Are you not ENTERTAINING?

First off, I apologize to those of you who expected this at noon today. Life with a teething toddler got in the way. I will do my best to keep it consistent!

Now, on to the show.

Admit it:

Once you read the title of this newsletter, you clicked “open” wondering if you would see this:

Now that we’ve got that out of the way (although maybe we’ll come back to it?):

This Greenblast is about entertainment.

However, this article is not for entertainers as such: actors, comedians, musicians (or mimes? do they count?) etc.

This is for entrepreneurs (as usual). Particularly, those of you who’ve already decided to speak and write in public to help grow your business.

(If you haven’t decided that yet, read this article to consider why you should.)

When sharing content online or speaking “IRL” as the kids say, we’re told by content creation gurus to do at least 1 of 3 things with our content:

1. Educate

2. Entertain

3. Inspire

This is nice, simple advice.

But something about it always bugged me, and I think I know what.

The fact is you can be entertained without being educated (think of the Marvel movies).

You can also be educated without being inspired (YouTube videos on how to fix problems with your car come to mind).

And you can be inspired without really learning much (many motivational speeches come to mind. Here’s one of my favourites since you asked.)

But you simply CANNOT be educated OR inspired without being ENTERTAINED.

Huh?! What the FUCK do you mean Will? That’s ridiculous!

Well, I’ll tell ya.

The verb “to entertain” comes from the French, via Latin, for:

• Inter - among

• and Tenere - to hold

Therefore, as my dad (a writer, actor, and etymology nerd like myself) told me:

“To entertain means to hold an audience’s collective attention.”

That’s the problem with our current understanding of entertainment.

We usually think of “entertainment” as music concerts, weirdly fascinating TikTok videos, or Disney movies - all good examples of what people find entertaining - but because we’ve classified entertainment as show biz or silly time-wasting social content, we don’t apply the principles of HOW these forms of media HOLD our attention to our own content.

So, how DO they hold our attention, and how can YOU?

Here is a basic way you can look at creating your content, whether speaking or writing, to HOLD your audience’s attention.

It’s called “open loop” marketing (or writing).

It’s also similar to techniques that creators from South Park to Rick and Morty use.

It refers to the constant process of asking and answering “questions” in a piece of writing, music, or video.

Here’s an example from a piece of copy I wrote for LinkedIn:

“How much of our communication is non-verbal?

Most people think it’s 97%.

But does that sound right to you?

Imagine reading an email and telling your boss:

I only understood 3% of that message because there was no body language or tone of voice.

How quickly would you get fired?”

If you notice, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th AND 6th lines ALL pose questions or leave something unanswered, prompting the reader to want to KEEP READING.

Thus, you have HELD their collective attention, or “entertained” them if you will.

Another way to use this:

Open loops can also refer to “story starters”, quick one-liners that hook a reader into a story. Example:

“When I was 19, I injured my back for the first time.”

This immediately triggers a few things in the audience’s mind:

• “19? That’s young!”

• “Back injuries? They suck!”

• “For the first time? I need to know more.“

Which is all great. And you can use this technique not just at the beginning - where most people think their HOOK should be - but throughout your pitch, presentation or blog post.

And what’s another 4-letter H-word for HOOK?

HOLD!

One word of warning:

Please, at SOME point, close the goddam loop.

Nothing is more annoying than having someone pique your curiosity and then leave you without resolution.

People who say:

“If you want to learn what happens next, follow me/buy my course etc.”

… deserve a special rung in hell.

Hell is full of marketers.

Now, that was fun wasn’t it??

And so I’ll ask you again:

That’s all for this week!

If you liked this week’s Greenblast, and you don’t hate me for being late, please reply YES to the email, it helps a lot to know people are reading and it tells Gmail I’m not a spammer.

Thanks and love to you all!