be the story

The Center for Interact-a Huh?

This made me laugh so hard, I just had to post it. I was looking at “interactive advertising” via Google. (The reason why is a subject for another post.) And I found the Center for Interactive Advertising. On their web site, right at the top, here’s what they say— But first, a warning: Don’t try to understand this. I don’t actually think it means anything.

The purpose of the Center for Interactive Advertising is to advance knowledge and understanding of advertising and other persuasive communication which involves “mutual action” on the part of senders and receivers of those messages by pursuing a research agenda to examine critical issues related to interactive advertising, computer-mediated communication and electronic commerce.

Yeah, well, for an advertising outfit… I’m sold!

But seriously, if you write like that, you’ll never sell anyone on anything. Your readers’ eyes will glaze over and they’ll go on to read something else. We readers don’t have time, attention, or mental energy to spend on dense gobbledygook like that. If you write like that, punch up your style.

-TimK

Facts Tell, But Stories Sell

I know I’ve been preoccupied with life recently. So I thought I’d pass along this inspirational tale from Kim Klaver’s blog, “A blind man’s new words get new results.” I originally found it linked from Seth Godin’s blog.

-TimK

“Show; Don’t Tell” Works for Ads, Too

Here’s another lesson the best advertisement writers learned a long time ago. Show; don’t tell. Writers will recognize that lesson as being one of the foremost rules of storytelling.

(Read more…)

An Example of Real-Story Power

A quick follow-up to The Power of Your Personal Story: Steve Pavlina last night posted on his polyphasic sleep experience. Some say it can’t be done. Surely, Steve has unique expiences and perspectives on the subject. Still, I get a kick when he talks about people who “tell me that what I’ve already done is physiologically impossible.”

-TimK

The Power of Your Personal Story

One of the most successful blogs in the blogosphere owes its success to a great story. I’m referring to Steve Pavlina’s Personal Development Blog, which has grown over the past year from 86,000 visitors in February 2005 to a projected 715,000 this month. That’s almost 10 times. Google ads on the site, however, earn almost 100 times what they did last February: $53 compared to $4,700 this month.

What’s Steve’s secret? (Read more…)