Why nobody trusts fair & balanced content

I’ve mentioned this magnificent Robert Greene book before: “The 33 Strategies of War” Most people I know in business talk up Greene’s 48 Laws of Power. But in my opinion 33 Strategies of War is far more useful. It’s simply chock-full of great business advice. Including advice about copywriting, marketing, selling, influence, persuasion, customer service, negotiation, dealing with (and profiting from) trolls, building out email campaigns, hiring employees or team members, building a company, outselling your competition, seizing market share, list curation, acquiring new clients, making more sales, and the list goes on. None of these lessons are checklist “do this, this, and this…” style. And you have to be looking for the lessons. But they are all throughout the book. Take this part about content creation: (Context: Publisher Samuel Adams’ campaign to turn the colonists against the English) “The colonists had had a high opinion of the English, but not after Adams’s relentless campaign. To succeed, Adams had to resort to exaggeration, picking out and emphasizing the cases in which the English were heavy-handed. His was not a balanced picture; he ignored the ways in which the English had treated the colonies rather well. His goal was not to be fair but to spark a war, and he knew that the colonists would not fight unless they saw the war as just and the British as evil. In working to spoil your enemy’s moral reputation, do not be subtle. Make your language and distinctions of good and evil as strong as possible; speak in terms of black and white. It is hard to get people to fight for a gray area.” There is literally centuries of wisdom in that for the content creator. Nobody cares about much less remembers “fair & balanced.” Yes, they may emotionally respond to the term. But fair & balanced content = boring content. Boring content = little or no engagement with your content. Little or no engagement with your content = little Tommy gets no toys for Christmas. Something else to think about: There’s no passion in fair & balanced. And, I would argue such content is inherently dishonest anyway. At the very best you’ll be ignored. At the very worst your enemies will simply use it against you. And of course, if you apply this idea to what I teach in Email Players I suspect you’ll be quite pleased with the results, sales, and engagement you get. More on that here: [https∶//www.EmailPlayers.com]( Ben Settle This email was sent by Ben Settle as owner of Settle, LLC. Copyright © 2023 Settle, LLC. All Rights Reserved. No part of this email may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from Settle, LLC. Click here to [unsubscribe]( Settle, LLC PO Box 1056 Gold Beach Oregon 97444 USA