I took a 6-hour bus ride today, and sitting in front of me was a very alert Argentinian male.
He had a little digital camera with him — my guess is it was 15 years old — and he took dozens or possibly hundreds of pictures during our trip together.
Most of these photos were of the side of the highway — a blur of bushes and trees.
Occasionally, he would hold the camera above his head and take a picture of the inside of the bus.
And at one point, a rival bus pulled up to us, and he took multiple shots of the sleeping Chinese tourists inside it.
The entire ride was hot and long and I was irritated.
So each time the Argentinian man took another B.S. photo, I wondered what he will do with all these uninteresting, blurry, low-resolution photos.
But what do I know?
Perhaps he is a designer or a movie editor or a cartoonist.
And maybe when he needs graphical inspiration, he opens up a random blurry photo he took while traveling through eastern Europe, and this stimulates a creative new idea for him.
After all, I do something very similar, only with words and ideas. I keep lots of lists:
Of marketing lessons (“Put your strongest proof first”)…
Of entertaining stories (“Man-tax cafe set to close”)…
Of unique phrases (“Hit the sawdust trail”)…
Of memorable characters from books, movies, and TV shows (“Majikthise and Vroomfondel”)…
And of interesting facts (“Color blindness was only noticed in 1794”).
Then, when I sit down to write one of these emails — or any other piece of copy — I have a ton of material to jog my lazy creative mechanism.
This process also naturally makes my own voice and opinions come through — because these are my own bizarre stories and observations, or facts that caught my own jaded attention.
It might work for you as well if you start collecting your own lists today. And if you’re looking for more ways to come up with good sales copy — specifically emails — check out the following:
He had a little digital camera with him — my guess is it was 15 years old — and he took dozens or possibly hundreds of pictures during our trip together.
Most of these photos were of the side of the highway — a blur of bushes and trees.
Occasionally, he would hold the camera above his head and take a picture of the inside of the bus.
And at one point, a rival bus pulled up to us, and he took multiple shots of the sleeping Chinese tourists inside it.
The entire ride was hot and long and I was irritated.
So each time the Argentinian man took another B.S. photo, I wondered what he will do with all these uninteresting, blurry, low-resolution photos.
But what do I know?
Perhaps he is a designer or a movie editor or a cartoonist.
And maybe when he needs graphical inspiration, he opens up a random blurry photo he took while traveling through eastern Europe, and this stimulates a creative new idea for him.
After all, I do something very similar, only with words and ideas. I keep lots of lists:
Of marketing lessons (“Put your strongest proof first”)…
Of entertaining stories (“Man-tax cafe set to close”)…
Of unique phrases (“Hit the sawdust trail”)…
Of memorable characters from books, movies, and TV shows (“Majikthise and Vroomfondel”)…
And of interesting facts (“Color blindness was only noticed in 1794”).
Then, when I sit down to write one of these emails — or any other piece of copy — I have a ton of material to jog my lazy creative mechanism.
This process also naturally makes my own voice and opinions come through — because these are my own bizarre stories and observations, or facts that caught my own jaded attention.
It might work for you as well if you start collecting your own lists today. And if you’re looking for more ways to come up with good sales copy — specifically emails — check out the following: