoughts.
Man On Fire, Man On Fire, Put Me Out, Put Me Out
Does he want a bucket of water or does he want to be put out?
Imagine this . . .
You’re on fire. Your whole body. Your clothes are sheathed in flame. Your nostrils are burning. You can feel your flesh melting like candle wax or a “He-Man” action figure left out in the sun. You’re hot, hot, hot.
You run (on fire) into a room and see two big neon billboards.
Which one catches your attention? Which one do you run over to?
Option 1: “Bucket is a liquid-containing receptacle created by artisian craftsman in the Himilayas using ancient techniques. Bucket is delivered full of fresh, clear spring water devoid of all toxins. Bucket has convenient carrying handle designed to fit comfortably in all but the largest hands. Full history of bucket available upon request.”
Option 2: “If You Are On Fire, This Will Put You Out”
This sounds like a pretty silly exercise, but I think it illustrates a problem I’m seeing with a couple of my students in John Carlton’s “simple writing system” . . .
What’s the problem?
That they’re making things too complicated and that (when you get down to it) all this advertising and copywriting stuff really comes down to figuring out what somebody wants (or desperately needs . . .being on fire would suck) and GIVING IT TO THEM at a price they’re willing to pay.
Not that complicated, huh?
Steve Jobs Will Bite Off Your Face If You Mess With His iPhone 4G Launch
Steve Jobs will bite off your face if you mess with his iPhone Launch
Quick quiz: You walk up to Steve Jobs. You look him straight in the eye (aren’t you brave) and you say, with a lot of confidence and bravado in your voice, “Steve, you’ve got two choices:
Choice one is we cut off your left hand right here, right now, cauterize the wound on a hot car engine, add some nice seasoning and make you watch as we use your digits to feed our particularly carnivorous and hungry goldfish pet goldfish.
Choice two is we break Apple’s vaunted secrecy and security and actually let a fully-featured iPhone 4G prototype out into the wild MONTHS before you’re ready to launch the thing . . .
What do you think Steve does?
It’s The Story, Stupid (Or Why I Didn’t Like “Alice In Wonderland”)
I went to see “Alice In Wonderland” last weekend.
It was a bad movie.
It was pretty to look at, sure. But in that vacuous, crazy way Hollywood seems to prefer these days. Pretty like an ice sculpture. Pretty like a punch in the face.
But bloodless in the purest sense. It lacked anything resembling life.
I saw it at the Imax. My girlfriend and I got there late and had to stand up and dance around in the back of the theater at first. Then we saw seats way down in front of the screen. We snuck like sneaky rabbits, hunched down in our seats and stared up at the God-sized face of Johnny Depp.
And we were dazzled and bored.
Roger Ebert Killed My Blog! (not really)
Well, I MEANT to do a “quick little video” talking about my experience having Roger Ebert MURDER my blog with his tweet (not really.)
But then I rambled on a bit.
But in a good way.
Anyway . . .
In this video I cover . . .
* Why this whole experience had me feeling like Sara Palin at a bumper car convention (huh?)
* How to talk to a wall (and have the wall scream bloody murder back at you) . . .
* Long Copy Vs. Short Copy . . . (and why I’m a babble mouth.)
* Why folks who come LEAPING to Roger’s defense are actually insulting the hell out of him.
And more.
Check it out.
Roger Ebert Doesn’t Get It . . .
Sorry, Roger . . . Praying won't make people pay for your website.
Roger Ebert can’t figure out how to make money on the internet . . .
Which to me, seems downright weird . . .
On his (excellent) blog last week Roger posted a loooong and amusing ramble about how “nobody” can figure out how to make money online . . .
(Well, nobody but porn stars, shysters and fundraiser-happy religious kooks anyway . . .)
Personally, I think Roger is one of the sharpest writers and smartest dudes working in pop culture today . .
But when it comes to internet marketing, he’s downright dumb . . .
Here’s why . . .
“Copy Thinking” (Thoughts on Speaking At Ryan Lee’s Continuity Summit)
It was "this" big . . .
Whew!
I rolled back into Seattle on Saturday night after a whirlwind (and drama-packed) trip to Stamford, Connecticut to speak at Ryan Lee’s “Continuity Summit” event . . .
This was my first “official” speaking engagement in the IM space (I’ve been a guest and on panels a bunch) and I gotta admit I was a little nervous about it.
Got lots of feedback saying I was the best presenter on Thurs (and one of the best of the weekend) . . .
Here’s some of the exhausting (and awesome) lessons I learned along the way . . .
“Copy Thinking” in the bag . . .
Just finished my “Copy Thinking” presentation at Ryan Lee’s Continuity Summit in Stamford, Connecticut.
Got some really good feedback after getting off stage . . .which is good since I’m running a slight fever and have been coughing all day. =-)
If you were in the audience at the seminar and are just popping onto the blog for the first time, make sure you say “Hi” in the comments.
Why Attending Seminars Is So Important
I fly around the country a LOT these days . . .
In fact, in the next month I’m flying to Miami for a closed door internet marketing event with a bunch of big muckity mucks, am dashing off to Conneticut to speak at Ryan Lee’s “Continuity Summit” and am spending a few days in DC for Yanik Silver’s Underground.
And while I’m sure there will be a bunch of great content at these seminars, the real reason I’m wracking up the miles is for the networking.
As a mentor of mine told me early on in my career “The real business gets done at the bar.”
My friend Martin Howey just put up a post talking about one of the profound re-connections he made at Jeff Walker’s PLM event a few weeks back.
If you’re wondering what going to seminars can do for you and your business, I’d give it a read:
http://www.sevenfigureconsultants.com/?p=769
(Martin also gives me a nice little shout out in the post. Thanks for that, Martin. Always enjoy your company.)
