Ariana Grande's Cringe Mountain & Your Stakes

Hey Climbers. This Week — Ariana Grande’s Cringe Mountain, how to get people to actually care about your content, and some creative inspo with an unexpected approach we can all try.

Ariana Grande’s Cringe Mountain

Before the glossy, cool-girl Ariana we know today, there was Disney Ariana. Jazz-step Ariana. Performing a Bruno Mars cover with two backup dancers Ariana. Skip to 0.41 seconds.

Not exactly glossy or cool, right? And she knows it. In an interview in 2014, she said:

It gives us an insight into what separates Ariana from someone you’ve never heard of: she feels the cringe and does it anyway.

Climber tip of the week

The thing you already possess to get people to care about your content.

Three years ago, I found myself unexpectedly out of my career I thought I’d be in for years. That job was my identity, and now it was gone. With no way to pay my rent, I had month to figure out how to support myself - and who the hell I was - or else I might just lose everything.

Were you invested in the story I just told you about myself? It’s because I used my stakes.

Stakes get people to actually care

Stakes are what a character stands to lose or gain based on their choices and actions.

Every good movie has them; every book in history. Stakes get audiences to keep watching, listening or reading.

And guess what: you have stakes. A lot of them. And it’s time to use them in your content.

Find your stakes, weave them in

Your stakes don’t have to be big like in the movies. In fact, they’re more interesting when they’re small and relatable. Think about yourself as a character in the story of your life. Who or what are you up against?

Do you have time pressure? Money pressure? Emotional pressure? What will you lose if you fail? What will you gain if you succeed? Are you putting your business on the line? Your body on the line? Your socks on the line?

Stakes can be silly or serious. Maybe you’ve only got 3 minutes to get ready for dinner because your friend is on the way (time stakes) or your high school teacher said you’d never amount to anything (emotional stakes).

I promise that if you start building your stakes into your content, people will connect. Try it out, let me know how you go.

Creative inspo of the week

“Blahblahblah sell the benefits of the product” said every advertising guru ever.

But honestly? It gets boring.

And what I love about this piece of creative inspo from underwear brand Boody is that they chose a different way in.

Instead of showing the benefit of having the product, they showed the consequence of not having the product.

They didn’t even need to show their product for it to be an effective ad. Pretty cool!

Okay, climbers. Til net time,

Eri out xox

Pssst. Hey! If you got to the bottom, nice! That means you get to choose the content in the next Cringe Mountain. Reply and let me know if you’d rather hear about:

1) How to get over your fear of being seen online and deal with haters as a content creator, or

2) Where all the good video ideas are hiding