How many photos does a National Geographic photographer need to take in order to capture just the perfect image in their magazine? On average, about 1000. In other words, it takes a lot of trial and error, editing, and experimentation to get to perfection…about one in a thousand attempts for National Geographic.
When writing my book – Latino Link – I brainstormed and evaluated hundreds of title and subtitle ideas, in order to encapsulate the ideas in my book as succinctly as possible. How did I do that? I used the processes from Sam Horn’s book – POP!: Create the Perfect Pitch, Title, and Tagline for Anything
Every year Sam Horn picks the top brand names, taglines, book titles and trends that caught her attention, which helped their respective inventors or organizations stand out and get noticed.
The point? If you want to succeed, you need to stand out.
And one of the best ways to stand out is create a catchy phrase that builds buzz by turning everyone who sees it or hears it into a word-of-mouth ambassador who repeats it to others and takes it viral.
All of the phrases below showcase one of the 25 techniques in her book POP!: Create the Perfect Pitch, Title, and Tagline for Anything
And Sam Horn’s winners are:
1. Random Hacks of Kindness: Kudos to this worldwide gathering of tech types collaborating for the common good, and thanks to Nicholas Skytland of NASA for bringing this to my attention.
2. Stuffocating: This NURD (New Word) was coined by TV station TLC for their one hour special on the stifling impact of w-a-y too much stuff.
3. MEtailing: We want it and we want it our way. This online trend of letting people customize their own clothes, shoes and other products is a runaway (runway?) success.
4. Jeggings: Part jeans – part leggings. This Half & Half Word helped this product generate $180 million in sales, proving that NURDS are way more than word play; they’re bottom line profits.
5. Info-besity: We live in a society stuffed with information yet starved for epiphanies.
6. Refudiate: Sarah Palin’s “malaPOPism” received national media attention in which she was tweaked for her tweet where she mixed up (or did she?) “refute” and “repudiate.”
7. SHEconomy: Smart companies understand the power of the purse and are targeting this multi-billion dollar demographic. Props also to Marilynn Tanner Mobley’s BoomerHer.
8. Snowmageddon: What do you call it when 30 inches of snow are dumped on Washington DC and cause a weather apocalypse? An excellent example of a Half ‘n Half Term (like Snuba, Diabesity and Adultlescents).
9. You Had Me at Woof: Julie Klam’s book shows how “riffing off” pop culture can provide an unexpected twist to a familiar phrase. The result? A smile and a sale.
10. SerenDestiny: I admit it. I’m partial to this since it’s the title of my next book which is based on the premise that leading the life we’re born to live is no accident (serendipity); it’s a result of acting in alignment with our values and vision so we meet our best future halfway.
You can visit her blog – Serendestiny – to read more about her work.
