Talk About Hype

Will Paul Myers care if I post
this excerpt from his latest
newsletter?

Who cares. I'm doing it any
way because it's rare I read
something that's hits me
profoundly.

In particular, I like the last
sentence, but don't skip the
rest to get to it.

This is from an article
discussing things people
complain about related to copy.

.X.


Paul Meyer's wrote:

"Too much hype."

"Hype" is such an interesting word. Sort of like
"interesting."

If you're talking to technical people, it means appealing to
emotions they're not comfortable with. If you're talking to
marketers, it means shouting stuff they've heard a million
times before.

If you're talking to real people, it probably means they don't
believe you. (For the new kids, that's a Bad Thing.)

None of that is enough to draw out the emotional intensity that
the word "hype" has for some people, though. So, what is it
that makes "hype" so annoying?

It's simple, really, if not always obvious. It's the friction
between wanting the product and feeling like they're in
conflict with the copy and, by extension, the seller.

If they don't want the product, they don't care about the copy.
If you get one thing from this section, it should be this:

Strong reactions almost never come from people who don't care.


Back to .X.

"Strong reactions almost never
come from people who don't care."

I love it.

There is so much pansie ass
marketing going on right now
I don't know if I should love
it - because it makes my life
damn easy. Or hate it, because
it just PISSES me off to watch
people sleep walk half-assed
through life.

If you're work isn't generating
strong polarized opinions, then
stop trying to kiss everyone's
ass.

Really.

Case in point, The Rich Jerk.

Here's a guy who's written
one ebook and people are still
talking about him.

Why?

Because people either love him
or hate him.

The people who love him would
buy anything he puts out.

The people who hate him?

They still build his brand
because they cannot NOT talk
about what an ass he is.

That's brilliant marketing.

Brilliant marketing isn't
pulling out the book of sales
and marketing cliche's and
writing the same drab, boring
tedious, ho-hum jerk-off junk
everyone else is.

Come on people . . .

Take some chances already.