A glass of Prosecco, a book and a mahi salad, overlooking the Gulf of Mexico on a Tuesday…

“She must be a local” I said to my husband.

“Who else comes to an oceanside restaurant midday, alone, with a book and orders a glass of Prosecco and a mahi salad?”

*I mean that definitely works for vacation too, maybe it was an Eat Pray Love situation but regardless..

She was probably a local (and how ridiculously amazing does that sound by the way?)

So what does this have to do with marketing?

She caught my attention.

Marketing 101 = Get their attention

It’s actually pretty simple. Whether you’re creating a reel about real estate, crafting a caption that will provide value to your followers or sharing behind the scenes of your job..

(PS: If you’re a local real estate agent in a vacation destination and want to show off how great it is to live there, please share content like that – you eating your salad with a glass of Prosecco by the ocean at lunch – and you’ll attract clients like crazy!) 🥗🌊🥂📖

If you want someone to consume that piece of content, you first have to get them to PAY ATTENTION. That means you need A HOOK.

If you want to get their attention, which you have less than 2 seconds to do by the way, you need to hook them instantly.

So let’s break down the subject line of an email I recently clicked open on (unlike so many others that I auto-delete as quickly as possible)

I’ll show you why it was a great hook and what you can do to have better hooks in your future content!

The email subject line said “How to Write Bonkers Good Emails”

Here are 3 reasons why that pretty simple subject line worked (remember, this applies to all pieces of content, not just email subject lines):

1 – SPECIFICITY: This spoke directly to someone who wants to WRITE BETTER EMAILS.

It wasn’t broad like “how to build a brand” or “how to grow your business”

It was specific. If you have no interest in writing emails, keep scrolling but for that part of her audience who does want to write better emails, she got them, HOOK line and sinker 🎣

2 – INTRIGUE: She doesn’t just say “how to write good emails” she says how to write “bonkers good” emails. Well bonkers good is like really good so I need to know what she’s going to tell me now!

3 – RESULTS DRIVEN: She says “for a living”. She’s not saying “learn how to write better emails” for fun! She’s saying you can write emails so good that you can make more money because of it!

Tell. Me. More. – so I clicked “open”

Here are some takeaways for your next piece of content!

1 – If you want to HOOK people, you can’t create content for “every single person”, you have to get specific.

2 – Don’t be afraid to tell someone HOW you can help them. Just don’t be icky about it. Be interesting. Give it a twist. Make them want to know more.

3 – Provide massive value and do it way more than you “sell” – Actually, by focusing on providing value, the selling becomes effortless.

So this email about writing bonkers good emails was actually an email selling her course on how to write emails – brilliant.

HOWEVER, she constantly delivers bucket loads of value (through her emails). Therefore…

-I wasn’t surprised she was selling a program

-I wasn’t annoyed

-I didn’t hit unsubscribe (I rarely unsubscribe from marketing emails because I find it fascinating to dissect them and find what works based on my own user behavior like I’m sharing with you now).

What did I do?

I bought her course!

Actually, I already owned it from a prior bonkers good email she sent about it but this email prompted me to go back and revisit it again! *It kept her top of mind in my brain.

The moral of the story is this: If you want to get someone’s attention online or in their inbox, you have to start with a hook.

Let’s do a practice round – which one would you click on faster, A or B?

A – How to be a good real estate agent

B – How to be a bonkers good listing agent and double your referrals

Let’s do another one – again, A or B?

A – How to buy a house?

B – How to buy a house before you turn 30 without giving up your daily latte (or putting 20% down)

I hope this was a fun exercise and that you are inspired to write creative hooks for your social media content!

THE BINGE WORTHY SIP LIST:

To Sip on with AirPods – Words, Phrases & Tactics to Never Use In Your Marketing

The cottage from The Holiday is available to book *books ticket to England & packs suitcase with 7 books on my TBR list

A really good post on how to stop writing boring emails

7 Video Clip Prompts (in the caption of this reel)

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