How To Make Your Marketing Magnetic
In 1973, a toy maker was caught secretly embedding the words ‘get it’ in their TV ads for kids.
That’s called subliminal advertising. The Federal Trade Commission called it a ‘deceptive business practice.’
President Bush (version W) got caught using it in an ad against Al Gore in 2000. Attacking Gore’s prescription plan, he inserted the word ‘rats’ at the bottom of the ad for 1/30 of a second. It ran 4400 times before the ad was pulled.
The point? We’re exposed to subliminal marketing every single day.
Here’s an example:
A bottle of a diet mayonnaise was shaped like an hour glass. The diet-conscious ladies choosing it subconsciously think their figures will match the bottle if they buy it.
The second bottle (same stuff; same label) was a stout-shaped bottle, similar to a genie bottle. Every gal chose the first bottle – without even tasting the stuff.
Say what you want and scoff if you will… subliminal advertising really does work at the subconscious level.
So how does this help your biz?
Imagine if your marketing was magnetic. What if it was easy to do? Wouldn’t that feel great?
Would you like to see an example of subliminal marketing?
Here’s a simple (but incredibly powerful) marketing message…
“Does public speaking make you nervous? What if it was easy? Imagine standing at the podium, knowing exactly what to say to make them love you. Wouldn’t that feel great? Just apply our simple methods, and you’ll have that power. Use the form below to order right now.”
Okay, let’s dissect the sales pitch, sentence-by-sentence.
Sentence #1 : Does public speaking make you nervous? This gets the reader to say yes, which is habit forming. Getting a prospect to say yes is a classic old technique that still works. It also introduces the problem, for which the solution is coming.
Sentence #2 : What if it was easy? This suggests the possibility of a solution, creating hope and anticipation in the reader.
Sentence #3 : Imagine standing at the podium, knowing exactly what to say to make them love you. The word “imagine,” gets the reader to do just that. Helping a prospect to create a scene in their mind creates desire for that scene to be reality, and creates good feelings too.
Sentence #4 : Wouldn’t that feel great? This suggests a positive emotion and gets another yes. Questions involve a prospect more, and it is better to suggest an emotional state (by asking) than to tell a person how to feel.
Sentence #5 : Just apply our simple methods, and you’ll have that power. The “and” is used to infer cause and effect (you’ll have the power because you used our product). This is subtle way of getting the reader to accept the benefits of a product uncritically.
Sentence #6 : Use the form below to order right now. The last line directs the reader with “Use the form below.” The “order right now” is called an “embedded command,” because putting it in italics subtly draws attention to it, and influences a prospect without him noticing consciously.
This simple paragraph uses many so-called “hypnotic sales techniques.” The idea is that by using the right words and techniques, you can put a person into a kind of “buying trance,” in which they are much more receptive to your offer.
But does this stuff really work? Writer and entrepreneur Steve Gillman said:
“When I first learned about subliminal suggestions, I used them to rewrite the subscription page for my Brain Power Newsletter. A free newsletter is an easy sell anyway, but I immediately started to get four times as many subscribers from the same traffic. And I was only using a few of the dozens of subliminal advertising techniques available.”
Interesting stuff, yes?
There are many layers of marketing. My job is to make sure you’re up-to-date on what really works.
www.newslettersmadeforyou.com/ask
- David Gruttadaurio
“The Print Newsletter Expert”
