How to Make Ordinary Content (or Copy) Feel Extraordinary

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HOWTOM1 1

Whether you are a content marketer or a copywriter, you face the same challenge. You must make your content or copy stand out from the rest in your niche.

If you don’t, you will never sell the product or service you’re promoting. And you definitely won’t last in your job or your career very long.

That means it’s imperative that you learn how to create better content or persuasive copy.

Well, I want to show you one way you can make ordinary content or copy feel extraordinary.

Do you know the best part about what I’m about to reveal to you?
It’s a method that many people don’t know or completely overlook.

In order for you to fully understand this method, I first need to tell you a story, or better yet, a legend.

Because the legend you’re about to hear contains the secret behind this powerful method…

The Legend of the Extraordinarily Ordinary Tea

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There once was a group of elderly, cultured gentlemen who met often to exchange wisdom and drink tea.

Each host did their best to find the finest and most costly varieties of tea that they could.

Each host worked hard to create exotic blends that would arouse the admiration of their guests.

When the most honored and respected member of the group had them all over, he served his tea with unprecedented ceremony.

He measured the leaves from a golden box.

The elderly group of cultured gentlemen praised this exquisite tea.

They couldn’t stop talking about how amazing the tea was.

But what the host revealed next surprised his guests...

He smiled and said, “The tea you have found so delightful is the same tea our peasants drink. I hope it will be a reminder to all that the good things in life are not necessarily the rarest or the most costly.”

First of all, it is true and very important for us all to remember that many of the ordinary things in life are pretty amazing in and of themselves.

I don’t want you to miss that lesson.

But I didn’t tell you that story to teach you that lesson.
I told it because I wanted to teach you a hidden lesson.

The Hidden Lesson

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I want you to notice the important hidden lesson in this legend.
What is the hidden lesson?

The lesson is that presentation and packaging really matter.

  • Do you think the elderly tea connoisseurs would have been raving if he served the ordinary tea in an ordinary way?
  • Do you think that his friends would have been in awe of his tea if he measured it out of an ordinary container?

The answer to both of these questions is no!

You see, he didn’t present his tea in an ordinary way.
He presented it with unprecedented ceremony.

He didn’t measure it out of an ordinary container.
He measured the leaves from a golden box.

That is what influenced the opinion of his guests.

That is what created the feeling that they were drinking something extraordinary.

How This Lesson Can Help You to Make Your Ordinary Content or Copy Feel Extraordinary

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After reading this far, some of you are feeling like the elderly gentleman’s friends.

You have enjoyed the “taste” and “experience” of the content I just presented for you to consume.

The possible impact of the method and truth I just revealed has really intrigued you.
If you’re feeling that way, I’m glad. That was the plan I had for you when I wrote this article.

Do you want to know how I created this content in a way to impact you?
I did it by applying the same method I just revealed to you.

In other words, I used the same method that the honored and respected member of the tea connoisseurs used.

I took an ordinary (but very important) idea and I focused on doing my best to present it to you in the most extraordinary way I could.

What was my idea?

My ordinary idea was this: How you present your content will make all the difference in whether your content or copy feels ordinary or extraordinary.

How I Used His Method in This Article

Instead of just presenting the above sentence/method to you, I focused on the presentation of the method:

  • I started by focusing on the need you have to make your content or copy stand out.
  • I reminded you how the ability, or lack of ability, to do this will mean success or failure for you.
  • I told you that that is why you must learn how to create better content or persuasive copy.
  • I told you I wanted to show you a method that many people don’t know or many overlook.
  • Then I told you the legend of the extraordinarily ordinary tea.
  • ONLY after all of that did I reveal the idea/lesson.

Now, please pay close attention because this is really important…

All of the things I did before “the reveal “were important things for you to know or be reminded of. All of those things were true.

Your content or copy must stand out from your competition or it will fall short. It will fail you.

It is extremely important that you know how to create powerful content and engaging copy.

The ordinary idea that I revealed today will play a very important role in enabling you to make your content or copy feel extraordinary.

In fact, this ordinary idea is so important I COULDN’T risk the chance of you ignoring it.
I HAD to figure out the most extraordinary way to present it to you.

Otherwise, you never would’ve consumed this content. This means you never would have learned (or been reminded of) this valuable, but very ordinary idea.

I couldn’t risk doing anything else or anything less.
This ordinary idea was too valuable to waste.

Would You or Your Team Like to Learn How to Create Content Like This?

If you or your team of content marketers or copywriters would like to learn how to create powerful content or persuasive copy, I have three options you can choose from:

  1. Stay tuned for the next article that I’ll be posting next week. I’m going to continue to show you how to harness the power of the 7th marketing fundamental you need to succeed in 2021. (You can read all of the 7 marketing fundamentals here.)
  2. Contact me if you’d like more information about a small, paid coaching group I’m thinking of starting. If there’s enough interest, I’ll teach a small group of you many more ways you can use to create powerful content and persuasive copy – copy that will stand out from the rest of the content or copy out there. Contact me and I’ll give you more details on what I’m going to teach and how much it will cost.

    (*Don’t worry. If you contact me, you won’t be obligated to be a part of the group. I won’t pressure you or barrage you with emails begging you to be a part. I don’t want anyone to be a part of this group unless they are really interested and excited to be a part.)

    IMPORTANT: If you work for a company and you have a group of content marketers or copywriters you’d like me to coach, I would be willing to start a group with just your team. We would just need to agree on a regular coaching time and a price that works for your team and me. Contact me and let’s talk about it more.

  3. You can choose option 1 and option 2. You can stay tuned for my next article and contact me about the coaching. 🙂

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A Charlie Brown Christmas: Content Marketing for Coca-Cola?

A Charlie Brown Christmas Content Marketing for Coca Cola FINAL
A Charlie Brown Christmas Content Marketing for Coca Cola FINAL

Many of you who have read my posts and articles in the past know that I see content marketing lessons everywhere.

Well, in this article today, I want to share an important content marketing lesson for those of you who don’t consider yourselves a content creator.

How Apple TV+ Got Charlie Brown Fans Upset

2020 almost gave us another reason to wish it was over sooner than later.

Back in October, it was announced that  Apple TV+ had purchased rights to the “Great Pumpkin”, “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” and “A Charlie Brown Christmas” TV specials.

That meant that for the first time since 1965, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” would not air on public television.

Apple TV+ probably thought that they had made a great move to provide their subscribers such beloved TV specials.

What they probably hadn’t anticipated was the backlash from people who aren’t subscribers and who are so used to seeing it every year.

For that reason, Apple decided in November that they would allow “A Charlie Brown Christmas” to be aired on December 13th on PBS stations. (Click here, if you want to know how to watch it.)

All this controversy made me think again about something surprising I learned about the origin of this beloved children’s special. And that discovery, lead me to an important content marketing lesson that I wrote about back in 2014.

That is what I want to share with you below…

The Surprising Origin of ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’

I love “A Charlie Brown Christmas” special.

I love watching it every year with my 3 sons.

But I just found out something about the special that I didn’t know.

The most famous Christmas cartoon of all time wasn’t Charles Schulz’s idea.

It was Coca-Cola’s idea.

You see,  Lee Mendelson and Charles Schulz wanted to do a TV special featuring Charlie Brown, but it wasn’t about Christmas.

It was going to be about baseball.

In fact, they made the pilot of “the world’s worst baseball player” (Charlie Brown), but the network rejected it.

That’s when Coca-Cola stepped in.

They approached Mendelson to see if they could create a Peanuts Christmas special.

He and Schulz hadn’t considered such a show and didn’t  have anything prepared, but they seized the opportunity.

They quickly crafted a simple, single-page creative treatment and presented it to Coke.

According to Ted Ryan, director of Heritage Communications at The Coca-Cola Company

“The next day, Coke sent Schulz and Mendelson the following telegram:
CONFIRM SALE OF CHARLIE BROWN FOR CHRISTMAS TO COCA-COLA FOR DECEMBER BROADCAST AT YOUR TERMS WITH OPTION ON SECOND SHOW FOR NEXT SPRING. GOOD GRIEF!‘”

The Show Almost Didn’t Air

As popular as the show is these days, this might be hard to believe, but the show almost didn’t make it on air.

 According to Smosh.com

“The network hated the idea of a religious message in a Christmas TV special. They hated that the special wasn’t non-stop action interrupted with gales of fake laughter (as if cartoons would actually have a live studio audience).

“They didn’t like the soundtrack, thought the kid voiceover actors sounded too much like children, and would rather have played a needle scratch than jazz music. Things got so bad that even the special’s producers and Charlie Schulz (not known for having a cheery outlook to begin with) thought the cartoon would be a critical and commercial bomb. 

In fact, everyone was thinking of simply scrapping the show altogether…except for Cocoa-Cola, who was the special’s main sponsor and was not about to let a half-hour of advertising not make it to air.

Where Are the Coke Ads in the Show?

The ads for Coca-Cola have been removed from the special over the years, so you won’t see them when you watch it today.

So where were they in the original?

Ted Ryan says that the only Coca-Cola messages were “title slides telling viewers that the production was made possible by the support of the local bottlers around the country.”

Here is a video clip of the title slides mentioning Coca-Cola… 

Here’s a still of the slide mentioning Coke...

A Charlie Brown Christmas CocaCola

Why I Consider the Original Show Content Marketing

Most people think of content marketing as content that focuses on a particular business that is creating that content.

Many times that is true.

But the most powerful content marketing can be content that isn’t focused directly on your business at all.

As I revealed in a ContentMarketingInstitute.com post I did called “4 Illuminating Lessons From One of History’s Most Inventive Content Marketers“…

“Create content that your prospects and customers want — especially if it isn’t focused on your business: You must not only create great content, but you must also create content that your desired target group is craving and searching for. And this might seem counterintuitive, but the most powerful kind of content for you to create might actually be content that doesn’t directly focus on your business or industry at all.”

Do you want proof that it was content that marketed Coca-Cola effectively?

The original episode was such a powerful piece of content that Coca-Cola received thank you letters for sponsoring the special.

A Content Marketing Lesson for You

You might have thought you couldn’t use content marketing because you’re not a content creator of any kind.

Well, now you know that you can harness the power of content marketing without actually creating it.

You can hire content creators to create content for your business.

It doesn’t have to be someone at the level of Charles Schulz.

There are many content creators out there who would gladly create content for you.

Or maybe you thought, “No one really cares about content related to my business.”

Well, now you know that the content doesn’t have to directly focus on your business or industry.

It just needs to be content that resonates with your audience. That’s the key.

That’s what Coca-Cola did. 

And the result is content that was so popular that it still resonates with people 55 years later.

Stay Tuned

If you like Christmas and content marketing, then make sure to check back this week (or just subscribe below).

Because I will be posting some other articles that will reveal some other content marketing lessons that are related to Christmas.

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