When it comes down to it, “content” is simply information. They dig deep to find the hidden hook that will elevate the piece of content to a must-read for the right prospect, which in turn will lead to more people investing in the product. The article’s headline alone is lacking in both meaning and fascination (unless you’re simply intrigued by anything related to Jerry Seinfeld). I knew instantly what it was about, having read Newport’s article. Newport mentions the $3.1 billion as a simple piece of information buried in his article, while Pelton keyed into it as the hook while also pairing it with specific meaning for his audience. And now I’ve taken inspiration from both for this article. Others might object to describing a closed door policy as a writing “trick.” What’s important is that it worked for Pelton’s audience (based on reader response over at Medium). It’s your job to know what works for your people, and how best to write for them. How to find the hook Professional copywriters know they have to dig deep to find the hook for a particular promotion. Finding a hook, angle, or fascinating fact comes down to digging through raw “information” in order to create compelling content that transcends mere facts.
When it comes down to it, “content” is simply information. And in an age of information (and opinion) overload, your content can contain incredibly valuable information and still be easily ignored.
This is the opposite of the “clickbait” problem. In that case, you have a compelling headline that leads to worthless information. The ideal scenario is to have a great headline (effectively a promise to the prospective reader) that delivers on, and hopefully exceeds, the expectations created by the headline.
Ultimately, what you say (the information) is the most important thing, because the wrong information is simply not meaningful to the people you’re trying to attract. But how you say it is still indispensable in an environment overflowing with information — both of high and (too often) low quality.
Great content boils down to two essential elements: meaning and fascination.
Meaning relates to how well the information addresses the problems and desires of your specific audience. Fascination is the hook that makes the information compelling, engaging, and memorable.
When it comes to selling through direct response copywriting, professionals know they need to find the right combination of meaning and fascination to overcome the natural skepticism and resistance to being “sold” to.
They dig deep to find the hidden hook that will elevate the piece of content to a must-read for the right prospect, which in turn will lead to more people investing in the product.
Guess what? In the current online environment, there’s now a natural skepticism and resistance to simply consuming your free content. In essence, you have to “sell” people on investing a precious resource — their time — in what you’re sharing.
The Seinfeld example
Let’s look at two articles that effectively contain the same core information and takeaways, and yet are approached in very different ways. They both involve a brief section from a 2014 interview with Jerry Seinfeld on Alec Baldwin’s Here’s The Thing podcast.
Here’s what Seinfeld said about the huge success of his NBC sitcom:
“Let me tell you why my TV series in the ’90s was so good, besides just an inordinate amount of just pure good fortune. In most TV series, 50 percent of the time is spent working on the show, 50 percent of the time is spent dealing with personality, political, and hierarchical issues of making something. We spent 99 percent of our time writing. Me and Larry [David]. The two of us. The door was closed. It’s closed. Somebody calls. We’re not taking the call. We were gonna make this thing funny. That’s why the show was good.”
The first time I encountered this anecdote was in early June thanks to an article by Cal Newport entitled Jerry Seinfeld’s Closed Door, which I included in an issue of my newsletter Further. If you’re not familiar, Further is where I share the best stuff I’ve come across each week when it comes to health,…
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