To paraphrase one of the greatest self-made men of all time:
“If you want to make money – go and watch every film with box office takings of $100,000,000 or more.”
A mantra for money that I live and die by to this day.
Why?
Well simple…
For a film to sell that many tickets, it must be doing something right.
Not only that but to get that many bums, on that many seats it must also be getting people talking, referring and recommending.
Funnily enough, and at the weekend, it’s why me and Emma re-watched Lethal Weapon three.
Now, back in 1992, this Mel Gibson Classic did $319,700,000 at the box office.
A 10X return on the £35m they spent to make the thing.
So, here’s the interesting thing you’ll notice if you watch that film closely.
It’s built on a formula.
A formula that since then, has been used to make money in movies hand over fist:
• Five minutes of talking.
• Car chase.
• Five minutes of talking.
• Explosion.
• Five minutes of talking.
• Fistfight.
… Or in other words, EVERY five minutes exciting shit goes down.
Net result – people stay glued to the screen.
An important and instructive lesson for any self-made man of value, when it comes to marketing in 2022.
See, right now there is a war on your customer’s eyeballs.
A war that’s made worse by the fact that competition is high and attention spans are low.
A state of affairs that means most men in our shoes would be wise to start considering how they keep customers sticky, engaged and paying attention – above everything else.
Because in my experience the longer you can keep someone’s attention the more likely they are to buy.
The best way to do that?
Simple.
Be exciting – even if what you do is dull as dishwater.
Consider that the art and science of consistently injecting personality into what you sell and how you market.
That means strategically placing the equivalent of fistfights, car chases and explosions on your website, in your posts and on your emails so that people sit up and pay attention.
After all and if history has taught us anything, it’s that in times like these the boring will always end up broke.
Make More. Provide More. Be More.
Charlie Hutton
