Brace yourself. Kmart is basically extinct. It had a good run but shoulda surrendered to a hungry Sam Walton twenty years earlier instead of dragging this thing out. RIP. 

We’ll try to move on with our Feature Story about getting your marketing message heard. More specifically, finding ways to make people pause long enough to hear you out. I’ll drop 7 ways to do it based on my brutal experiences talking with my neighbor Johnny - actually, being talked at by Johnny.

That story will lead into…

• The Knowledge Base  

• Self Help (self-defense)

• Facts & Stats 

• Get Hacking (free solo fails)

Now for the Feature Story below.

Stop the Scroll

How can you get people to stop, drop, and scroll back up to your advertisement?

It is possible but not easy because the web has never had so many distractions - with more being built in daily.

I’ve got 7 solid ways to stop the scroll coming up. First, let me testify that I feel your pain.

My neighbor is a good guy and real friendly. But he has little interest in what I have to say - ok, zero interest.

I’ve learned to just let him talk, pretty much giving up on having any input myself. 

He’s mildly entertaining and never runs out of stuff to tell me, mainly because 40% of it, he makes up!

The only way I can get ole Johnny to pause is to mention some gossip. 

Gossip stops the scroll.

So find ways to use gossip and controversy in your ad headlines. 

Gossip and drama have been irresistible ever since humans advanced past grunting and pointing - perhaps before.

The only other way I can get Johnny to pause and pay attention to me? I ask him a question about something I know he cares about and something I’m also interested in. At least this way, if I can’t slide a word in edgewise, I learn something.

“Pretend the person talking to you knows something you don’t.” ~ Jordan Peterson 

This means you have to find ways to personalize your ads. Yeah, personalization has become as cliche as Taylor Swift writing bad boyfriend songs and dating meathead tight-ends that play for the Chiefs and do a stupid podcast with their brother!

But when you have options to make an ad personal, use them. This is stupid-easy for advertising a local business. Just put the name of the city or county in the headline. 

Heck, mention a popular local landmark in the headline. 

That’s proven to stop the scroll - it grabs attention every time. Proof?

The loudest roar at any concert is when the lead singer says, “What’s up Dallas!” or inserts the city’s name into one of their live songs. It’s almost like cheating, it works so well. 

It grabs attention and gets the audience on the band’s side. Re-read that last sentence. I’ll wait…

…⌚

Now here’s that list for creating scroll-stopping ads.

7 Ways to Stop the Scroll 

1. Have your ad change as people scroll

2. Subtle animations can grab attention without being annoying

3. Use a color scheme that stands out from surrounding content  

4. Put a unique or odd benefit in the headline

5. Add quizzes, polls, or other interactive features

6. Use white space strategically

7. Use images of people making eye contact

What about getting people to pause and look at your ad in the real world?

Stop the Scroll IRL

People are nearly as distracted in real life as online. Shocking that more concussions don’t happen due to walking smartphone-hypnotized.

So, you might need extra ways to get people to look up at your offline ads.

3 ways to make people in the real world notice your advertisement:

1. Optical illusions like those 3D art displays on sidewalks and streets

2. Interactive augmented reality (AR) displays that come to life when viewed through a smartphone camera. What the heck am I talking about? Nike example and a Tommie Jeans one.

3. Place advertisements in unusual locations or create them in extreme sizes (XL or X-tiny) 

As for billboards, while driving?

The only ones I notice are ones with weird shapes. 

A traditional rectangle billboard gets roundly ignored. And now mocked in Inbox Hacking.

One billboard that caught my eye recently was a caped lawyer with his silhouette rising about the top line of the billboard (like this).

Another advertised a tree service with a “man” climbing a rope on the side of the sign.

Those are the tips I’ve got, but remember…

You Never Know What’ll Stop the Scroll

I won’t insult your intelligence with the “T” word (test). I’ll just say — if you don’t try different ways to get people to notice your advertisement, you’ll miss out on big wins.

Here’s how you know that’s true.

“The stories that work best are the stories that are most authentically true and local. And when it does work, nobody — including me, including us — predicted it.” ~Netflix boss Ted Sarandos

If someone could predict which ads will be effective, they would just run those all the time, right?

No one can. Not even the most respected marketing expert on the planet.

Let’s wrap the Feature up with 11 more apps for using AR to engage IRL shoppers and stop the scroll.

(One last tip you probably won’t take. Spend two to three hours scrolling through all the socials and jot down the ads that make you stop scrolling and why.

How do Fortune 500 companies grow their email list?

Fortune 500 companies put people on their email lists—people who don’t fill out forms but are browsing those companies’ websites. 

Major companies like Amazon & Walmart collect email addresses this way (identity resolution), so it means two things. It’s CAN-SPAM compliant & the best way to grow your list in 2024.

Schedule a Smart Recognition demo to grow your list like household brands do. Platform is for U.S. traffic only & you need roughly 15k in monthly traffic.

_{*In partnership with Smart Recognition.}

Now, more juicy Knowledge…

Self-Help

The only person who can protect you from the smorgasbord of vices of this world is… you, because some people actively push vices on you, and others are cheering for your demise.

Two examples…

I hurt my arm waterskiing a few years back. Went to the ER. X-ray showed only a sprain. I said cool and turned down the pain meds the doctor offered me. 

What awaited me at the ER checkout? A pain pill prescription. I tore it up and tossed it in the nurse’s trash can. Imagine if an addicted person trying to get clean was standing in my shoes. The doc either didn't care or thought he knew best.

Next example. Bernard Hopkins left prison hearing a prison guard laughing at him… “See you back here real soon, Bernard.”

Hopkins told the guard he was never coming back. Dude meant it. Never touched a cigarette, drug, or drink once he had his freedom back. He lived clean and went on to become a hall-of-fame boxing champion.

Facts & Stats

Bonus: _________ remains a monster after all these years, running 43% of the internet’s websites. Answer at end of email.

Get Hacking

A specific strategy to implement today

Coming up in Friday’s Inbox Hacking I plan to to focus on a 22-year TV success story.

That success means even more because it wouldn’t have been a hit without a key component — a partnership.

I’m not suggesting partnering up in a big venture. That usually goes down in flames - unless you’re a doctor, lawyer, or accountant. The rest of us aren’t smart enough to make partnerships work, I reckon. 

However, there’s zero downside to starting a new side project with a partner. No risk, because most new projects fail. That’s a fact jack! If you partner up, at least you’ll have someone to share a good failure story with.

You can also simply partner up with someone to promote an offer. 

No one’s more against partnerships than me. Lots can go wrong. But often, going it alone, goes nowhere.

Inbox Hacking is read by go-gettin’ marketers like yourself and the legendary Bob Bly. I’m not above name-dropping, or anything really. Please share this newsletter.

Shane McLendon, Copy Kingpin 

Bonus Answer from Facts & Stats section: WordPress (Chartr)

P.S. 32% of respondents rated the Secret Service as “Excellent/Good.” I guess that gives hope to brands no matter how pitiful their service or product has become.