Have you seen Memento? Of course you’ve seen Memento. Because it’s awesome. Non-linear storytelling, intelligent writing, hot shirtless Aussies with tattoos — what’s not to like? I caught a glimpse of it the other day while channel surfing and it got me thinking.
Thinking morbidly, but thinking. Continue reading
There’s always time for lateral thinking.
You don’t have to be Lamont Cranston, who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men, in order to see if something’s wrong at work. If you have a business, or run a department, or supervise anyone or anything at all, you know that one of your responsibilities is to shore up the weak and make best use of the strong. That could mean people. That could mean processes. That could even mean weird directives handed down from the home office/upper levels that make no real-world sense. So here’s my question to you. Do you know what the weak parts are?
In other words, if you were the bad guy, all nefarious and mustache-twirling, how would your take down your own biz?
Maybe you’d approach a dissatisfied employee who’s vital but feels under appreciated and has been more negative than usual recently. Maybe you’d exploit a manufacturing inefficiency. Maybe you’d develop a social media strategy for your competing company that whupped the pants off what you’re currently rocking.
What’s really important is that you take stock. New year, new start, right? Like Peter Drucker said, “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”
Because as you let your inner evil genius out to play, it ought to occur to you, buddy, “Hey, now I know what parts of my sky-writing firm/jelly bean factory/envelope licking service need to be fixed!”
Go on. Take a look around. See what you find.
My hiatus is about to come to an end. But before I return to serious social media-ing and bloggonating (Blogg O’Nating, by the way, is the worst leprechaun name ever), I thought I’d muse at you a little. Inspired by NASA.
Because seriously, this is beyond fantastic.
“But Steph,” you protest. “What does that disarmingly catchy parody have to do with my business? I’m not an astronaut!” You don’t have to be. You have content for days. Just gotta use what you’ve got. Continue reading
There’s always time for lateral thinking.
Philly’s favorite son John Wanamaker is one of the fathers of modern advertising. He was the first to buy a half-page newspaper ad, the first to buy a full-page newspaper ad, and — more near and dear to my heart as someone who thinks writing is an art, dammit — the first to hire a full time copywriter.
But maybe most famously, he’s the cat that said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted. The trouble is, I don’t know which half.”
So here’s your task, my little tater tot. Let’s say your marketing budget gets slashed in half. Boom! 50% gone like Gone Girl. Pop quiz, hot shot. What do you do? What do you do?
Do you pull a stunt and try to go viral? Skywriting? Maybe a street campaign with clever flyers optimized for Instagram and reaching out to influencers on social media? Or do you whittle down and dig into data and try to figure out where each of your dollars really does the most good? Maybe both?
Why would I ask this?
Because you, buddy, should be considering how to blow past setbacks.
Wrap your brain around it. See what you get.
I know, pumpkin. I know. You don’t want to think about those big meanies. Or hey, maybe you work in one of those cool market segments where friendly competition is the norm, and you don’t need to dwell on those folks. But on the off chance you have competitors, and you want to make sure you’re meeting or exceeding their efforts, how do you do that voodoo you need to do so well?
I think it is time, padawan. I think you are ready. This is an elegant weapon for a more civilized age. This…is close reading. Continue reading
Have you done something different with your hair? It looks nice. Touchable. And that color really brings out your eyes. Here, let me top off your drink, darlin’. Time to talk about mood again.
Mood happens. Whether you are conscious of it or not. So it makes sense to be aware of it, mm? So you don’t, say, write a really chipper blog post about cremation, or melancholy web copy for a party planner. And we establish mood with setting, diction, and now tone.
Setting was pretty straightforward, diction a little less so, and tone is the most elusive. We’ve sort of been building up to the biggie.
“But Steph,” you say, because you are a smart little tomato, “Isn’t tone the same thing as mood?” Kinda. But no. But yeah. But not really. Continue reading
Let’s talk Ello.
In case you’ve been living in a pineapple under the sea, far from news-y goodness, you know about Ello. The invite-only social network exploded in popularity, at one point processing 30,000 sign-up requests an hour.
30,000 people. An hour. Begging to sign up.
Why? Continue reading
Why don’t you have another glass of wine, mm? I’ll light these candles. Because we’re all about mood again today, angel pants. Awwww yeah.
Last time we got together, we talked about the role played by setting in determining mood. In a way, setting is the easiest of these techniques to use — the most common sense. But today we’re talking diction, and that’s a bit trickier. Continue reading
Working at home = distractions. ‘S just a fact. Laundry or housekeeping if you’re feeling virtuous. Junk food and daytime TV if you’re not. And if you don’t live alone? Someone else’s robot sweeper or reality show gets added to the mix.
Enter RainyMood. With over 800 thousand shares and likes and pins, this site clearly fills a need. For me, it blocks out Matlock. But folks use it while reading, for sleeping, and for discovering new music with the swanky “add cool tunes to your rain-drenched experience” option.
There’s Coffitivity, too. For when you want to be in a coffee shop but don’t want to wear pants. Continue reading
If you’re in tech or online spaces at all, I’m sure you’ve seen The Video.
A few tech fellas, newcomers to San Francisco, had a…let’s call it a difference of opinion with some long-time local kids about who got to use a public soccer field.
The techies didn’t come out looking too great. Continue reading
Storytelling for Success 