You’ve got 6 words to make it hit

Just listened to Neal Brennan interview Jerry Seinfeld.

And in that interview, Jerry reveals a very important marketing lesson.

One that is sure to make your writing more impactful, more memorable, and more likely to move people to action because it ties so deeply into the universal power of language that make comedy and marketing so similar, so powerful, and so effective on the human psyche.

As a child, Jerry never imagined he’d want to do comedy.

In fact, even though he was fascinated by comedians, he never really knew what they did. He thought they were all these crazy astronauts that just walked around all day ad libbing and saying funny things. It was absurd he thought, that anyone could be that funny all day long.

Never-the-less, they fascinated him.

But, he was also fascinated by something else in his early childhood.

Advertising.

Looking back, here’s was he had to say:

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“Great advertising always fascinated me because of the brevity. You’ve got 6 words and you’ve got to make it hit. Same as a joke.”

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But still, he never imagined himself really doing either until one day, a single line in a book changed his mind.

The book was called:

Ladies and Gentleman, Lenny Bruce!!

It explores the tumultuous life of one of the most controversial comics who ever lived. It follows his rise to fame in San Francisco, his fearless fight against censorship, his struggle with drug addiction, and the personal battles that ultimately shaped, and shattered, his career.

While none of that was very interesting to young Jerry…

He said one line in that book changed his life forever.

One night, after a show, Lenny Bruce calls him mom and says, “Mom, I tried out a new bit last night.”

“A bit?” Jerry thought…

“You mean it’s all made up? They’re just doing an act? I could do that…”

And thus, a legend was born.

Jerry started doing standup at 22. Within a few years, he landed his first spot on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. And the rest, as they say, is history…

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“And you wanna be my latex salesman?”

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In comedy, just like in marketing, you’ve got 6 words and you’ve got to make ‘em hit.

But those 6 words aren’t just pulled out of thin air.

They’re pulled from countless hours of writing, and refining, and human observation.

So if you want to make your marketing hit this Black Friday…

Grab a copy of my Legendary Writing Guide (and you’ll get a double feature next week when I release the updated version alongside my entire Threads Organic Traffic strategy so you can attract your audience, grow your email list, and sell your offers and services by writing on Threads).

Here’s the link:

https://kevinhood.me/legendary

Your pal,

Kevin Hood