WhatFinger


So tell your story, and tell it visually, and tell it well.

Is a picture worth a thousand words?



“Television and movies are full of immediate scenes, visible to the eye, ready to be experienced first hand. This has influenced stories and novels more than we realize. Twentieth-century audiences now insist on seeing what they are reading.”
That quote is from the great writer, editor and publisher, Sol Stein, and is taken from his must-read book for writers, Stein on Writing. He wrote the book for writers of both fiction and non-fiction. Here’s a paragraph from my detective thriller, Mind Games, (which was recently optioned for a motion picture – can I get an “Amen!”) The intersection of Bancroft and Telegraph is next to the South Gate of the UC Berkeley campus and, green light in their favor, was awash with students hustling to their next class or cappuccino. As I sat at the red light, a bare-bellied Asian co-ed being towed by a Harlequin Great Dane walked in front of my car talking on a cell phone. She was wearing hip-hugger jeans that apparently stayed aloft by being Velcroed to her pubic bone, but turned not one male head in the crosswalk, which made me feel like a dirty old man. Visual. At least that is the idea.

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What works for fiction can also work for non-fiction, including marketing text. Here is a paragraph from an article on positioning bottled water brands. With evocative retro graphics, the Liquid Salvation label sports either a sexy she devil or a Betty-Grable-like seductress with one of the flasks strapped to her upper thigh behind a red garter. “Pure Water for an impure world.” The point is that writing should be as visible as possible. This applies to marketing and press copy as well. And it does not have to be in the micro-sized Internet bites called tweets. Nothing the matter with those 140-character thought molecules but readers want information that they can use. And that can take several well-chosen words. Did you know that the average content length for a page that ranks in a top 10 position is 2,000 words? Or that if a post is greater than 1,500 words, it receives 68.1% more tweets and 22.6% more Facebook likes? So tell your story, and tell it visually, and tell it well. But don’t forget that visuals rule: articles with images get 94% more views; using videos on landing pages can increase conversions by 86%; videos get 267% more links than normal posts; and 20% of people will read text while 80% of people will watch a video with the same exact content. Whether text, image or video, the message that gets delivered should be based on surveys of your target market. Having found out what your public needs and wants, you can craft your message to parallel that demand. As long as you deliver what you promise in your promotion, you have a winning formula. Our surveys enable you to write copy that is visible to the eye as if the reader is watching Leonardo and Kate grip the railing on the stern of the Titanic as it slowly submerges into the freezing North Atlantic. It’s a visual world today. Surveys help you create the images for your marketing that parallel the mind of your public. We wish you a TRIUMPHANT 2015!


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Bruce Wiseman -- Bio and Archives

Bruce Wiseman is the co-founder of a company that oversees the business and financial affairs of some of the biggest names in Hollywood. He writes and speaks on matters of international finance and banking with particular attention to the oppressive activities of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Bruce has also been an advisor and consultant on the subject of market research, branding and positioning.


He writes a market research newsletter on market research and positioning for such publications as Government Technology and Hotel and Motel Management.


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