Business Coaching

Power Of Emotional Marketing At Work

It is often said that people buy because of emotional reasons and then justify the purchase decision to themselves rationally and for many purchases it is true.

You don't need (logical) but you want (emotional) and sometimes you want with an overwhelming passion that means that you have a compulsion to buy despite yourself.

I am fascinated by this entire topic of marketing to the emotions and how it can be used for the purposes of good but also how people can and need to be protected from marketing manipulation for purposes of the seller's self interest.

There are words and emotional triggers that pull us into written copy or the salesman's pitch and make us want to find out more and then persuade us to buy.

In "All Marketers Are Liars", top author and marketer Seth Godin argued that it is a conspiracy to which we are willing participants. We want the marketing message to be so compelling that it gives us the ammunition to justify buying something we want, both to ourselves and to other people.

Joe Vitale and Hypnotic Writing

One of the most famous copywriters and practitioners of persuasion and hypnotic techniques is Dr Joe Vitale (you may remember him from The Secret film which advocated the law of attraction).

Joe Vitale has written a long list of books which look at hypnotic marketing and persuasion techniques and he has recently released Hypnotic Marketing 2.0.

To be honest I have been trying to cut down on the information products I buy. I have too large a backlog of items waiting for review and as my blog gets bigger and more influential, I am being offered more and more items free of charge for me to cast my eye over and give it the thumbs up or down.

Emotional Marketing & The Link To My Credit Card

So I have watched the first two emails roll in promoting Hypnotic Marketing and I chose to ignore them but the third one came this morning, hit one of my buying buttons so with my resistance broken, I whipped out my credit card, bought and while I am writing this, a host of goodies are bing downloaded to my computer.

Warning - Hypnotic Marketing At Work

As always these launches are interesting to watch so I thought that I would repeat the sequences of emails. You have been warned so don't blame me if your credit card shoots out of your wallet faster than a speeding bullet.

Hypnotic Marketing Email 1 - What Can IT Be?

He's being quiet about IT.

The only information that we can get out of him is that IT is big and reaches far beyond our normal ways of thinking.

And that IT will be revealed this Friday, May 30th.

The person behind "IT" is Dr. Joe Vitale.

We have learned that something profound happened to him on a Sunday afternoon recently shortly after he left his house and went for a walk.

We've also learned that this "IT", as he is referring to it for now, has made a dramatic impact on him and the few people he's shared his story with.

And Dr. Vitale has proof that IT exists.

In an email, Joe mentioned that he snapped two photos - photos that he will be sharing with the world on May 30th.

We hope to find out additional information for you before Friday - so stay tuned.

Whatever this is - it's big enough for him to put his entire reputation on the line.

All I know is IT is all going down at:

What is it?

To Your Success,

Paul Simister

PS:  There's a couple of hints posted at this page, but I don't think any of us are going to guess from that!

Circles...

& Flowers?

HUH??

What is it?

First Hypnotic Marketing Email Review and Comments

This is clearly a curiosity play designed to make you want to know more.

What is it that makes a man as famous and successful as Joe Vitale prepared to "put his entire reputation on the line".

What is it that has had a dramatic effect on him and the people he has shared the idea with?

I didn't know but for me personally, the email made little impact.

I respect Joe Vitale, I've read his books and subscribed to the Hypnotic Gold newsletter but I don't care about him and this first email failed to excite me and it certainly didn't answer the "what's in it for me" question.

Hypnotic Marketing Email 2 - ABC News I Told You IT was Big

Since we sent the email yesterday about what Dr. Joe Vitale will be revealing this Friday, May 30th, we've been slammed by emails, support tickets, and calls from people trying to guess what "IT" is.

As you can imagine, we have been doing everything we can to obtain more information from one of our contacts who does know the full story of what is going on here.

Most of the updates are found on:

What is IT?

However, we did learn an additional piece of information that we have been told must not be published onto any website [update - this is now on the Hypnotic Marketing website].

So we decided to share this new information with you, right here... right now... in this email.

It seems that Joe is not the only person behind "IT" like we had previously thought.

We have been told that Joe has been referring to a "Miss W" a lot lately.  The story is that after Joe snapped the photos, he went back into his house and searched the Internet for hours for someone that he could talk to about IT".

The search led him to a "Miss W".  Our contact also mentioned that Miss W. has some sort of connection with ABC News!

We did some research ourselves and may have found something SHOCKING - which would revel what "IT" is before Joe does on Friday.

We may be onto something here, and we hope that we'll find out the answer to a question we asked our contact earlier today.

If we are right, Dr. Joe Vitale could become the most well-known name in the entire world within the next 72 hours.

We're not kidding here.

And if we are right... we hope that Joe has moved to a secure location outside of Texas.

There would be so many news crews... so many cameras.... helicopters...

man, oh man...

Look - if you haven't already, make sure that you stay up to date on what is happening here.

What is IT?

If we are right about our assumption, we could possibly expose everything (even before Joe does on Friday) to you and everyone else on the Hypnotic Marketing update list. 

So make sure you're on there.

Stay tuned.  This could get very interesting.

To Your Success,

Paul Simister

Second Hypnotic Email Review & Comments

This email starts with an appeal to your instinct to rely on social proof.

If other people are interested and think it is good, it must be good.

It's why you can stand in the middle of a city and start looking up at the top of a building and other people will join you to see what is so interesting. A sizable crowd can build up quite quickly.

It's why if you are in a strange city and you need dinner and the first restaurant has only one table occupied and the next one looks three quarters full, you will invariably choose the popular restaurant.

It then continues to build on the curiosity theme.

We still still don't know what IT is and now we have the mysterious Miss W to consider.

Unfortunately the email still didn't arouse my curiosity and I didn't have any interest to discover more about IT or Miss W despite the fact that I am an Hypnotic Marketing affiliate.

It was working on some people though.

Although I wasn't doing anything I was hearing the "cha-ching" as my affiliate commissions started rolling in for people who I had introduced to Hypnotic Marketing and Nitro Marketing in the past.

Now this did start piquing my curiosity and made me think how great affiliate marketing si when you get paid and you haven't done anything at all.

So far I have earned a three figure income from sales of Hypnotic Marketing 2.0 and until this today when I received email 4, bought and started writing this blog posting, I had not done a thing.

I love affiliate marketing when it is this easy.

Hypnotic Marketing Email 3 - New Bonus Added To Hypnotic Marketing 2.0!

I'm sure by now you've heard about the tremendous reception that Dr. Joe Vitale has received from the marketing community on his latest best-selling product: Hypnotic Marketing 2.0

And with good reason - this has single handedly turned the "Web 2.0" movement on it's ear by...

Well, let me start back at the beginning:

The launch of the new Hypnotic Marketing 2.0 marks the first significant change to Dr. Joe Vitale's original Hypnotic Marketing Formula in 9 years.  For almost a decade, Hypnotic Marketing has been a proven and successful 3-step marketing formula that thousands of marketers use to explode their business and bank accounts.

However, after a "big idea" landed in Dr. Vitale's mind during an afternoon walk, he realized that Social Media Marketing now presents the largest marketing opportunity to hit the Internet in years.

And Dr. Vitale is no stranger to Social Media Marketing success.  He saw the raw power first-hand of what Social Media can do to drive traffic to his website when over 20,000 unique visitors poured into his website after one small Social Media promotion.

Because Dr. Vitale recognized the marketing opportunities that Social Media Marketing presents, for the first time ever, he has added a new fourth step to the Hypnotic Marketing Formula.

Hypnotic Marketing 2.0 now combines the proven Hypnotic Marketing Formula with the powerful marketing opportunities that Social Media Marketing presents.

Discover Hypnotic Marketing 2.0

Yes, the instant feedback on Dr. Joe Vitale's new Hypnotic Marketing 2.0 has been incredible (he's smashed many sales records)

And today, we are making a huge announcement which also addresses one of the questions we
received:

"I love the new hypnotic marketing product, and I am trying to find more ways I can make my blogs more "hypnotic".  Do you happen to have any suggestions?"  -- M.P.

Yes - we do!

Because we want to make sure that you have the best of the best when it comes to Social Media Hypnotic Marketing, we asked Dr. Vitale if he could provide some additional information on 'Hypnotic' Blogging.

We were expecting a page or two that we could provide everyone, but were blown away at what we just received....

Dr. Vitale wants to "give back" to those of you who took advantage of the special offer found on:

Discover Hypnotic Marketing 2.0

So for those of you who have already ordered, and for a limited time, also for those who are going to place their order right now for Hypnotic Marketing 2.0, there is a brand new limited time bonus...

Hypnotic Marketing 2.0 now includes Dr. Vitale's exclusive full Hypnotic Blogging product - at no additional cost!

Hypnotic Blogging is packed with information and answers questions like:

- What blog makes $40,000 a month after just a year and a half?

- What is a "lifestyle blog"?

- How you can train Google to index your blog daily?

- How do I use "karmic marketing" to get other bloggers to send you tons of traffic?

- What should you do when you're afraid to take action?

Joe interviewed someone who retired at the age of 37 and decided to become a full-time blogger.  This interview ROCKS and will really change the way you think about blogging.

Hypnotic Blogging is now available as an incredible bonus to Hypnotic Marketing 2.0 -- but not for long.

Go to:

Hypnotic Marketing 2.0

To Your Success,

Paul Simister

P.S... Remember, time is running out to save money and secure your copy of Hypnotic marketing 2.0 plus all of the incredible bonuses.  And remember, HM 2.0 now includes "Hypnotic Blogging" as another brand new bonus!  But not for long:

Third Hypnotic Email Review & Comments

Now we are beginning to talk as we are starting to see the "what's in it for me" answered in sufficient detail for me to click over and take a look at Hypnotic Marketing 2.0.

We also have a scarcity play with the introduction of Hypnotic Blogging as an extra bonus for a limited time only. Buy now or lose it forever?

Despite the fact that I am a blogger who certainly likes the idea of making $40,000 per month I clicked but didn't buy.

Fourth Hypnotic Marketing Email - Did Hypnotic Marketing 2.0 Make You Cry? 

Cry?

We hope not.

Buy?

Thousands already have.

The secret?

Emotion.

Throughout the promotion of Hypnotic Marketing 2.0, it was emotion that helped slingshot HM2.0 to the top - becoming Joe's best-selling product ever.

Hidden deep within the emails and sales letter were traces of techniques that Joe teaches in his ebook, "Emotional Selling Tools".

See if you can spot 3 of them:

Hypnotic Marketing 2.0

"Emotional Selling Tools" has been a secret weapon many marketers refer back to often to really get into the heads of their potential customers.

In fact, Joe uncovered 155 different ways to trigger consumers into making an emotional purchase.

155 different ways...

Most websites fail to use just one of these 155...

And when it comes to Social Media Marketing, emotional selling is rarely used.

Very few understand the true power of what emotional selling can do for their business.

In fact, for the last year, even if someone like you wanted to get a hold of "Emotional Selling Tools", it was impossible.

It's been off of the market.

And it's still off the market today.

However, for the first time in more than a year, "Emotional Selling Tools" is now being made available to the public.

But there's one small catch.

You need to own Hypnotic Marketing 2.0.

If you already own Hypnotic Marketing 2.0, be sure to log into your members area and refresh the page.  You'll notice that there is a brand new link to download Joe's book, "Emotional Selling Tools"!

For those of you who have not ordered Hypnotic Marketing 2.0 yet... here's your chance to claim your copy of "Emotional Selling Tools", plus Hypnotic Marketing 2.0, PLUS all of the bonuses.

The "Emotional Selling Tools" book is worth the small investment of Hypnotic Marketing 2.0
alone!

Hypnotic Marketing 2.0


Remember, you'll not only get Hypnotic Marketing 2.0 and all of the bonuses you'll find on:

... but you will also get two unadvertised bonuses:

1. Emotional Selling Tools

2. Hypnotic Blogging

This has become a massive course for Hypnotic Social Media Marketing that most other marketers would charge at least $597 for.

People still can't believe that we haven't raised the price of HM 2.0.

But we're going to VERY soon...

Hurry...  Go to:

Hypnotic Marketing 2.0

To Your Success,

Paul Simister

P.S... By combining everything you'll learn in HM 2.0, Hypnotic Blogging, and Emotional Selling Tools, you will be well on your way to becoming a true social media marketing expert for your business.

Your competitors will have no idea what hit them!  But you'll know....

Hypnotic Marketing 2.0

Review of Hypnotic Marketing Email 4.0

Ok this is the one that got me because it pressed one of my emotional triggers - the desire to know more about emotional triggers.

Ironic really but it worked.

I clicked on the website, shot down to the bottom, saw the low price ($27) and bought

I didn't read the sales copy although I have taken a PDF copy to read at my leisure. In my view it always pays to study great sales copy and I am sure that Joe Vitale has laced the sales letter with all kinds of examples of Hypnotic Marketing and emotional triggers.

Since then I have been busy downloading all the goodies and there really are a lot on offer.

It's too early to say just how good the material is but I wasn't expecting a man of Joe Vitale's stellar reputation to be giving so much for such a low price.

Take a look at Hypnotic Marketing 2.0 for yourself and do yourself a favour. Grab your copy before the price increases and learn how to put the power of emotional marketing to work for yourself.

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

Dan Kennedy Information Marketing Free Teleseminar

A couple of weeks ago I reviewed "The Ultimate Sales Letter" book by Dan Kennedy which is extremely good, but you'd expect nothing less from a world class copywriter. Now I am able to offer you a free downloadable teleseminar from Dan Kennedy and Ron LeGrand - Information Marketing.

This is just the start of the price Dan Kennedy is prepared to pay to get your attention to his new product launch INFO RICHES.

See: INFO RICHES

Why Information Marketing is Important

Information marketing and the knowledge how to do something taps into a number of our basic drives and motivations.

If you have received any management training, you have probably been taught Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs which normally lists five main drives which people have:

1. Biological needs for existence - food, drink etc
    
2. Safety needs
    
3. Affiliation and a sense of belonging
    
4. Self esteem, the desire to feel good about ourselves
    
5. Self actualisation, to be the best we can be

Information marketing can tap into any of these drives e.g. "The Bushman's guide to finding food and water in the Kalahari Desert" or "How To Protect Your Family, House and Valuable Possessions from Fire" but it is mainly the last three that I want to focus on.

Groups naturally divide between those who understand or know how to do something and those who don't. It's happened to me when I've been chatting in a pub about the England football team and the conversation suddenly switches to big ends and carburettors and I immediately felt excluded. I don't want to know about the internal combustion engine and car mechanics but like everyone else, I do want to belong so you can see how information marketing can help.

Along the self esteem drive, it is natural to feel good when you know how to do something and bad when you don't know about something that you admit is important. My lack of mechanical knowledge doesn't bother me in the safety of the UK, but if my Land Rover breaks down in the Kalahari Desert, it suddenly becomes very important. Information marketing teaches you to close these important skill gaps.

Finally on the self actualisation drive, when all the other drives are satisfied, we have a desire to be the best we can be. Good is OK but there is an internal force that says that we can get better. Again information marketing fits neatly into satisfying this drive.

Is there really a market for information?

The Internet is based on people searching for information and we all know how quickly that has grown.

A quick search of the Wordtracker keyword research tool shows 2,269 searches about "how to save a life", 1,361 for "how to write a resume" and 955 on "How to make meatloaf" amongst a list of less savoury topics. To put these numbers into perspective, 423 searched on accountant and 287 for accountants.

Just look at the number of chefs who have written cookery and recipe books and all the other people who have built an expert or guru status based on information.

Two Routes To Profit From Information Marketing

There are two ways for any business to benefit from information marketing:

1. Selling the information product - books, ebooks, CDs, DVDs and training courses. The beauty of this type of information marketing is that you work once and are potentially paid for a lifetime.
    
2. Using the information product as a free lead generation tool. As the size and importance of a purchase increases, people feel a need to understand more before they make the purchase decision. Providing the information and carefully tilting the buying criteria in their favour creates great loyalty with the prospective client.

Opportunities For Information Marketing

As information marketing is driven from the Internet, the "how to make money on the Internet" is very large but very crowded but there are many other niches which have been largely undeveloped.

Any market where people are confused, frustrated or want to know more can be an opportunity.

Another opportunity is catering to the hobbyist market. It is expensive to print and market magazines but cheaper to create a niche subscription based website. with one fixed cost, any profit increases rapidly with every extra paying subscriber.

Dan Kennedy & Information Marketing

Below is the first Info Riches promotion email (always interesting to see how the experts do it and I believe that you can learn a lot)

Information Marketing is a 90-minute audio course between Dan Kennedy ("the guru's guru", "the millionaire maker", "the grandfather of information marketing") and one of his $20 million + earner students, Ron LeGrand.

In case you're 1 of the 7 people in the world who don't know Dan Kennedy... he's the expert that A LONG LIST of established entrepreneurs have studied from.

Billion dollar companies pay Dan for his advice because, with a 25-year success track record, his tips/strategies produce wealth.

This is one of those audios you NEED TO add to your Audio University folder on your computer (ie: save it for future reference) and certainly add it to your IPod.

On top of that, you can also grab a copy of the $297 "Masters of Marketing" 12-CD audio program which is presented by Ted Nicholas, Robert Allen, Dan Kennedy, T. Harv Eker and others.

That's the entire 12-disc program! Retails for $297. You can grab it for free.

While you're there...

You'll find a video on this same page with Carl Galletti introducing a $5000+ contest.

Carl Galletti has been hired by Gary Halbert and Jay Abraham... he's THAT good.

By the way:

If none of these names mean anything to you, you REALLY need to turn off the TV and grab a book because I'm listing off all-star hall-of-fame captains of industry ... the ones who don't just sell "how to" info but have literally produced millions in personal wealth over and over again (and are more than qualified to give advice on the subject).

Don't be shy...

Grab your freebies...

(You can thank me later).

INFO RICHES

But what is INFO RICHES?

Here is a video which explains more

To Your Success

Paul Simister

Your Profit Coach, business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

© Planning & Control Solutions Ltd 2007-2008 All Rights Reserved

Marketing To The Emotions Free Report

The day after Mark Joyner re-releases the infamous "Mind Control Marketing" which I bought yesterday, I realised that I have free distribution rights to an ebook on the related topic of emotional marketing.

It is called "22 Secret Hot Buttons That Make Consumers Spend Money Like Crazy" and you can download it below.

I have before that people buy emotionally and then use logic to justify that emotion.

That's why husbands buy the latest electronic gadget to the amazement of their wives and why the wife retaliates by sneaking the seventy third pair of shoes into the house.

Both purchases are crazy to the other person's logical mind but they don't feel the emotional pull the purchase has over us.

When we want, when we have real desire for something we feel compelled to buy and provided the price ticket is small, buying is the easy way out.

Buying stops that longing feeling that nags at the purse strings. We receive a "rush" from the purchase. A satisfaction of getting what we want. A relief from the bitter-sweet pain of desire.

So Do You Want To Be Able To Trigger The Emotional Hot Buttons Of Your Customers?

Do you want to discover the secret of marketing to the emotions so that your customer builds up the rational purchase justification for you?

I should be making you opt-in to my mailing list to receive an ebook/report of this quality.

You get over 40 pages explaining why and how emotional marketing works and you get four extra bonus articles at the end:

• Three killer conversion strategies
   
• How to market with postcards
   
• 104 consumer magnets - unstoppable marketing works
   
• How to create news releases and press releases

Why There Is No Opt-In

Let me explain why there is no opt-in for the "22 Secret Hot Buttons That Make Consumers Spend Money Like Crazy" free ebook.

The report comes with various of my affiliate links embedded in to it so I hope that as you read it, you will want to pass it on to other people (because that's what happens with reports we get for free isn't it) and that some of those people will click through and buy what's on offer.

And when they buy, this report sends back money to me. It may not be a fortune for each purchase but "every little helps."

This is just one of the early reports posted in Butterfly Reports, Mike Filsaime's latest money making idea. This is only in the beta stage at the moment and they are having some customer service issues but it is a fascinating idea based on win-win-win.

Butterfly reports make their money from people upgrading to a paid subscription which gives customers more benefits. the customers win by receiving reports that they can use to bundle up in any way they choose, to sell or to give away free or as bonuses for an offer. The writers have their work spread over the Internet and have a chance to promote their own products.

But it only works if the reports are quality and that describes "22 Secret Hot Buttons That Make Consumers Spend Money Like Crazy."

So if you blog or have a website which offers information, I recommend that you review Butterfly Reports.

Marketing To The Emotions

Did you cheat and shoot straight down to the bottom or have you allowed me to tease you so that hopefully you want the report more now than you did at the top of the page.

Well here it is - "22 Secret Hot Buttons That Make Consumers Spend Money Like Crazy"

Download Emotional_Hot_Buttons.pdf

I have bought but not yet read "Mind Control Marketing" by Mark Joyner which is a longer ebook on the same emotional marketing topic. This was the book that became a best seller and was then suddenly taken off the market. It also has cartoons to help make the key points.

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

© Planning & Control Solutions Ltd 2007-2008 All Rights Reserved

John Carlton Copywriting Sweatshop 2

I became aware of John Carlton through Rich Schefren's Business Growth System coaching program and now know that John is one of the leading copywriters in the world.

As it happens he is releasing a new DVD home study program called Copywriting Sweatshop 2 on 21 March 2008. (Update - I have bought it.)

Moving the Free-Line

In true "move the free-line tradition" John has put out a series of sampler videos (shown below) so you can see what a straight talking, no nonsense, practical presenter he is.

My blog in the last few days has been more commercial than I would like so I am not pitching or recommending the Copywriting Sweatshop 2 DVD set.

All I will say is that I intend to buy Copywriting Sweatshop 2 myself provided the price and offer is strong.

I love the power of great copywriting. I love the way it moves people to action.

Copywriting is a key skill in so much of marketing, either on the Internet or out in the real world of sales calls, direct mail and telemarketing.

Certain key words and phrases trigger buying responses when other phrases mean the same but don't turn on the buying light in the prospect's mind. There are even some special phrases which create a mental "BUY NOW" flashing sign which people find irresistible.

I want to bring you these videos.

All are short and some will resonate with you more than others but if you want to learn a little about how a great copywriter thinks, then this is a great start.

Perfect Headlines

Advice - edit everything. Too many passive words don't create action.

Just Sell The Damn Thing

Short, straight and to the point when people are in pain. This harks back to the ideas in the Obvious Adams book.

Look Beyond The First Sale

Become the "guy they call first"

Why Pro's Sell

Don't be ashamed or tentative about selling a good product or service. I see this reluctance to promote people quite a lot. This links back to Jay Abraham's strategy of preeminence - if you care about your clients and prospects then you owe it to them to make sure they about an effective solution to their problem.

The Folly of Company Line USPs

Find out why customers really buy.

How To Write Clear, Kick Ass Copy

Say what other people are mumbling about.

Heft v Promise (or Features v Benefits)

A reminder that people buy benefits.

How To Write A Bad Ad

What? You don't want a bad ad? Then how else can you explain why so many adverts are clearly a waste of time and money.

All sales pitches are effectively a story.

Waking Up Readers

Sleepy, bored people don't act. A quick lesson in why it's better to be loved by some and hated by some rather than have everyone think you're OK.

If you want more free advice from John Carlton then he does offer a 7 lessons in 7 days email course from his Marketing Rebel Strategy School.

I have done this and he is sending out very thoughtful advice and I realised that I was making one "obvious" blunder which I am now correcting. It is highly recommended.

No pitch but one final thought

If you don't learn how to write great copy yourself, how can you know enough to buy copywriting services? How can you look at a copywriter's past letters and see whether the magic dust is there and how can you have the confidence to invest in the copy written for you?

Update 21 March 2008

I have just ordered my copy from the Copywriting Sweatshop 2 sales page and I've been very impressed with the early bird bonuses. I am really looking forward to receiving my copy of the home study course.

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

Manipulation in Sales & Marketing

For the last few days I have been thinking about the dangers of manipulation in sales and marketing techniques.

The more we know about the way the human mind works, the motivations and desires we have and the art and science of influence and persuasion, the more the unscrupulous can manipulate our own minds to act against our best interests.

A number of forces have all come together to make me consider the business ethics involved in marketing:

1. I am starting to build up my ideas for the customer focused entrepreneur (or custompreneur) series of blog articles and Squidoo pages which will lead to e-books, an online coaching program and hopefully a proper published book.
   
   This focuses understanding, designing, communicating and delivering value to customers as the engine for business growth.
   
   Nothing wrong with that but I am having to think about the differences between perceptions and reality. For customers to buy, they have to believe. A customer has to perceive that the product offers value for money over and above that offered by competitors but they don't discover the truth until after they have used the product or service, and may not even know then.
    
2. I have been watching and listening to the Jeff Walker and Mike Filsaime presentations in Rich Schefren's Business Acceleration Program to write the second part of my review. It has come over loud and clear, just how powerful these techniques are if used by the wrong people in the wrong way.
   
   Jeff Walker is in the pre-launch stage of the new version of Product Launch Formula which I am promoting through a Squidoo page - Product Launch Formula 2.0. Yesterday I felt compelled to add a health warning to warn people about the damage that using it could do to their reputations if their product was not up to standard.
      
3. The latest Guerrilla Marketing Association I have listened to and blogged about was Marketing Using The Powers Of Psychology. One of the key messages is that if you keep repeating something enough, people will begin to believe it.
    
4. I have come across a highly acclaimed series from BBC 4 called "The Century Of Self" which looks at the Freud family's role in the controversial story of the growth of the mass-consumer society in Britain and the United States. The videos are below although each is long.
   
   The write up on the  BBC website says "By introducing a technique to probe the unconscious mind, Freud provided useful tools for understanding the secret desires of the masses. Unwittingly, his work served as the precursor to a world full of political spin doctors, marketing moguls, and society's belief that the pursuit of satisfaction and happiness is man's ultimate goal."

Can Marketing Do More Harm Than Good?

This is heavy and could make my brain hurt.

By improving our marketing skills, whose benefit are we really doing it for?

Is it truly win-win as I propose in my thoughts on the customer focused entrepreneur?

Or is it only win-win when built up in a world of self deception and illusion?

Do you remember the Keanu Reeves film "The Matrix" when we don't really live the life we think we do or the Jim Carey film "The Truman Show" where a man was the real life star of his own soap opera and everyone else around him were actors?

Is it right that "you can fool some of the people some of the time but you can't fool all the people, all the time?"

It seems to me that Jay Conrad Levinson is right with his allusion to marketing techniques as marketing weapons.

Like any weapon, a pistol, a rifle, a dagger or even "the bomb", marketing can be used as a force for good in the world to protect the innocent and to publicise the truth. To persuade people to buy the great products that consistently deliver on the advertising promises.

But it can also be used as a force of bad will, to rip-off the innocent and to defraud the unwary.

Caveat Emptor

It's not a new problem as one of my few Latin phrases shows - "let the buyer beware".

But another thought has struck me.

If the seller is to behave ethically and stay within a verifiable version of the truth, what about the manipulations by the buyer. The less known Latin phrase is "Caveat venditor" - let the seller beware.

Who hasn't seen a buyer exaggerate the possible volumes that could be available or to disguise the genuine price offered by a competitor just to put the salesman under pressure and to win an extra price concession?

Video 1 - The Happiness Machine

The BBC describe this episode as "The story of the relationship between Sigmund Freud and his American nephew, Edward Bernays. Bernays invented the public relations profession in the 1920s and was the first person to take Freud's ideas to manipulate the masses. He showed American corporations how they could make people want things they didn't need by systematically linking mass-produced goods to their unconscious desires.

Bernays was one of the main architects of the modern techniques of mass-consumer persuasion, using every trick in the book, from celebrity endorsement and outrageous PR stunts, to eroticising the motorcar."

Video 2 - The Engineering Of Consent

The BBC's description of this episode is "The programme explores how those in power in post-war America used Freud's ideas about the unconscious mind to try and control the masses.

Politicians and planners came to believe Freud's underlying premise - that deep within all human beings were dangerous and irrational desires and fears. They were convinced that it was the unleashing of these instincts that had led to the barbarism of Nazi Germany. To stop it ever happening again they set out to find ways to control this hidden enemy within the human mind."

Video 2 does not have that much to do with marketing but it is extremely interesting and is amazing to see how much power the psycho-analysts had in the fifties and very early sixties.

Video 3 - There Is A Policeman Inside All Our Heads: He Must Be Destroyed

It seems that Freud's ideas were challenged by the ideas of Wilhelm Reich who believed that the inner self should be encouraged to express itself rather than to be controlled. The self help movement has turned this into us into the Me Generation.

To quote the BBC again "But the American corporations soon realised that this new self was not a threat but their greatest opportunity. It was in their interest to encourage people to feel they were unique individuals and then sell them ways to express that individuality. To do this they turned to techniques developed by Freudian psychoanalysts to read the inner desires of the new self."

Video 4 - Eight People Sipping Wine In Kettering

This final video turns its attention to the way that Tony Blair and Bill Clinton borrowed the marketing ideas of business and applied them to the world of politics. Based on trying to target people's inner most desires, they tried to do good, unaware that the ideas they used were developed to control people.

Conclusion

I would love to hear your thoughts on the ideas expressed in the article and in particular the videos.

What do you think about the development and the popularisation of powerful methods of influence and persuasion, both as a buyer and a seller?

I feel certain that this is an article that I will add to and extend after I have let the ideas in the video sink in and consider the implications.

Update - Mind Control Marketing

A few years ago top marketer Mark Joyner wrote a book called Mind Control Marketing which explained all kinds of psychological tricks. It became an instant success but was suddenly taken off the market. Mark Joyner was concerned how these techniques would be used to manipulate customers.

Mind Control Marketing has now been released as an ebook with an extra chapter. Click on the link and see my thoughst but Amazon critics loved the original book.

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

Copywriting Tips From The Master Copywriters - Lesson 1

There is a great section of copywriting in the Nitro Blueprint manual (for people who want to build Internet marketing businesses) and it reminded me that the best way to learn copywriting is to study examples of great copywriting and to learn from the master copywriters.

The Copywriting Learning Process

With this idea in mind I thought I would take a look at some of the great examples of copywriting I see and invite you to study the same pieces and compare notes.

While you will learn from reading, you will gain much more by taking part, making your own assessment and entering into a debate by adding comments to this blog posting.

What Is Great Copywriting?

Basically copywriting can be described as "words that sell" or "salesmanship in print" to quote Claude Hopkins.

As you read great copy you must feel drawn to doing what the copywriter wants you to in the form of pressing that buy button or picking up the telephone BUT you don't have to submit.

While one famous copywriter, Joe Vitale talks of Hypnotic Marketing you are still in control of your actions so don't hold back because you are worried that you may find yourself buying something you don't want.

Copywriting is seen in advertising, direct mail letters, telemarketing scripts and websites. To make it easy for you to take part from anywhere around the world, it makes sense to analyse Internet sales letters which are available to everyone.

To set the scene for what is great copywriting I thought that I'd summarise a section of Jay Abraham's famous Mr X book to act as a template for us to use.

On page 203 Jay identifies these basic components of a sales letter:

1. It must get the readers attention with a strong headline
    
2. It must show distinct advantages and benefits
    
3. It has to prove or validate the claims by using testimonials, comparisons and credentials
    
4. It must persuade the reader to want the product
    
5. It must motivate the reader to act

The Mr X book says much more about the art of copywriting with Chapter 9 on Advertising running from pages 97 to 148 and Chapter 11 on Direct Mail from pages 175 to 230 in a densely typed A4 size script but I want to keep the framework simple.

You may also want to remember the famous AIDA formula for advertising copy:

1. Attract attention
    
2. Create interest
    
3. Create desire
    
4. Compel action

The Mr X Book Is A Great Place To Start

I can't think of a better place to start than by taking a look at the sales letter for the Mr X book (also known as the "Money Making Secrets of Marketing Genius Jay Abraham And Other Marketing Wizards") so you can see the sales letter here and you may also be interested in my Mr X book review.

I picked this for a number of reasons:

1. It is Jay Abraham, the world's highest paid marketing consultant and famous for his copywriting skills. Even if Jay didn't write the letter himself, can you imagine a) the honour of being asked to write for Jay Abraham and b) the difficulty of getting copy approved?
    
2. It is a fascinating story and a great product although if you are tempted, you need to note the concerns I raise in my book review and understand why I only gave it 4.5 stars.
    
3. My grapevine tells me that the Mr X book is being updated for Internet marketing and when it is reissued it will have a 150% price increase. This will give me the chance to compare two sets of copywriting for a similar product which I thought would be interesting.
    
4. I was talking to someone yesterday who mentioned it as "the most expensive book he'd ever bought" so it is very fresh in my mind. Also after the Jay Abraham videos featured yesterday on the Rich Schefren blog, I am back into my Jay Abraham addiction.

Let's Take A Look At The Sales Letter

Your link again to the sales letter is here and you will see that it takes you into a short page.

The headline is dramatic but also contains the first mistake because it has not been updated as the years change.

"Here's my prediction:
2007 is the dividing point...
If you don't have my Ultimate
Marketing Bible on YOUR desk
in 2006, then I simply don't see
how you stand a chance in today's
high-speed marketplace..."

At the stage it is playing into the reader's fear, uncertainty and doubt but it is well established that moving away from pain is the major motivator of initial action.

The headline is also arrogant and not one of the best I have seen connected with Jay.

The webpage then goes on to explain that this is your chance to get a copy of the secret manual which has been locked away and unavailable for download. While the download element may be true, truckloads of the book have been sold over the years.

The page then goes on to explain some of the key benefits that you can learn but you then run straight into the first test when you haven't had time to warm up.

You have been told very little and you are asked to enter your name and email address. No bonus rewards for signing up, just a necessary step to get through to the full sales letter.

I don't like this two stage approach and I would have expected many people to turn their back at this stage except for those in awe of Jay Abraham's reputation and intrigued by what could be included in the Ultimate Marketing Bible of a marketing genius.

The Detailed Sales Letter For The Mr X Book

This letter is sold through a joint venture between Jay Abraham and Tellman Knutson. By coincidence Tellman was the first speaker on the Ideas To Income seminars although I find his follow up marketing irritating and unsubscribe myself.

For this to work you need to enter a name and email address although when I did it there was no confirmation process and I was taken straight through to the detailed sales letter.

It is about 11 pages so this is a relief from some of these 30 to 50 page sales letters I have seen. I believe in long copy but some do push it to its limits and I have my own theory why.

Let Me Tell You A Story

One of the reasons why I find this sales letter so appealing is that it tells the fascinating story of someone benefiting massively from Jay's genius which puts over his credentials in a way that doesn't sound like "me, me, me - I am great" who then saw the opportunity of selling Jay's to the world.

This is a great idea and I love it but I have no idea whether it is true.

Effectively page 1 is the summary.

The scene is set, an upper limit established, bonuses which double the value, risk reversal of a full 90 day trial period (very trusting for a digital product) and a link through to the sign up page.

I like this. For the impatient, it cuts to the chase immediately without having to troll through page after page after page.

The Story

See my article The Story of The Mr X book for more details if you haven't take a look at the sales page itself.

By seeing into Jay's mind about how the book written by Mr X was such a threat to Jay's lucrative $5,000 to $25,000 workshops and his various audio programs, the copywriter creates a tremendous sense of value to be had from the book.

I mean who wouldn't want a summary of all the ideas from Jay Abraham put together by someone who has worked with him closely, achieved massive success and all based on a $50k library of Jay Abraham material. What is being offered here is an enormous cost and time saving. All these secrets are condensed into less than 400 pages.

Can you see how he is creating desire and then you get a little bit of hearsay social proof which is very clever.

"About a dozen people who've invested $10,000 or more in my materials have called to tell me that Mr. X's book helped bring all my ideas and concepts together for them and bring it all home."

In this one sentence Jay is compelling a big benefit to his existing clients who have been exposed to his concepts and ideas with the big benefit that it will help them to apply it but at the same time to people unfamiliar with his work he is implying "this is better than spending $10k on a course."

The Dilemma

You get taken into Jay's mind again.

Having been shown the concern about people learning his secrets "on the cheap" and his initial desire to take it off the market before jacking up the price to reflect the true value, Jay builds credibility by explaining the reason why it is now up for sale.

It has turned into a major lead generator for Jay. Instead of replacing demand for the expensive workshops and conferences it has invigorated demand because people are now being educated in the opportunity based profit building mindset of Jay Abraham and want more.

So Jay is presenting this as a win-win - good for you the reader because you are getting the $50k worth of secrets for less than 1% of the cost and good for Jay because he is so confident in its value, you will want to come to a conference.

The Ethical Bribe and Take Action Bonus

The sales letter is a marketing lesson in itself and Jay uses those two phrases "ethical bribe" and "take action bonus" to put into your mind that you are getting something special if but only if you take action.

He then goes on to explain the benefits of the six bonuses including the Tony Robbins 5 1/2 hour interview edited down to 2 hours which Jay believes is worth more on its own than the price he is asking.

Risk Reversal

The risk reversal offer is repeated - 90 day money back guarantee so this is a "can't lose" offer before going on to summarise the main benefits of the offer again.

Conclusion

This is master class copywriter all held together by a great story which continually reinforces the value of what is on offer topped off by a what turns out in the end to be a better than risk free risk reversal strategy.

It is refreshingly free of the exaggerated hype and outlandish claims which you see in many letters. It gains its strength from the desire to get the inside secrets in an easy, convenient form together with a circular endorsement from Jay to Mr X back to Jay again. Interestingly there are no testimonials.

Lessons

1. Use a story wherever possible. It engages the reader and holds their interest.
    
2. Use of a picture and signature help to personalise the letter.
      
3. There is a personal touch as you can imagine being in Jay Abraham's position and wondering what you would do.
    
4. Personally I don't like the two stage approach with sign up in between. You have to be very confident to put this barrier in the way.
    
5. The focus on comparing various alternatives of value to the cost.

Do you agree with my assessment that this is a great sales letter or do you think that it lacks form, substance and is unconvincing?

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

Frank Kern Mass Control

There is another big launch underway and I am getting more and more links telling me to take a look. I am referring to Frank Kern and his Mass Control system.

I haven't seen it all but there is some interesting material here.

Who is promoting it? Eben Pagan, Stompernet and a few others.

Am I going to buy it?

No I have far too much on at the moment but if it appeals to you, Frank Kern does have a great reputation.

The truth about the mega launches

Mass Control video - 90 minutes

List Getting Video 1 - How To Make Lots Of Money Forever

List Getting Video 2 - The Tech Stuff

Is This Mind Control?

Mass Control Preview - How To Make More Money Starting Immediately

No affiliate links (even though other people seem to have them) - just thought-provoking information and as always, it is interesting to just analyse the marketing process.

From what I have seen, it is well worth taking a look but I have made sure that I don't watch too much, just in case it becomes another program on my buy list.

I am just too busy in Q1 and have turned down invitations to Rich Schefren's next Strategic Profits conference (Frank Kern is one of the speakers) and Jay Abraham's Reunion Reunion because I just have to get on top of the work I must do.

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

Claude Hopkins - Scientific Advertising - 4 Stars

Can a book first published eighty years ago teach you anything about advertising in the Internet age?

I think it can if the book is "Scientific Advertising" by Claude Hopkins.

Claude Hopkins was a pioneer in advertising and copywriting but his impact today is probably seen most through his influence on Jay Abraham and the greatest copywriters of current times.

I have heard Jay Abraham say that he must have read "Scientific Advertising" over sixty times and that he gets something new from the book every time that he reads it.

It was Claude Hopkins who came up with the idea that advertising is just "salesmanship in print."

He is the foundation stone for direct marketing and pioneered ways of testing the different elements of copy against each other until the best, most successful version was found and could be rolled out as the main promotional campaign.

His advertising laws are established in what has been proven to work and if you look at current copywriting guidelines, these rules are still in existence.

Having read and heard a lot of Jay Abraham material, I found it fascinating to read "Scientific Advertising" and see how Jay has taken ideas and repeated some while twisting and re-shaping others.

The early chapters are easy to read but I did find that it became increasingly heavy going but I never did work out whether it was something about the style, the old fashioned language or whether some of the later chapters were less relevant.

However "Scientific Advertising" by Claude Hopkins is a marketing classic and a book that anyone who is serious about developing their marketing or copywriting knowledge has to read at least once.

I rate this book as 4 Stars - a valuable book that is important to read but not essential for the general small business owner.

At this stage I would normally be sending you off to an Amazon link to have a look at the book but I can do better than that.

Because the book was first published in 1923, it is in the public domain so you can download a free copy of "Scientific Advertising".

For small business owners my two most recommended books remain:

Jay Abraham - "Getting Everything You Can From Everything You've Got" 

Jay Conrad Levinson - "Guerrilla Marketing"

I regard both books as essential as marketing is at the very core of business management.

Don't miss this great Jay Abraham video.

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs