Marketing

Writing that sells

To make the sell, your idea must achieve rock star status. If the market doesn’t buy it, honestly, it’s my fault. I didn’t write the piece properly, or I didn’t have the cojones to tell you that your idea sucked.

So here’s how we make your idea a rock star.

Pick a great venue. Even though the market hasn’t seen your idea or read your story, they’ve already formed an opinion. They hate it. But don’t worry. It’s human nature to prejudge anything new. As a writer, I’ll frame your story so it either complements or challenges your market’s existing point of view. In doing so, they’re more likely to be open to your idea.

Dress it up. Yes, your idea’s been prejudged. But the market’s always hungry for new and shiny stories or tunes. We have to be creative in how we package your idea.

Give it a catchy beat. We find the sweet drama in your idea and build sentences that flow from it like waves. We ride those waves over and over again until we hit the climax in the last frame or on the last page. If your piece is written correctly, the momentum will keep the reader or viewer engaged and gently swaying throughout your entire story.

Keep it real. If the basic idea is a lie or based on a faulty assumption, your market will sniff it out, and we’ll be branded liars. Well, you will.

The sell

If the words are correctly package we enter that magical zone where the market either agrees with you and the beats you’re throwing down or completely changes their point of view to match yours, and my friend, that’s the sell. Soon, you’ll be defending you and yours from an onslaught of bulb-flashing paparazzi and Sharpie-wielding fans.

You’re a rock star. Rock on.

Marketing influences (guys I steal from)

Howard Farran D.D.S. M.B.A. – his seminars and DVDs introduced me to marketing and the importance of business systems.

Seth Godin – two of his books: small is the new big and All Marketers are Liars hooked me into following this marketing Willy Wonka. I’ve attended his seminar in NYC, helped sponsor his Kickstart venture The Icarus Deception, and I follow is blog religiously.

Robert McKee – writer of Story and teaches a popular seminar that I attended on how stories need to be put together to engage an audience.

Hugh MacĀ­Leod – cartoonist and writer. Read Ignore Everybody or his blog, and you’ll find I steal my writing style from him.

Steven Pressfield – writer and workhorse. Read The War of Art & Do the Work and afterwards, you won’t need to hire a writer.

So now you know what I try to do in my writing, and you have a pretty good take of what goes on inside my head as I sit down to work on a project.

But before I start a project, I’ve got to do some recon. The next tab on process explains the steps I take concerning job selection, the type of info I need from you, and how I work.