Like you, I see a lot of headlines every day.

They’re on adverts, emails, pop ups, newspapers, websites… you name it…

All in big bold lettering that begs you ‘LOOK AT ME!’

Of course, we cannot pay attention to all the headlines or we’d never get anything done (and go mad with information overload!)

So we ignore most of them and gravitate to the ones that irresistibly pique our interest.

Well, this week, there was one headline that stopped me in my tracks.

“Scientist calculates the size of a MEATBALL made from the entire human race –
and it’s a lot smaller than you think”

Erm… what?!

How can you NOT click on that to read the rest?

Despite being busy… and despite knowing EXACTLY how clickbait headlines work… I dove into the article, which was on the Daily Mail website (surprise surprise!)

The piece began…

“It’s the kind of question you might ask after a few too many wines at a dinner party.

How big would a meatball made from the entire human race be?

A mathematician has revealed the answer – and it’s a lot smaller than you probably think.”

“Okay, okay”, I thought, “Now I really need to know”.

So I scrolled down the page to get to the details like a junkie desperate for a fix.

It turned out that an anonymous mathematician on Reddit has done some calculations, based on the number of people on the planet, along with the body mass and density of the average human.

The scientist worked out that “If you blended all 7.88 billion people on Earth into a fine goo (density of a human = 985 kg/m3, average human body mass = 62 kg), you would end up with a sphere of human goo just under 1 km wide”.

Helpfully, the Mail put that into perspective for me…

The resulting meatball would be two-and-a-half times taller than New York’s Empire State Building, or three times the size of the Eiffel Tower.

Now, whatever you think of human meatballs and the Daily Mail, there is something irresistibly compelling about this story.

And not necessarily the story itself…

But the WAY it was presented.

Because it’s a masterclass in a bunch of proven persuasion techniques you could use yourself in ANY kind of home enterprise.

For example…

• If you want to create a blog post, website article, or email that gets attention, clicks and sales.
• If you need to put together an advert, sales promotion or press release for a product.
• If you need to make your course, eBook, manual or webinar compelling enough to keep your readers engaged.

These are occasions where you might take a few cues from the HUMAN MEATBALL.

Lesson one: Combine the Unexpected and the Specific

Humans are hardwired to stop and pay attention to unexpected, strange and oddly specific mental images.

So if someone were to say “Would you like to see what it would be like if all humans were turned into a giant meatball?”

You’d find it hard to ignore because it’s so unusual, you won’t have heard or seen anything like it all day.

The same is true of ANY headline.

For example, “How to Make Money from Home” is pretty unremarkable, right? Not interesting or unusual – and not really believable either.

But “How to Make £330 A Day from a Goat on a Skateboard,” would make more people take notice.

Why? Because the idea of a goat on a skateboard is really odd but also very specific, which indicates that this is something real.

What’s more, it comes with a specific income figure, which makes it sound much more genuine.

So always try to use precise figures to stand out and build trust.

Instead of: “We’ve helped thousands become successful” go for something like “We’ve helped 3,248 people launch their first digital product — including a 71-year-old ex-fireman in Chorley.”

It’s those intriguing details about the fireman that really draw attention!

And this does something else too…

Because by using the example of an elderly fireman who launched a digital product, it suddenly feels more likely that the reader could do this too.

Which brings me to the second lesson.

Lesson Two: Use the Language of the Everyday

The Mail article didn’t go straight into the maths and science aspect of the story…

After all, few are scanning the Mail website or social media for in-depth analysis of scientific issues – they’re looking for things that are relevant to their lives.

Instead, it began with a piece of copy designed to connect to the everyday experience of the reader, in a way that’s relatable and humorous.

“It’s the kind of question you might propose after a few too many wines at a dinner party.”

By taking this cheeky, irreverent angle, it cleverly eases the reader into what is – effectively – a story about a physics calculation.

The same applies to any instant where you need to get across statistics and facts.

Try not to let the reader sit and work things out themselves – they might get confused, misinterpret the data, or simply get bored.

Far better to frame statistics in the form of images.

In this case the Mail article gets across the physical dimensions of the hypothetical meatball with a few choice comparisons with the

Empire State Building and the Eiffel Tower.

These universally recognisable landmarks make the calculation clearly understandable to everyone.

For example, let’s imagine you want to sell a weight loss tracker designed for people who struggle to commit to a diet.

You could frame it like this: “It’s like having a no-nonsense best friend living in your phone, reminding you to put down the biscuit and pick up your walking shoes – without the guilt trip.”

Or let’s say you want to get across the fact that the average British person consumes around 8.4 grams of salt per day.

You might use this analogy: “That’s like shaking an entire mug’s worth of salt over your food every week.”

Always try to paint a picture of what the facts and stats might mean in the real world.

And of course, if you have the space to do so, you can sometimes use an actual picture to visualise for the reader what you’re trying to say – this is where AI tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney come in useful!

Lesson Three: Entice the Reader With a Promise

One final trick used by the Mail article about the size of a human race meatball was to lead with “A mathematician has revealed the answer – and it’s a lot smaller than you probably think.”

This is a great technique in ANY article or sales promotion because it makes a promise that the reader is going to find something out that’s surprising.

It works like a teaser… enticing the reader to scroll down to find out the answer.

You can use this in your own content to draw people in…

For example…

• “Most people overestimate how much money they need to start an online business. The real figure might shock you.”
• “This everyday spice has been shown to help lower blood sugar – and chances are, it’s already in your kitchen.”
• “You’re probably formatting your eBook the hard way. There’s a one-page cheat that makes Amazon’s ‘Look Inside’ feature pop—and it’s hidden in plain sight.”

With all of these, you’re ramping up the intrigue and compelling the reader to keep going through your copy to “close the loop” that you opened in your intro.

So there you have it!

Three valuable techniques that you could use to make your online content stand out and capture attention.

If you liked these tips and want to find out more, I have plenty more persuasion secrets I can share with you.

Just email me to let me know what you’re aiming to achieve and I can put together another issue on this subject very soon.