I was at the opera tonight to watch a rather racy piece called Madame Butterfly.
It’s set in early-20th-century Japan, and it’s about an American navy officer who marries a Japanese child bride, gets her pregnant, and then leaves her with the promise to come back soon.
Three years pass, and the situation is getting desperate.
The guy still hasn’t come back. The kid is growing up. And money is running out.
Madame Butterfly (the Japanese child bride) gets into an emotional fever.
She’s sure her American husband is coming back imminently.
Butterfly’s maid is there on the side, her head in her hands, knowing the guy is probably never coming back, and trying to caution some reason into her mistress.
Because it’s hard to see the world as it is once you get into an emotional fever.
It could be because of love. Or it could simply be because of other kinds of investment, such as of time, effort, or skill.
For example, I think that’s one of the main reasons for businesses to hire an outside marketing consultant or copywriter.
A hired marketing gun can come into a business, and evaluate both the marketing assets and liabilities, without the emotional baggage that the people inside the business carry.
And actually, that’s why I’ve always doubted the hackneyed argument that copywriters should be able to sell their own services. It usually goes like this:
“If a copywriter can’t sell his own services, how can he expect to sell other people’s stuff?”
Well, because he won’t be the delusional Madame Copywriter in that case. He’ll have an impartial third-person view, rather than a hysterical first-person view.
Anyways, I wouldn’t say that I’m brilliant at selling my own copywriting services. But I’m trying to make do, writing a little self-promotional post every day, while waiting for my long-lost love to pull back into harbor on his American warship.
But don’t let that fool you.
Because even though I might not be brilliant at selling myself, I am brilliant at selling other people’s stuff. Well, at least I’m very good at it. And if you want to see some lessons I’ve learned about promoting various ecommerce products through hardcore advertorials, take a look here: