This one right here goes out to all the email copywriters… the business owners who write their own emails… maybe even those with a YouTube channel.
Here’s the story:
A few weeks ago, a music industry insider named Ted Gioia made a big splash by writing an article with the title:
“Is Old Music Killing New Music?”
Gioia had a bunch of stats and anecdotes to prove that old music — stuff that came out 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 years ago — is crowding out the new music being produced today.
Gioia has his theory for why this is.
Basically, he says, record company execs just wants to get a piece of the American pie to take their bite out. So they keep giving people tried-and-true stuff. They’re not willing to take risks.
It’s short-term thinking, Gioia says. Because ironically, the execs are making themselves irrelevant in the process. But one way or another, the fact remains, in Gioia’s words:
“Never before in history have new tracks attained hit status while generating so little cultural impact.”
In my own uninformed yet subjective opinion, this is part of a bigger trend.
It’s not only music that’s getting old. I think it’s movies also, and perhaps other pop culture too.
This matters for marketers.
Because from what I’ve seen writing approximately a billion sales emails… pop culture always gets a great response.
Pop culture references turns you into a magician who can abracadabra a sales point… get people to enjoy it… and maybe even get them to buy.
So what exactly am I telling you?
Well, it’s the same thing that some 40 years ago, A-list copywriter Gene Schwartz said:
“If a movie does a hundred million dollars or more, especially a movie that does two hundred or three hundred million dollars or more, I would go to it two or three times.”
This is a good idea today just as it was in Gene’s time.
Go see blockbusters. But make sure you see the same ones that Gene was talking about, like Lethal Weapon and Home Alone and Pulp Fiction.
In other words, don’t take risks with any of this new stuff. Give people the tried-and-true. And keep doing it. Forever. Forever-ever. For-EVER-ever.
“Whoa there Bejako,” you say. ”You’ve been handing out a lot of careless and maybe even harmful advice lately.”
Oh yeah, like what?
“Well, like first you said to bet on the Bengals for the Super Bowl. We know how that turned out. Then a couple days ago you almost got me sucked into QAnon.”
That was an honest mistake.
“Whatever. The point is, now you’re telling me to pander to my audience with references to Fleetwood Mac and Kill Bill. But isn’t this the same short-term thinking as those record company execs? Won’t I be making myself irrelevant in the process?”
I don’t know. You might be right. I might be wrong. So all I can say is:
I’m sorry dear reader. I am for real. Never meant to send you bad advice. I apologize a trillion times.
But I’ll do more than apologize.
I’ll tell you how to avoid pandering and talk about pop culture your audience isn’t familiar with, without taking much of a risk. That’s in my email tomorrow. I hope you’ll read it. You and your mama.