ed u tain ment Education-based marketing that is also entertaining. Have you taken notice of all the entertainment options around? Of course you have. Who couldn’t? You can now watch shows anywhere, stream the latest movies, watch reruns of your favorite TV shows, and instantly head to Facebook to see what’s going on in everyone else’s lives. Once you’re done spying on everyone, you can craft the perfect post to make sure everyone knows how awesome your life is. If all of that gets boring, you can jump on a video game and save the world. This happens to be one of my favorite ways to entertain myself. The crazy thing is that you can do all of these things from your iPhone. With unlimited options for entertainment, we are entertaining ourselves to death. Regardless of what anyone thinks of all the media and entertainment options we have, one thing is for sure: Society today has a shorter attention span for anything that is boring. It makes sense. There are so many options, yet there’s still “so little” on TV. I’m not sure how that is possible, but it seems to be true. As marketers, we need to make sure we are not only educating but also entertaining so that we can hold
When you’re creating your marketing or content pieces, you need to keep in mind that people don’t consume boring for very long. This is why I tell people that if they make a newsletter all about what they do and remove all the personal stories, entertainment, and edutainment, their campaign will fail. We simply have too many entertainment options to spend time reading, watching, or listening to anything that is boring, even for a few minutes. One of the most well-known women on the planet right now is Rachel Hollis, who has written a few bestsellers. I got to see her speak a few months ago, and she said that 75% of her content is entertainment and 25% is her message. Are you doing too much educating and not enough entertaining? How often do you use stories that are fun or personal but still have a business lesson? I know that having to both educate and entertain seems like more work. Frankly, it is. But there aren’t other options. You don’t have to like the fact that you need to communicate and advertise differently today than you did 10 years ago, but you do have to change your tactics in order to be successful.
the attention of our customers and prospects. The idea that people will only watch 97-second videos is false. The idea that people won’t read a long-form sales letter is also false.
What people won’t tolerate is boring media.
Millions of people will happily watch “Avengers” for three hours. Why? Because they’re entertained by it. Like it or not, all of us have been conditioned to constantly want and, in some cases, need to be entertained 24/7.
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TIBLEGRAVITATIONAL F PURPOSE
Have You Heard the Good News?
“Ruthlessly evaluate your current position.” Knowing where you are is the first step to understanding where you want to go. Once you’ve got your bearings, it’s time to decide the destination. Then, get sucked into that purpose with a focus as strong as a black hole. “Black Hole Focus” is an invaluable resource for establishing your life’s purpose. Hankel offers over 25 suggestions to help you find and fulfill that goal. Hankel’s book is a motivational work of art. He manages to weave beautiful, abstract concepts with actionable steps in order to create a guide that channels the gravitational pull of practicality and never loses its black-hole-like focus.
be an “escape plan,” one that frees you from day-to-day humdrum. It’s who, what, and where you want to be. When it comes to purposes, one of the most important questions you can ask is, “Why?” Why have you chosen this specific purpose, and why should you focus on this goal? The question “why?” is fuel. You can have a beautiful vehicle, an ideal destination, and you may even be pointed in the right direction. But a goal or a purpose without a why is like a powerful sports car with no fuel.
1 Corinthians 2:11 — “For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” 2 Timothy 2:15 — “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” 1 John 4:1 — “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
How do you find and fulfill your purpose? Hankel provides a plethora of ideas. The first:
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