Mental Graffiti

If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? Not sure, but I do know that content no one bothers to read doesn’t help your cause.

In my days as a journalist an editor once explained a news concept that was stunning in both its simplicity and its accuracy. He called it the Spinach Theory.

The Spinach Theory
In the past, journalists and editors used to fill newspapers full of serious topics like foreign policy, economic news and world events. Let’s call this the spinach. Like an old-school parent, they presented it and said, “Take it; it’s good for you. It doesn’t matter if you like it.” And for a while that worked. But then their little readers grew up, and just like our former president they weren’t going to eat that darned broccoli anymore and you couldn’t make ‘em. And so people stopped reading newspapers.

Instead of all that rebellion and unsuccessful fighting, wouldn’t it have been smarter to just slip the cursed spinach into a cookie? Everybody wins, no muss no fuss.

So what’s your spinach? It’s your message, the news about your company. What’s the cookie? It’s thinking about what interests me – the reader – and fitting your news into that format. Don’t give me 500 words congratulating yourself about the new catering program your company just started. Trust me when I say I don’t care. I have a full-time job, a full-time family and not much time left over for sleep much less caring about what strangers are up to.

When I sort through my mail I do it standing over the trash can with the assumption that it’s all headed for the landfill. Your message has about three seconds of my attention, and you’re already competing with the 3-year-old clinging to my leg hollering that she’s hungry – again. So, no, I’m not opening your envelope or reading anything longer than a headline, and I’m sure you’re a lovely person, but if I see your mug plastered across a mailer I’m going to assume you’re either a politician or selling some as-seen-on-TV product for the low, low price of $39.99, available in three easy payments.

Instead, give me a postcard featuring your product or a photo of people like me with a bulleted list of five ways to improve my parties and share your favorite recipe with me. Now you’ve set yourself up as an expert in your field, we have a relationship and I’ll be coming back to you when I need to host an event. You gave me something for free, so I’m feeling pretty friendly and am likely to return the favor with some business or a referral.

It may take some thought to pull this off effectively. The next time you have to prepare a brochure or write a newsletter ask yourself this question: “Why should anyone care about my [insert business, service, program, product, etc.]?” Skip the spiel about “the new state-of-the-art financial program that we spent 10 years developing” and replace it with “cut your bill-paying time in half with XYZ software.”

Now you’ve got my attention, and there’s a decent chance that by the time I detach the child from my leg, your message will make it into my pile for later reading.

Better yet, give me a call or drop me an email and we’ll help you sneak your spinach into the right cookie.