writing

Ira Glass Part 4: Ditch Your We-We

2023-10-16T16:26:52+00:00By |

If you ask Ira Glass, he’d tell you the two biggest mistakes are: (1) Using an inauthentic, over-hyped “voice” or presentation style, and (2) Keeping the focus on yourself instead of the customer.

Ira Glass On Advertising, Part 3

2023-10-16T16:26:58+00:00By |

Ira’s third video on storytelling is by far the most popular. He's describing the positive side of the Dunning-Kruger effect. I think this video speaks to: Linear, no-threshold thinking, Minimum Effective Dose, and Cumulative Effect.

The media is NOT the message.

2023-10-16T14:25:52+00:00By |

I remember a Marshall McLuhan quote of “The Media is the Message.” So I asked Roy, what about McLuhan? The skies darkened, the floors parted, and a fiery hell appeared as Roy screamed.

Ira Glass on Great Advertising, Part 2

2023-10-16T16:27:11+00:00By |

“The amount of time finding the decent story is more than the amount of time it takes to produce the story… I think that, like, not enough gets said about the importance of abandoning crap.”

The Worth of a Dali

2023-10-16T14:38:10+00:00By |

A picture is worth a thousand words. Confucius told us that. Or did he? Actually, Fred Barnard made up the saying to promote the use of images and called it “a Chinese proverb so that people would take it seriously.”

What Matters is What’s Remembered

2023-10-13T18:18:03+00:00By |

When you advertise, you typically make bullet points of what you “want customers to know.” Giving a customer an education so he’ll have no choice but to pick you is as fanciful as it is arrogant.

Ira Glass on Great Advertising, Part 1

2023-10-16T16:27:16+00:00By |

The first video covers Ira’s two basic building blocks of storytelling: the Anecdote and the Moment of Reflection. And in advertising terms, these are roughly analogous to Relevance and Credibility.

Your Competitors Are Bastards

2023-10-16T14:26:16+00:00By |

Business is like writing. You have to find your own style and stick to it. Stop worrying about what the competition is doing. They're all bastards. Get inspired by things they don't understand.

The Marketing Funnel Cloud

2023-10-13T18:18:11+00:00By |

I hate funnels. The thing we call a Marketing Funnel is really just a shorthand to remind us that no customer goes from “I don’t know who you are” to “here, take my money!”

The Subtle Persuasion of Groundhog Day

2023-10-16T16:27:23+00:00By |

In many businesses, what most customers are really buying is transformation. Groundhog Day plays to three very powerful psychological dynamics you can use to captivate and convert.

How We Decide to Purchase

2023-10-16T14:56:51+00:00By |

Amateur ad writers assume everyone makes decisions based upon the same criteria they use. This causes them to unconsciously frame their messages to reach people exactly like themselves.

That’ll Do

2023-10-13T18:18:19+00:00By |

Who is the “McDonald’s” in your category? The business you believe is getting an unfair amount of customers… in spite of their quality and competence. A few things are happening that you should find illuminating.

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