Marketing

How you are being seduced by marketing

You have seen them. All those sales pages also called squeeze pages. Some of them are 200 feet long and they will take 3 minutes to scroll to the bottom and 3 days to read! And it is pure garbage that does not really relate to the product most of it!

Most sales pages are dishonest scams. Either they are full of non true shit or they are very exaggerating. Hey – did you notice that? This was a black/white thing (non true shit or they are very exaggerating). The reptilian brain loves things that are either/or. Makes life easy. Apparantly! The fact is that everything in between is a possibility too. So now life is getting complicated!

Don’t get me wrong here. I don’t mind sales pages. But I do mind if they are full of rhetoric sales pitch and untrue statements. If you have seen one you have seen them all. Many squeeze pages (nice word by the way – you are getting squeezed!) are based on psychological triggers – Yes that’s what they are called and you don’t even know that you are being heavily manipulated by exaggerations, lies and the dark side of psychology.

A lot of this stuff has been in use in the offline market for more than 50 years and as the Internet evolves into a marketplace, this old stuff finds its way to the net. So I will take the liberty of explaining a few things here. Based on what I think is ethical and you might disagree. Especially if you desperately need money! Here we go beyond the words!

The Headline

In my world it is perfectly OK to have a header that can be seen and conveys the exact benefits of your product, but many headlines try to get attention by suggesting things that aren’t quite true. See my Header here. It says exactly what you can expect: A Headline!

My suggestion: Use Humor, Honesty and Originality in text as well as graphics to convey the benefits of the product. And of course think SEO. Here is an example:

 

 “3 Step Formula To success.”

The brain likes systems and formulas. It is one of the BASIC functions of the brain. Everything we experience are related to our inner (unconscious) model of the world. We have to label everything and categorize everything to maintain our own personal model of the world and if it does not fit in any where we reject it. We categorize it: Recycle.bin and don’t bother any more. Look at your thoughts. Either you are worrying about the past or you are planning the future.

If you are offered a 3 step formula to happiness your brain starts thinking YES! YES! YES! It is immediately accepted because it saves you some categorizing work and a solution fits like the missing piece in a puzzle. It is a system. And systems (when they work) give you security. We are talking basic needs here. A psychological trigger that makes you feel good and safe. You are being mainpulated (oh – sorry. Another word for manipulated) through the unconsciousness of your own mammalian brain which says: Ah my needs for security are met here. I can feel safe and relax. And then the experience of the product and the feeling of security is connected and stored together. If this happens multiple times (relationship marketing) the feeling of recognition is also added and you get addicted! Fast! The feelings grow bigger each time. Unfortunately it is the feelings that make you feel good and not the product. These two things are cleverly connected.

 

The sub headline:

Same stuff here but a little more detail and after this there might be a video placed above the centre of the screen or some text that goes like this:

 

Are you afraid of failure?

Do you want success?

Are you ready to get rich?

Questions like this remind you of your fear and your success and make you push you fear away and help you feel success and again this success is connected to the product on a subconscious level and at the same time you get a feeling that this product can take your fear (of not getting your needs met or even of death) away and give you good feelings instead.

The Power of Three is enormous. If you listen to a politician giving a speak you will notice that all superlatives come in three. “Our crisis is narrowed down to unemployment, laziness and no money. The only way out is hard work, long hours and loyalty. This will bring us wealth, prosperity and happiness. Try to say this sentence out loud and feel the power of the words in blue. This is used three times in a row which makes it even more powerful. Winston Churchill said: “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” But we all refer to it as blood, sweat and tears. There is a rhythm to The Power of Three and we are associating this rhythm with a system and then we feel secure. And talking about rhythm it matters a lot what the name of the product is. A great sounding name and a good rhythm is much easier to remember. Just think of a hook line in a song. Names as Donald Duck, Donald Trump, Coca Cola and Sweet Jesus has a sound and a rhythm that keeps spinning in your inner ears for some time. You willl notice that the first vocal in the words sounds alike and if the first consonants in the two words sound similar it adds weight and importance. Why is that? Well vocals are soft and feminine and consonants are tuff and masculine but you don’t notice this balance until it is repeated.

Sounds are very important. The only sense that is working when we sleep is the sense of hearing and why is that? Well, once upon a time some million years ago we lived on the savannah in Africa. We needed to be able to defend ourselves at all times, but we also needed to relax and sleep. So the brain figured out a program to wake us up when danger arrived and the best way to do this was to use the sense of hearing. This sense is ‘reaching’ farther than the other senses when we sleep. The eyes are closed. We can’t taste the enemy. We could feel him if he touched us, but if he used his teeth to touch us it probably was too late. So the ears are connected to a center in the brain that makes the muscles move (suddenly) if there are noises.

So some noises produce fear and wakefulness and some produce well being and relaxation.

 

“If you make more than $10.000/month then keep away!”

This sentence implies subtle without promising directly that you actually can make $10.000 each month if you buy this system. It is a hidden promise of a golden future and there fore without any obligations from the seller. It does NOT say that you are going to make $10.000 but somewhere in your complicated brain this happens: I wish I did make $10.000 then it did not matter to be rejected here, but luckily I’m accepted here because I don’t make this amount of money – yet!

 

“Learn this Hidden Secret”

This one is a huge psychological trigger. It goes right to the deepest part of our brain from when we were living on the savannah in Africa in tribes. Your survival was based on being an accepted member of the tribe. If you got yourself thrown out of your tribe your chances of survival decline close to zero. It means death!

To learn The Hidden Secrets is a way of conveying that you can be a part of a tribe that knows The Secret. The oldest part of your brain will shout as loud as it can YES YES YES. I have to belong! Wake up folks! The secret is YOU! You hold the biggest secret of them all!

 

 

Necessity

1000’s of people have already bought this product and they have huge success and they make 1000’s of dollars every day! You can’t live without this! If you don’t but you are an outsider thet does not belong to the succes team! This is provoking your fear of death by being banned from the tribe! In other words – Your subconsciuos mind tells yo that you have to buy this product to survive!

Urgency

Time limit. To day and today only or you have missed the opportunity for ever. But of course… It’s up to you… (if you decide to be dumb and poor!). A deadline forces you to make a fast decision without rational thinking and it does not leave you a chance to really feel if your true needs are being met here! Some successful people are able to make fast decisions but most people are not in that kind of shape and they make impulse buys.

 

 

Bonus 1 Value $999,00
Bonus 2 Value $999,00
Bonus 3 Value $999,00
Bonus 4 Value $999,00
Bonus 5 Value $999,00

Have you noticed that the value of bonuses are raising and raising? As if the basic product is worth nothing and the seller has to convince people to buy anyway? This is to convince you that this is a great deal that is much more worth than you actually pay for it. As long as people think it is a great bargain it does not matter what the price is! Also it is not about the value. It is about the Perceived Value!

 

“Quick, Buy Now!! Only 91.. 65.. 45.. 15 Copies Left!”

Well isn’t that magical. Seems like a lot of people have bought already. Must be a great product. I better hurry up before it is too late. And it is a digital product! That can be copied over and over and over again! Who ever writes this stuff on a sales page is most likely a big liar! It is a well known and widely used trick everywhere in the world and now it has found its way to the Internet. Scarcity is the name of the game.

FOR HEAVENS SAKE!!!!!! WE ARE TALKING DIGITAL PRODUCTS HERE! HAVE YOU EVER TRIED COPYING A FILE FROM ONE DISC TO ANOTHER??? GIVE ME A F****** BREAK!!!!!

 

 

“Pay $600 now or 3 easy $200 installments.”

Just to make it a little easier to waste your money.

Selling and buying is a roleplay. If the seller is being dominant many buyers will be subject to him. If he is moving forward the customer is often forced backwards. It is a polarize game that is based on the fundamental structure of our personality. To a certain degree we are all either introverts or or extroverts and we can’t live without each other. Almost every great leader has a lot of the extrovert character and it is not meant to sound cruel or judgemental. He has a lot more will power based on this structure than the introvert has. Great salesmen often has a little bit of tuffness too and many of their buyers are found in the softer part of the scale. They can’t say NO!

Can you say NO! Go to the text box below and enter: NO! And leave your comment!

 

One Comment

  • Dan Lew

    I agree with your post, and also hate having to scroll through loads of text to get to the main point, and then be taken through a dozen other pages before they ask me to upgrade.
    I see this is starting to fade away though in 2010, sales pages are starting to get shorter and shorter and video is also being added!

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