The Power of Words

My friend and mentor at What Do I Do With My Life blog emailed this video. It’s a great example of “show not tell” in terms of emphasizing the importance of words. Besides the obvious message, what else can we learn from this video?

1. If everyone is doing it, you won’t stand out for doing it too. 

As a homeless person, the objective is clear: get people to donate money. But how do you get pedestrians to feel sympathy instead of disdain and annoyance? Instead of the typical sign, the homeless man’s new message stops people in their tracks because they suddenly realize how lucky they are. In the context of having vision and health, a couple cents (or dollars) doesn’t seem like much to share with a blind person.

2. Create interesting content that’s not all about you (or your brand). 

The video has over 8 million views so far. If this were the marketing department at Purple Feather with bullet points about why you should hire them as online content specialists, it would probably have 8 views (from the employees themselves).

3. Classical piano music turns people into emotional softies.

This conjecture is based on the number of people who commented on YouTube saying that they “felt chills” and “teared up” from this. Go forth and use with caution.

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