“What’s that?”
“That? That’s nothing. It’s just a car chase.”
“Give it to me live, and start the broadcast.”
That’s a scene from Anchorman 2. There’s nothing newsworthy happening. So Ron Burgundy starts reporting on a car chase in progress.
And all across the country, people start tuning in.
“When did the news get AWESOME?” says one drunk guy watching in a bar.
Car chases aren’t really news, of course. They don’t affect your life.
But we can’t keep our eyes off them. Show a car chase on the news, and people tune in.
Same thing with celebrity gossip, human interest stories, and frankly, most of what they show on the news.
None of that stuff is ever gonna affect your life. It doesn’t matter to you. But it’s entertaining — so you watch anyways.
This is the #1 mistake people make when they write content. They teach, teach, teach.
But when you teach, teach, teach, your audience gets bored.
Why? Because learning is hard work. Deep inside, no one wants to learn.
But EVERYONE wants to be entertained.
That doesn’t mean you can’t teach stuff. You can teach AND be entertaining at the same time. (And you should.)
But I’m guessing you probably focus too much on teaching (or too much on selling), and not enough on entertaining.
How do you entertain people? The easiest way is to tell stories.
They don’t even have to be good stories. (As long as you tell them correctly.)
Don't believe me? There’s a copywriter called Daniel Throssell who writes daily emails about going to the grocery store, or picking up his kids from daycare. And they make him a lot of money.
(Hell, in this email I just retold a scene from Anchorman 2. And you read all the way to the bottom!)
If you need help making your content more entertaining, let me know.
I can send entertaining content in your brand voice to your email list.
Your readers will get addicted to your emails.
And you don’t have to lift a finger.
If you’d like to learn more, reply to this email.
-Theo