Keynote Clarity for Thought Leaders with Jon Cook

There’s a good chance you’re listening to Keynote Clarity because you have an Alexa device, like an Echo, an Echo Dot, or an Echo Show.

You may even be wondering, “How do I create and launch my own flash briefing?”

Over the past six months, our team at Keynote Content has created a turnkey flash briefing production system.

There are three key phases in our Flash Briefing development:

Phase 1 is where we focus on your overall flash briefing strategy: what’s the name of your new flash briefing, who is it for, what are the daily themes, and how do I know which equipment to use to create a great audio experience?

Phase 2 is about your initial buildout and test month. We do all of the work to produce your flash briefing and walk with you every step of the way through your launch. The only responsibilities you have is paying for your hosting provider and providing raw audio files for us to produce, schedule, and populate to Alexa devices around the world.

Phase 3 is where the ongoing monthly production of your flash briefing. Just like with Phase 2, the only thing you have to do is provide us with a month’s worth of raw audio files we can use.

If you’d like to learn more, you can check out alexaflashbriefings.com to see our process and sign up if it looks like a great fit for your message. Again, go to alexaflashbriefings.com and check it out today to see how our team can help you create, launch, and grow your flash briefing.

The Keynote Clarity for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing is presented by Jon Cook, founder of Keynote Content. Jon and his team help thought leaders, namely speakers, coaches, and consultants, craft and share their messages to better serve their audiences. Connect with Jon and his team at Keynote Content by visiting keynotecontent.com. You can subscribe to The Keynote Clarity for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing by visiting bit.ly/KeynoteClarity and enabling it there. Then, all you have to say is, “Alexa, what’s my flash briefing?”

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Jon Cook, host of Keynote Clarity.

I started recording videos using a teleprompter about six years ago. At first, it was tough. There’s a learning curve to using a teleprompter, and for me, it took a few videos before I was comfortable enough to truly be myself without looking like I was just reading a script.

Can a teleprompter actually help you make better videos? The answer is it depends. I know, that’s a cop-out answer, but it’s the truth. There are many factors to creating a great video, and a teleprompter is only one of these factors.

Other factors such as the script you’re using, the lighting, the sound quality, your outfit, your body language, those are just as important as the teleprompter.

In the end though, I have more confidence creating videos if I know what I want to say and it’s on the screen for me.

If you haven’t tried a teleprompter before, I recommend starting with bullet points instead of an actual script. It gives you an idea of where you want to go next without having to read every word and stay true to how you show up on screen.

Give it a try and good luck!

The Keynote Clarity for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing is presented by Jon Cook, founder of Keynote Content. Jon and his team help thought leaders, namely speakers, coaches, and consultants, craft and share their messages to better serve their audiences. Connect with Jon and his team at Keynote Content by visiting keynotecontent.com. You can subscribe to The Keynote Clarity for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing by visiting bit.ly/KeynoteClarity and enabling it there. Then, all you have to say is, “Alexa, what’s my flash briefing?”

When I went to launch my first online course five years ago, I focused so much on the design of the sales page.

What button color should I pick? Is that the ‘perfect’ image for this section? What color should the headline be?

I thought I hit save on the draft of the page, but by chance, I accidentally published my sales page. It stayed up for an entire weekend, and I didn’t know my mistake until I saw a sale come through.

It occurred to me that people were willing to overlook half-baked design or even bad design if they connected with the message on the page.

Now, I’m not saying design doesn’t matter at all - of course it does - but it’s more important to focus on the copy.

Is it absolutely clear the value you’re offering through your sales page? Clarity in your copy will lead to conversions on a bland-looking sales page.

Focus on your message first, then add in great design. If you have to choose though, go with a simple design and a great story to tell.

You will generate more sales with great copy and a bad design over bad copy with a great design.

The Keynote Clarity for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing is presented by Jon Cook, founder of Keynote Content. Jon and his team help thought leaders, namely speakers, coaches, and consultants, craft and share their messages to better serve their audiences. Connect with Jon and his team at Keynote Content by visiting keynotecontent.com. You can subscribe to The Keynote Clarity for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing by visiting bit.ly/KeynoteClarity and enabling it there. Then, all you have to say is, “Alexa, what’s my flash briefing?”

Picture yourself waking up this morning. What motivated you to get out of bed? Was it inspiration or obligation? Your audience needs to know why you do what you do.

If you’re like many speakers, coaches, and consultants, you constantly face the question of “Is this all worth it? Why do I keep doing this?”

Think about your audience, the people you get to serve.

Think about how their lives and businesses, marriages, families, mindsets, finances, schedules, whatever area you impact, think about how your clients have better lives because of you and your Message.

That’s what I want you to hold onto today: you are making a difference. Even if it’s only one person, you changed their life.

Now, go find someone else today that you can help with your Message. You don’t have to make a life-changing impact, but you do have an opportunity to make a difference.

Hold onto that inspiration - you are making a difference - and keep pushing forward!

The Keynote Clarity for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing is presented by Jon Cook, founder of Keynote Content. Jon and his team help thought leaders, namely speakers, coaches, and consultants, craft and share their messages to better serve their audiences. Connect with Jon and his team at Keynote Content by visiting keynotecontent.com. You can subscribe to The Keynote Clarity for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing by visiting bit.ly/KeynoteClarity and enabling it there. Then, all you have to say is, “Alexa, what’s my flash briefing?”

If you want to get to know your target market better, you need to make multiple connections every day.

This may be reaching out to someone you know or want to get to know on LinkedIn. See who your second-level connections may be and send a message introducing yourself and asking how they met your mutual friend.

You can also send a well-written message to a new colleague. Take a few minutes and look through their website. If something jumps out to you, make mention of that to your colleague. It shows you took the time to get to know their business better.

Another idea is to reach out to one of your strategic partners and set up a call to catch up and trade ideas. 

Whatever step you take, focus on building a better connection. We can’t serve and connect people we don’t know or understand. Give generously of your time, focus on adding value, and you will start to build a more meaningful network of great connections.

Reach out to at least one person today to create a better connection for tomorrow.

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The Keynote Clarity for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing is presented by Jon Cook, founder of Keynote Content. Jon and his team help thought leaders, namely speakers, coaches, and consultants, craft and share their messages to better serve their audiences. Connect with Jon and his team at Keynote Content by visiting keynotecontent.com. You can subscribe to The Keynote Clarity for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing by visiting bit.ly/KeynoteClarity and enabling it there. Then, all you have to say is, “Alexa, what’s my flash briefing?”

xWe're wrapping up our episode interview series with Sam Horn of Intrigue Agency. Thank you again, Sam, for your generous insight and time.

Jon Cook:

Sam, if somebody wants to connect with you, what's the best place for them to go and continue a conversation with you and your team?

Sam Horn:

Thank you so much. They are welcome to go to my website, which is intrigueagency.com. 

Jon Cook:

Fantastic. Thank you so much, Sam Horn. To people who are listening to this, be inspired. You already have a message burning inside you. You have something that's aching to get out, that's jumping at the chance. Don't wait for the some day. Start today.

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The Keynote Clarity for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing is presented by Jon Cook, founder of Keynote Content. Jon and his team help thought leaders, namely speakers, coaches, and consultants, craft and share their messages to better serve their audiences. Connect with Jon and his team at Keynote Content by visiting keynotecontent.com. You can subscribe to The Keynote Clarity for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing by visiting bit.ly/KeynoteClarity and enabling it there. Then, all you have to say is, “Alexa, what’s my flash briefing?”

We're continuing our episode interview series featuring Sam Horn of Intrigue Agency…

Jon Cook:

We also have what I call the unwilling, captive audiences that were in the elevator. Sam, what's your take, your approach to getting rid of elevator pitches and replacing it with something more meaningful?

Sam Horn:

Thank you. I have a post on LinkedIn that's gone viral, has hundreds of thousands of views, and the title of it is “Why Never To Give Another Elevator Speech And What To Do Instead”. I also spoke about this at Inc 500.

So, a woman from Oklahoma, she was Entrepreneur of the Year for her state, and I said, "Colleen, what do you do?" *Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah* At the end of 60 seconds, Jon, no one in the room knew what she did, and she was a CEO. And now, think of the lost opportunity cost, right? I mean, these are some of the top entrepreneurs in the country, but no one's going to talk to her, partner with her, et cetera. So I said, "Colleen, can we talk more?" She said, "Sure." I said, "Okay, #1, what do you do that we can see, that we can smell, that we can taste, that we can touch? Instead of, “I have a platform for blank,” and it's conceptual and confusing, we can't see it, we don't get it?

So she said, "I run the facilities that run MRIs and CAT scans." I said, "Good. Don't tell people that." She said, "Don't tell people that?" I said, "If someone says what do you do, and you say, 'I run the facilities that run MRIs and CAT scans', what are they going to say?" That's the end of the conversation. We don't want to end conversations. We want to open conversation. So, I said, "Turn it into a three-part question."

She said, "What's this about a three-part question?" I said, "If you say, 'have you ever had an MRI or CAT scan?' And they say 'No,' hah, we're back to a conversational cul-de-sac, right?" [inaudible 00:01:52] like an interrogation. The person is backing up because it's like, "Whoa." But if we say, "Do you know anyone?" Could be yourself, could be a friend, could be a family member.

You see where we're giving them control of the conversation? They get to go wherever they want, whatever's most relevant for them or recent. "Who's had an MRI or CAT scan?" They'll probably going to think about it and they'll say, "Oh, well, my daughter had an MRI. She hurt her knee playing soccer." Now we simply paraphrase what it is they said with what we do. "Oh, that's what I do. I run the facilities that offer MRIs like the one your daughter had when she hurt her knee playing soccer."

So the steps of this are, from now on, when someone says, "What do you do," don't tell them. That's infobesity, oh, end of conversation. Instead, ask a three-part question. Do you know anyone? Could be yourself or friend or family member who has, and then put in the real world results of what you do and stop talking. [inaudible 00:03:00] say something, even if, well, I haven't, but my wife has, or, yeah, well I, and then simply paraphrase what they said with what they do, because that's confirming the connection.

It's under 60 seconds. Now, we have a meaningful, mutually rewarding conversation and we're off and running instead of, “What do you do,” “This,” “Oh…next.”

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The Keynote Clarity for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing is presented by Jon Cook, founder of Keynote Content. Jon and his team help thought leaders, namely speakers, coaches, and consultants, craft and share their messages to better serve their audiences. Connect with Jon and his team at Keynote Content by visiting keynotecontent.com. You can subscribe to The Keynote Clarity for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing by visiting bit.ly/KeynoteClarity and enabling it there. Then, all you have to say is, “Alexa, what’s my flash briefing?”

We're continuing our episode interview series featuring Sam Horn of Intrigue Agency…

Jon Cook:

There's almost this lie, this trap that we fall into as authors is saying, "writing my book, I need to find the secluded space." And then we almost like work on our craft, our art in the dark. And then when it's ready, which is relative, then we bring it out for the world to see. But it's been created in an echo chamber. There's been nobody else speaking into your manuscript, your message, the thing that you want to share with the world. From an art standpoint, it may be beautiful or it may be well-intended, but just not well constructed.

Sam Horn:

Writing is supposed to be an empathetic exercise, not an intellectual exercise. Do you know who had writer's block for eight years? Sting, the musician - the words wouldn't come. So what did he do? He went back home and he grew up in Newcastle with these big ships and so forth. And he went and he interviewed people and he ended up writing a Broadway play, a Broadway musical that won a Tony and once again it never would have happened if he hadn't gotten up and outside and connected with the people he wanted to write for. Well, I had an epiphany when I read that because I was working on my next book and I loved to write. I was very busy at the time and writing had become a grind. I would look at what I had written and it did not sing. And when I heard that I thought, "Of course it's not singing. I am isolated, I am thinking it up."

I got up. I went over to my son's high school, I interviewed teachers. What do you say when, when kids say you have favorites? Principals, what do you say when teachers come to you and say, I quit? Kids, what do you say when someone's bullying you on the bus? And I connected with the people I wanted to write for, and their words, and their stories, and their concerns, and their worries filled my mind. And when I came back, I sat down and the words flowed out so fast, my fingers couldn't keep up.

So if you’re a writers who’s come to a halt, just as you said, Jon, we're probably isolated. We're trying to think it up. It's become an intellectual exercise.

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The Keynote Clarity for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing is presented by Jon Cook, founder of Keynote Content. Jon and his team help thought leaders, namely speakers, coaches, and consultants, craft and share their messages to better serve their audiences. Connect with Jon and his team at Keynote Content by visiting keynotecontent.com. You can subscribe to The Keynote Clarity for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing by visiting bit.ly/KeynoteClarity and enabling it there. Then, all you have to say is, “Alexa, what’s my flash briefing?”