What is this? When I read a book, I write summaries as I go. I started in July 2010 so the collection is small.
Peter's Notes for...

Pop! Stand Out In Any Crowd

Sam Horn

How to stand out in any crowd

Overview

In today’s information-saturated age, people are often too preoccupied to notice what you’re offering unless it’s packaged and presented appealingly enough to break through all the noise.

The Goal Is To Break Out, Not Blend In

When people ask, “What do you do?” or “Why should I buy this?” it’s your job to make a long story short.

You can quickly tell if you’ve composed a sufficiently clear, concise, and compelling POP! message. Just share it with people and see if it passes the Jerry Maguire test.

The 9 Ws

You need to answer the “9 Ws” (or W9 as the book calls it) for your message/product/service:

  1. What am I offering?
  2. What problem does my idea or offering solve?
  3. Why is it worth trying and buying?
  4. Who is my target audience?
  5. Who am I and what are my credentials?
  6. Who are my competitors and how am I different from them?
  7. What resistance or objections will people have to this?
  8. What is the purpose of my pitch?
  9. When, where, and how do I want people to take action?

Significant assistance and guidance for each question is given in the book.

Techniques

Anytime we elicit a laugh, people are more likely to like us and whatever it is we’re offering.

Next time you’re tempted to trot out a trite truism, turn it on its head as Michael did and pleasantly surprise your audience. A dog walking company’s slogan went: “We’re more than just a walk around the block!”

The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth. - Niels Bohr

Alliteration can make you instantly eloquent.

Never sacrifice clear for clever.

Keeping Their Interest Once You’ve Got It

Open eyes, ears, hearts, and minds with Aha! quotes.

I quote others only the better to express myself. - Montaigne

Blurb

I have been asked to write a blurb about this book. I figured I might as well write it here!

POP! Stand Out In Any Crowd, by Sam Horn, is a practical guide to communicating your ideas and messages in a way that they’ll “stand out from the crowd” and be easily remembered. At its core, it’s about branding and communication, though these topics aren’t formally discussed at all. Instead, practical walkthroughs and examples of 20 or so branding and communications techniques are given and you’re shown how to use them on your own ideas, products, and services right away.

The rationale for the ideas in the book is that talent and quality are important, but unless you can deliver your message in a Purposely, Original, and Pithy way (the “P.O.P.” of the book’s title) you’ll be fighting a losing battle against more solid brands and communicators. POP! shares the techniques behind catchy brands like Freakonomics, Eats, Shoots, and Leaves and Aflac and demonstrates how you can use them too.

Because POP! is a practical book that you can work through, Horn implores you to “answer the 9 Ws” for your product/message/service or whatever it is you want to communicate. These 9 Ws are questions, as follows:

  1. What am I offering?
  2. What problem does my idea or offering solve?
  3. Why is it worth trying and buying?
  4. Who is my target audience?
  5. Who am I and what are my credentials?
  6. Who are my competitors and how am I different from them?
  7. What resistance or objections will people have to this?
  8. What is the purpose of my pitch?
  9. When, where, and how do I want people to take action?

Significant assistance and guidance for each question is given in the book, and from your answers to these, you will eventually come up with a large list of “core words” that you can use with the techniques shared in the book.

The POP! techniques are nearly all related to words and names. Some of the best include:

These points are merely a single toe dipped in the water of the depth of techniques covered in POP!

Once you’re done coming up with names, slogans, and metaphors, Horn presents a litmus test for a successful message called the “Jerry Maguire” test (this, in itself, is clever, memorable naming at play). If you give your elevator pitch, tell people your title, slogan, or tagline, and their response is immediate, interested or visceral, you’re on to a winner. And so it goes with POP!

Horn practices what she preaches throughout the book by using lots of catchy titles, slogans, and metaphors but, importantly, she uses these devices to dispense solid advice and techniques we can all use to promote ourselves and our ideas.

This book on Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk. If I got it right, I should get a small cut if you buy a copy, so thanks in advance.