1:51pm
Saint Paul
Hey.
Today I wanted to highlight the idea of “frame control.”
A “frame” is the conversation you’re in, and the information present in that frame.
Frame control is used in both personal relationships and in marketing.
In personal relationships, controlling the frame means you’re directing where the conversation goes.
It’s helpful because instead of getting tripped up by an accusation or misunderstanding, you “expand the frame” to include both that accusation or misunderstanding… plus your own reasons of why your viewpoint may be true.
(It’s also called “agree and amplify” and in some cases, “the higher ground.”)
Let’s try an example.
Say a friend teases you about your sloppy clothing.
“Why do you always wear that stained shirt bro? You look like a slob.”
To defend yourself or argue against him (or her) would put you into his frame. He controls that conversation, he controls that frame.
But to agree and amplify, you’re showing that you have the high ground, and that your (in this example) sloppy clothes are intentional and offer a benefit:
“Why do you always wear that stained shirt bro? You look like a slob.”
Wrong: “But it’s my favorite shirt! I don’t care what others think.”
Right: “Yeah I kinda do look like a slob. It puts people at ease which helps me build connections/meet women/make sales/whatever.”
That’s some judo moves right there.
Framing is also important in your marketing.
Say you want to help a company sell more widgets.
You could highlight that Twitter has over 500,000,000 monthly active users (500 million). You’d be a fool to not use Twitter for marketing.
You can also say, there are 7,500,000,000 (7 billion, 500 million) people NOT on Twitter. It’s a waste of effort to market there.
Both of these stats are true—and which you pick depends on your message to the widget sellers.
Maybe this isn’t news to you.
After all, humans have been debating facts since Grog and Bog co-invented fire and blamed one another for burning down the village.
But knowing how to re-frame a topic makes for interesting stories.
That’s what my son and I did in our book Hoover and Boon.
We took the typical ghost story and flipped it on its head.
It offers a new perspective to the reader, with a few higher-level ideas that adults will appreciate.
But at it’s core, it’s a fun, not-spooky ghost story perfect for young readers.
If you know someone like that—a young reader, not a ghost—you can send it directly to them from Amazon.
Find Hoover and Boon here to get it before Halloween:
https://bit.ly/HooverBoon