Why negative messages gain traction Did Stanley Kubrick fake the moon landings? Was President Obama holding a rocket launcher in a car with an ISIS leader? Does your favorite shampoo cause hair loss? No, no and probably not, according to Snopes' "25 Hottest Urban Legends." Fear appeals work (Rev Up Readership members only; join Rev Up Readership), according to 50 years … [Read more...] about Fear factor
persuasion
Make it F-A-B
Lead with benefits, substantiate with features Quick! Which would you rather have: a 2.2GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 processor with a Turbo Boost of up to 3.2GHz? Or the ability to create 3D molecular models on your laptop? And that's the problem. Your readers don't care about your organization and its stuff. They care about themselves and their needs. So to sell … [Read more...] about Make it F-A-B
Take me away
'Transporting' stories change readers' minds Have you ever been lost in a story? Have you ever looked up and found that hours, not minutes, have passed since you turned on your Kindle and that you are in fact in your own bedroom and not at the palace, about to be crowned queen? Have you ever rewritten the end of a story in your mind, so that, say, Nick and Daisy … [Read more...] about Take me away
Avoid Institutional Narcissism
You're so vain, you probably think this piece is about you Richard Roll, an economics professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, studies narcissism in CEOs. Turns out the more narcissistic executives are, the more likely they are to overrate their skills and make bad business moves. In one 2010 study, Roll used a simple technique that's been validated by … [Read more...] about Avoid Institutional Narcissism