POP!: Create the Perfect Pitch, Title, and Tagline for Anything [Paperback]

Sam Horn (Author)

Book Description

Release date: February 3, 2009

Why do some ideas break out and others fade away? What causes people to become so excited about a product that they can?t wait to tell their friends? How can an idea be communicated so that it catches fire in people?s imaginations?

Popular author, consultant, and workshop leader Sam Horn identifies what makes an idea, message, or product break out, and presents a simple and proven process?POP! (Purposeful, Original, Pithy)?to create one-of-a-kind ideas, products, and messages that pop through the noise, off the shelf, and into consumers? imaginations.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A lively, fun, and inspiring guide to getting heard, getting remembered, and getting results.”
—Ken Blanchard, co-author of The Secret and The One Minute Manager

“If you’re looking for success that will take you to the moon, POP! is the rocket ship that will get you there.”
—Jeffrey Gitomer, author of The Little Red Book of Selling

“Filled with practical methods for making your message outstanding and unforgettable. Please don’t read it unless you are prepared to cope with success, now!”
—Michael J. Gelb, author of How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci

About the Author

Sam Horn is a successful business consultant, keynote speaker, training workshop, leader, and author of business communication books. Her corporate clients include NASA, Hewlett-Packard, Four Seasons Resorts, Holland America Cruise Lines, and Kaiser Permanente. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Perigee Trade; Reprint edition (February 3, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399533613
• ISBN-13: 978-0399533617
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.7 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #19,743 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #49 in Books > Business & Investing > Marketing & Sales > Advertising

More About the Author

Sam Horn is an award winning author, marketing strategist and keynote speaker with a 20-year track record of results with an international clientele including Intel, YPO, Fortune 500 Forum, KPMG, Cisco and NASA.

Author of 6 books from major publishers, including; The Eyebrow Test, POP!, and Tongue Fu! which have been translated into 17 languages and featured in New York Times, Investors Business Daily, Boston Globe, Publishers Weekly, Washington Post and Readers Digest.

Top-rated speaker (along with Jim Collins, Tom Peters, Tim Ferris) at the INC Magazine 500/5000 conference, two-time top-ranked speaker at The International Platform Association, and keynoter for ASAE, American Bankers Association and AMEX-SCORE Small Business Summit.

Marketing and Brand Strategist to more than a half million people world-wide and for such organizations as Boeing, HP, Amgen, Lockheed Martin, the U.S. Navy, Capital One, Genetech, eBay, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. Embassy in London.

Pitch/Presentation Coach for Springboard Enterprises (which has helped women entrepreneurs receive $5.5 billion in venture capital) and for USA Today's Perfect Pitch and British Airways Face2Face competition in NYC and London.

Frequent media resource who has been featured on MSNBC, NPR, BusinessWeek.com, FastCompany.com and on every major TV network including NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox affiliates.

Sam is often referred to as the "Intrigue Expert" and is widely regarded as one of the best in the business at creating intriguing verbal and written communication for businesses and entrepreneurs.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book to Use March 22, 2007

By Walter H. Bock VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

This is a book to use, not a book to read.

Sam Horn tells you early on that the book has two purposes. It will help you quickly capture interest and it will help you "break out, not blend in." But that will happen only if you pick a project or idea and then apply the suggestions in the book to improving it and creating a message with POP.

POP stands for Purposeful, Original and Pithy. The book is organized around those three standards.

First comes Purposeful. To help you boil your idea down to its essence the author asks you to answer the 9W questions about it. Answering those questions give you a foundation to build on.

In fact, you'll find yourself going back to those nine questions and your answers time and again. You'll probably change some of your answers. That's a very good thing.

The second, and largest main section helps you make your communication Original. The ideas here will help you turn your idea around so you can see it from the others side and massage it into different forms. You'll learn about the power of alliteration, doing your own take on common sayings, advertising slogans and pop culture phrases.

The third section has ideas for helping you be Pithy. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines "pithy" as: "having substance and point - tersely cogent." If it's short and carries a big message, it's pithy.

This was the most helpful section for me. You'll learn how to use alliteration, rhythm and rhyme to make your statement more powerful and more memorable. I've seen all this before, but never in a single place.

The book closes with "Seven Secrets to Keep Their Interest Once You've Got It." This seems to me like a bunch of good ideas that were too good to leave out, but didn't fit anywhere else.

I got incredible value by working through the exercises as I went. As advertised, they helped me craft a POP statement. More importantly, for me, this was a powerful exercise in understanding my business offering and what is unique about it.

I recommend this book to you if you want to craft POP statements that present you or your business or idea to others. I also recommend it if you want exercises that will help you think creatively about what you do.

I've been a professional speaker and writer now for over a quarter century. I found help and ideas here that will help me tell my story and the story of my business more effectively. So will you.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Delightfully delicious September 29, 2006

By Erik Eisel

Format:Hardcover

Getting ready for a trip and looking for a light, fun read, I picked up Sam's book off of the B&N table. What a delightful book this is! Sam has much to say about branding, marketing and selling "You." Whether she believes that the people we're selling to don't have much time, or they don't have a long attention span, I don't know. But, she emphasizes the first impression, the first 30 seconds of a conversation, the first "hook." So, her book is a cornucupia of tips and tricks to "hook" them before you say "hello." I will recommend this book to my "Toastmasters" group, where a lot of great speeches are given, but not much thought is given to creative titles or creative intros. If you give speeches, write short articles or write a blog, get this book immediately.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars THIS IS AN ABSOLUTE MUST BUY BOOK! September 9, 2006

By Ev Nucci

Format:Hardcover

Most business books promise the reader millions in new found wealth and fail to deliver even a crusty cold pizza.

Horn, on the other hand, has given the world a refreshingly brilliant book in POP without one platitude.

Horn teaches you how to BRAND. How to stand out from the crowd in every way....how to be unique in your industry, your profession and your message.

She educates you. Talent is not enough in today's competitive environment. And she is right. How many talented people do you know?

As Horn says in her book, "We are one of many." So she edifies ways to stand out from the crowd...concepts you would never think of that are BRILLIANT. At least I never thought of them before.

She spends time on how to craft unique slogans, capture conversational catch phrases, how to be relevant. Think about all the information available to us today. With our busy lives what information do we actually remember? What was it about Freakanomics or Jerry Maquire that kept people talking? Horn teaches you to employ the techniques from both---and in the process how you can go from ordinary to EXTRAORDINARY.

If this book was $250.00 it would be a steal. Horn is a brilliant sage. A master at knowing what it takes to succeed in today's global competitive marketplace!