How I create emotion you can feel through the screen
Easy Read
Fan Ho was one of the most mesmerising street photographers of the 1950s and 60s.
If you’ve not seen his work I recommend a quick Google search. (After you read this)
His images were often a collision of the unexpected, framed cleverly against the backdrops and textures of Hong Kong.
He had an eye for creating drama and cinema with his compositions. And the patience to wait for the most decisive moments.
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Smoke or steam shrouding the subject, alleyways bathed in shadows, light leaking through the structures of narrow alleyways.
But perhaps what made his work more intensely human was his obsession with people: the vendors, kids playing, folks taking a break.
Moments that captured the soul of the city, the daily lives of the citizens, the different dimensions there.
Dimensions only made possible by Fan Ho’s prolific ability to capture the reality of those humans in the streets. And bring that reality to life, in depth, through the stories he tells in his photography.
This aspect of dimensions = reality is a huge part of copywriting and marketing.
To create emotion you can feel through the screen …
… your writing must have dimension. And I don't mean smoke and shadows and people. I mean you need to get to the real benefit of your copy. You need to dimensionalise.
Unfortunately most average marketers speak with a self-serving, flatulent pomposity about the features of their product … never getting to the benefit it has for the customer.
Or they get to the benefit but get stuck on its functionality and what the feature does for the user.
You must go further.
Your goal is to make everything feel more real.
The problem you’re solving. What happens if you don’t solve it. Your solution for the way out and why they should take it.
The more realism you inject, the more likely it is that you’ll get response.
You do that is by dimensionalising.
Let’s say, for example …
you were selling Fan Ho’s Afternoon Chat photo as a print.
Feature: The photo is a large print so it’ll cover a big chunk of the wall.
Benefit: The photo will be an eye-grabber any time you have a visitor.
That’s the functional benefit. But we can go deeper by asking …
“Yeah, but what does that really mean?”
Well because the photo grabs the attention of visitors it’ll spark conversation about the print.
“Yeah, but what does that really mean?”
That means I'll be able to tell them about Fan Ho’s work and appear more cultured and an authority on his photography.
“Yeah, but what does that really mean?”
So because I can speak about his work people will think I’m intelligent and be impressed by my taste and sophistication.
Bing-pot!
You see how we went from it’ll grab the attention of guests to it’ll stroke the ego of the prospect?
Suddenly you’re not selling the print anymore but the status and sophistication that comes with owning such a renowned piece.
Which — I think you’ll agree — is much more interesting.
