I\u2019ve mentioned this magnificent Robert Greene book before:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 33 Strategies of War\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Most people I know in business talk up Greene\u2019s 48 Laws of Power.<\/p>\n But in my opinion 33 Strategies of War is far more useful.<\/p>\n It\u2019s simply chock-full of great business advice.<\/p>\n Including advice about copywriting, marketing, selling, influence, persuasion, customer service, negotiation, dealing with (and profiting from) trolls, building out email campaigns, hiring employees or team members, building a company, outselling your competition, seizing market share, list curation, acquiring new clients, making more sales, and the list goes on.<\/p>\n None of these lessons are checklist \u201cdo this, this, and this\u2026\u201d style.<\/p>\n And you have to be looking for the lessons.<\/p>\n But they are all throughout the book.<\/p>\n Take this part about content creation:<\/p>\n (Context: Publisher Samuel Adams\u2019 campaign to turn the colonists against the English)<\/p>\n \u201cThe colonists had had a high opinion of the English, but not after Adams\u2019s relentless campaign. To succeed, Adams had to resort to exaggeration, picking out and emphasizing the cases in which the English were heavy-handed. His was not a balanced picture; he ignored the ways in which the English had treated the colonies rather well. His goal was not to be fair but to spark a war, and he knew that the colonists would not fight unless they saw the war as just and the British as evil. In working to spoil your enemy\u2019s moral reputation, do not be subtle. Make your language and distinctions of good and evil as strong as possible; speak in terms of black and white. It is hard to get people to fight for a gray area.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n There is literally centuries of wisdom in that for the content creator.<\/p>\n Literally nobody cares about much less remembers \u201cfair & balanced.\u201d<\/p>\n Yes, they may emotionally respond to the term.<\/p>\n (i.e., Fox News, which like all news is neither fair or balanced.)<\/p>\n But fair & balanced content = boring content.<\/p>\n Boring content = little or no engagement with your content.<\/p>\n Little or no engagement with your content = little Tommy can\u2019t get that Playstation for Christmas.<\/p>\n Something else to think about:<\/p>\n There\u2019s no passion in fair & balanced.<\/p>\n And, I would argue such content is inherently dishonest anyway.<\/p>\n At the very best you\u2019ll be ignored.<\/p>\n At the worst your enemies will simply use it against you.<\/p>\n Whatever the case:<\/p>\n A lot of content creation comes down to something one of my favorite marketing teachers Sean D\u2019Souza has been teaching for years about consumption. Everyone teaches attraction & conversion. Hardly anyone teaches \u2014 much less practices \u2014 the importance of consumption of content. Without that consumption you get a sale which I suppose is nice. But without consumption \u2014 and eager consumption at that \u2014 you\u2019re not really building a relationship. You\u2019re not making the next sale in advance. And you\u2019re not really adding anything to anyone\u2019s life, including your own, as that one-time sales will be pissed away before you know it.<\/p>\n All of this is especially true when it comes to high ticket content.<\/p>\n i.e., the kind of content people pay you hundreds or even thousands for.<\/p>\n And so it goes…<\/p>\n To check out the Email Players newsletter, go here:<\/p>\n