Yes, that’s a clickbait headline—something I almost never do in this newsletter. I used it this time to very deliberately illustrate something. Can you guess what it is? Here’s another example—the actual reason I’m choosing this topic for this month’s newsletter: a presentation by direct-mail legend Denny Hatch called
A Whirlwind Tour of Direct Marketing Knowhow: From July 10, 1194 through the 21 st Century
That title got me to stop what I was doing, put aside my agenda for the day, go and watch Denny’s 41-minute talk, and then write this article—and that sequence doesn’t happen too often.
Why were these 15 brief words so persuasive to me? Can you guess?
Yes, it helped that I knew Denny Hatch’s reputation, and that it was sent in a newsletter from Brian Kurtz, for whom I have enormous respect. But the real motivator would have gotten me to click even if I knew nothing about the presenter. Have you figured it out yet? Here’s the secret:
This talk title used specificity to harness curiosity!
By putting in a specific date from more than 800 years ago, in an industry that most people assume is only about 250 years old, Denny didn’t just engage my curiosity, he grabbed it.
One-paragraph digression: And yes, he delivers on why that date is important in marketing—avoiding a mistake too many clickbait headline writers make (a mistake that I’m betting leaves the reader feeling cheated and less interested in the product). If you’ve clicked on any ads that use words like “tragedy” and then name a celebrity like Willie Nelson or Whoopi Goldberg and then discover an ad for a CBD company, you may have experienced that sort of disgust. End of digression.
The thing is, this talk title wouldn’t hook in everyone—but I happened to be the ideal audience for it. I wrote my first marketing copy around April 1972 (yep, that’s the 50.17 years in my own headline) and I’m fascinated by history. So when he offers something very specific and unknown to me about the long-ago history of marketing? Oh, yeah, baby, I am so hooked! For someone who’s more interested in football or the Kardashians, this headline weeds them out. Only the actual markets (marketers and lovers of history) will respond to that title and watch the presentation—but they won’t be able to stay away.
If you’re curious also, his presentation is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ww8a-8hyio