I recently started keeping track of every article I click on mindlessly, purely because of an intriguing headline. Here are a few:
* After Years Of Conflict And Instability, Iraq Is Opening Up To Tourism
* A Writing Tip I Learned At Oxford
* A New Way To Approach Wayback Machine
* The New Credible Science Of Longevity Versus The Old Anti-Aging Snake Oil
* Nikola Tesla Invention From 100 Years Ago Suddenly Makes More Sense Today
So I record those headlines, and then I ask myself, Why? Why did I click on this?
If you’re in the business of marketing, I’d like to suggest this new habit to you too.
But why?
Because, as Gary Halbert said, you have to steep yourself in what’s working now. If you’re clicking it, others are clicking it. Pay attention, and you’ll find out what’s working now, both in terms of format (“A New Way To Approach X”) as well as in terms of topics (“Wayback Machine”).
But Gary also said something else. He said you have to ground yourself in the fundamentals of marketing.
That’s why asking why is useful.
Human psychology changes very slowly, if at all, from what I can see. And if you ask yourself why, you’ll get back to a few fundamental answers, over and over and over. And then you can make your own formats, for your own topics, and still have people clicking and reading.
By the way, human psychology changes so slowly that there are some ads that ran a hundred years ago, which could still run successfully today.
If you want to see an example, I’ll share one tomorrow in my email newsletter. And if you want to get on that newsletter so you get to see that ad, here’s where to go.