Do try to watch American Hustle if you haven’t already. Great fun from the start. Yes, from the start...
Good films, books and plays can teach us a thing or two about how to hook your audience’s attention. They tend to have good openings:
- ‘Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again’ (Rebecca)
- ‘The past is a different country. They do things differently there’ (The Go-between)
- ‘Are you watching carefully?’ (The Prestige)
(and so on)
In American Hustle, it’s just a few words on screen: ‘Some of this actually happened.’
But they’re so much better than the usual words that get trotted out in this situation: ‘Based upon actual events’, ‘Based on a true story’, or some slight variation on that snoozy formula.
By messing with it ever-so slightly, the film sets us up to expect the cheeky, good-humoured yarn it duly serves up.
Writing engaging introductions for content marketing
Yes, believe it or not, there’s a strong lesson for us here in Realityville.
Don’t waste the opening words of whatever it is you’re writing. Don’t clear your throat with ‘I am writing with regard to...’. Don’t take a run-up to the main point of your email, report, white paper or letter. Get right into it straightaway.
Think of it as an exercise in lead nurturing: you’ll lose far fewer people than you would with a dull, cookie-cutter opener.
It’s a simple but sure-fire way to get the person on the receiving end to pay attention, think what you want them to think, and ultimately do what you want them to do.
