word-sell-ii-adaptstrat-gas-carwash.JPG
(Even though I’m not eligible for a prize, I decided to post an entry for my nano contest.)

Joanna Young, in her contest podcast-post, actually put her finger on a very important point illustrated in the cartoon – words lead to action.

Now, my tagline is “It’s all about action”. Why? Because well chosen words lead to action. Now, there’s a rub in this. Good ideas which are expressed well lead to positive action. But bad ideas which are expressed well lead to negative action — sometimes very negative action. And good ideas expressed poorly lead to negative action. Sigh. One thing’s for sure — good or bad ideas, poorly expressed, lead nowhere.

So, as I ponder what I just wrote and reflect on Joanna’s contribution to this contest, I realize my tagline is wrong, or at least a simplification. It’s NOT all about action. It’s all about transforming good substance into the right words into positive action. Yes, I think that’s it, though it doesn’t make for a very snappy tagline.

Mr. Gas Station Guy starts off with a good idea — offering customers extra value. But poor words lead to negative actions. When he grows tired of eating $500 of gasoline per free carwash, he might change his sign to something like this –

FREE CAN OF CHEWING TOBACCO WITH $30 PURCHASE

Now his words are good, but the substance … well, I doubt if he’s going to reel in a lot of extra business on a chewing tobacco hook.

Once he realizes his chewing tobacco incentive isn’t worth spit, he might go back to his original good idea, hire a professional copywriter, and try –

FREE CAR WASH WITH $30 PURCHASE

By jove, I think we’ve got it. Good substance, good words, good action. Mr. Gas Station Guy reels in customers all over town, makes a fortune, and lives happily ever after.

All because of six words.

And substance.

And $5.00/gallon gas.