2+2 🩻 EBH

How do you tell someone without telling someone?

Today, my job is based on how well I can make readers of this newsletter think of a certain number.

Think it’s easy? It isn’t. Because if I write the number, you didn’t think it. You read it. If you saw a sign that said, "I am 17 feet tall,” that didn’t make you think you might be the height of one-story house, did it? No. You just read it. And chances are, you forgot it two seconds after you saw it.

So here is my challenge. How do I make you think of this particular number?

Well, I could tell you a story about how I knew a woman who really loved pens. I don’t know why, but she just loved them. Different styles. Different weights. Ballpoints, rollerballs, and even disposable fountain pens (which you probably didn’t know existed, but they do). Fancy ones, plain ones. She probably has more than a hundred around her house. You couldn’t walk past a stationary store without her going in.

Now, she and I went on a trip. At some point, I needed to write down a phone number on my hand and asked if she had a pen handy. She reached into her bag and handed me a super fancy ballpoint with red ink. But when I wrote on my hand, it didn’t take. The ink wouldn’t stick or something. So I asked if she had any others. And she started to pull a few out. I remember thinking to myself, who carries around so many pens to take a trip?! She gave me a fountain pen, which made a mess of my hand. While I was wiping the ink off as best I could, she put a highlighter in her hair as she rummaged through her bag. Finally, she handed me a rollerball with purple ink. I took it and wrote on the inside of my hand. Wouldn’t you know it? It was dead.

If I were to ask you how many pens this woman carried, what would you say? Because when I really needed one, the answer is zero.

Did I make you think of the number?

I bet I did.

I bet some small part of your brain was keeping count of all the pens in the story, envisioning the mess I had on my hands as this made-up woman handed me pens and you thought the number to yourself.

I made you think it.

Not only that, you’re going to see this number everywhere today. It will pop up in emails and on your social media feeds. It might be the number of the special you order for dinner. It might be the season or the episode of the show you watch before bed. It might be the number of bananas in your kitchen right now.

You’re going to think you’re surrounded by this number.

And it’s only because I wrote you an email that made you think of it.

Now, what if I weren’t talking about numbers? What if instead of a magic number, I needed to get you to think of this company as a place where people can do their best work? Or that people are exceedingly kind to one another? Or that they offer just crazy bonuses for doing amazing work?

Wouldn’t that be a really useful trick to learn?

Getting people to come to their own conclusion about the company I represent can’t be done as easily as saying, “We’re kind!” or “Do your best work here!” I need to lead you to an idea such that you make that thought occur in your mind.

Getting someone to think it makes it stick. It makes the idea last.

Do you know how I know?

Because that number I wanted you to think of?

I still haven’t said what it was and you’re thinking about it again.

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On one hand, you’ve got all your social media where you burn a lot of calories trying to grab attention and get people interested in your company and jobs.

On the other hand, you’ve got your career site which you haven’t updated in two years that tells a completely different story than the one you’re posting on LinkedIn.

Yikes.

Let’s fix that. Join me for Clinch’s webinar on measuring your brand activation across social AND your career site. It’s free!

***This Newsletter Contains No ChatGPT***

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