In an earlier post, I mentioned and explained the “Keep It Simple” trigger as one of of the 30 motivational prompts I’ll be covering in this present series of posts. I just want to point out here that keeping it simple in no way means making it boring. Yawn-some copy is the polar opposite of what you want to be producing when you write.
If you make things too easy for people, they’ll get bored and tune out. You have to be sure to engage them mentally in your presentation, whether it’s on paper, on screen, or standing before an audience.
What does your mind “do” when you think about the following things…
An airplane taking off…
Show and Tell…
Crossword Puzzles…
Jigsaw puzzles…
Slip n Slides…
Slingshots…
Pogo Sticks…
Hula Hoops…
Slinkies…
Rubik’s Cubes…
If you’re at all like me, your mind “perks up.” You can almost feel your synapses (or whatever the heck those things are) firing up and saying, “Listen up! This is going to get fascinating!”
The above things engage us mentally. They require more energetic brain power. The Slinky, hula hoop, pogo stick and airplane cue our understanding of physics; the puzzles cue our knowledge of design and logic. Most of the things I listed cue your recollections of fun in the sun as kids with your friends and families.
Some psychologists would call “mental engagement” SEE‘s (short for Significant Emotional Events). They mesmerize us to a degree; our earliest childhood memories are considered SEE’s and usually include some kind of trauma or other intense emotional experience: an injury, arrival of a newborn sibling, etc. Mental engagement requires (and usually effortlessly achieves) intense acknowledgement of something.
Whenever you can seamlessly/artfully (not artificially) add a little suspense or mystery into your copy, you’ll engage your reader. Other ways of engaging your audience: use cadence and rhythm (the musical aspects of a piece) and alliteration (“three slippery snakes slid swiftly south”).
Examples…
“You’ll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent.” (It’s simply the musicality–rhyme and meter–here that causes additional mental engagement.)
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
“Rubber baby buggy bumpers.”
“She sells seashells by the seashore.”
The Do Re Mi Song (Doe, Ray, Me)
“Think Different.”
“Intel Inside…”
“What happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas.”
Don’t bore your prospects with “just the facts, Ma’am.” Engage them. Get playful with them (within the bounds of professionalism, of course.) Have fun and they will, too.
Ask them to imagine…to consider… to experience.
Invite them in, don’t drag them in. Give them a soft place to fall that intrigues and engages them, and you’ll do fine.
