Once upon a time… a few years ago… I met a brilliant writer with the initials CW, who taught me about something she called “The Curse of Knowledge.”
If you’re not sure what the the Curse of Knowledge is, then it will be my extreme pleasure to share it with you, as it was once shared with me.
My friend CW explained it to me thus…
So I woke up this morning with another one of my “thoughts for the day”…
A few weeks ago, I shared an actionable tip that worked for one of my clients. If you were able to avail yourself of it, then that’s great… you’re welcome.
If not… well, not every idea works for everyone, no matter how great the idea (maybe the next one will suit you better?)
But this time around I’m dropping more of a philosophical postulation (whoa, there’s a couple of big words. I’m pretty sure I used them correctly?)
Anyway, this time I’m going to rant for a moment about something that’s near and dear to my heart, but gets disregarded too easily by many other marketers.
I’ll try to keep it short and sweet, because I understand that reading the ramblings of a madman is not for everyone.
And after you read my thoughts, feel free to agree with me (because I’m brilliant)… or add your own thoughts to the conversation (because you’re brilliant)… or lay down an alternate truth of your own (because you think I’m full of crap).
Whatever you decide to do, I’m sure it’ll be the right decision for you.
So that’s enough of an introduction. Here’s what I was thinking when I woke up this morning.
After 20 years in advertising…
When I was growing up, back in the 1980’s, I had a friend named Mark (For privacy reasons I won’t use his last name here). Mark was an interesting guy, and a lot of fun to hang out with. And he was also one of the smoothest con artists I had ever known.
All these years later I can still remember the day we went to a local shopping mall, just to hang out (shopping malls were still a big thing back then).
We walked into that mall with less than $20 between the two of us. And a couple hours later we walked out with full bellies from one of the restaurants, and Mark had shopping bags with over $200 worth of brand new clothes. (not stolen… these clothes were “given” to him by the shop clerks)
Like I said, he was an interesting guy.
Over the years, we lost touch and I don’t know what happened to my friend. I figure he’s either a multi-millionaire by now… or in prison. (It could’ve gone either way) But watching him in action always fascinated me so much, that it eventually helped lead me down a road of studying social psychology, social engineering and persuasion. (I never wanted to be a con artist, but I did become obsessed with understanding how that shit worked)
Which brings us to today.
Today I’m going to share a few tricks of the con-artist trade that also resemble “honest” tricks of the copywriting trade.
So if you’re ready, let’s dive right in…
WARNING! The following list of techniques should ONLY be used for good (not evil). If you’re clever enough to merge them into your copy, you will see higher conversion rates. But if you choose to use them to deceive people it will probably come back to bite you in the ass. And any legal troubles you get into are your own fault. So don’t blame me… and consider yourself warned.
There was a thread the other day, on one of the marketing forums I belong to, that touched upon a point of morality and ethics in marketing.
One of the members was called out for blatantly lying to, and deceiving his market, in order to promote himself as being a master marketer.
That member shot back, and basically told his detractors “The best marketers adjust the facts, so get off your high horses and start living in the real world!”
He then went on to justify his claim, demanding that he could “honestly” say he produced tens of millions of dollars for past clients, because he once worked for a company that did so.
And even though he wasn’t personally responsible for those transactions, he wasn’t lying. He was simple “adapting the truth” to fit his own needs.
Now, I don’t know how you feel about his justification; But to me, with that type of logic, a cashier at Walmart could say they’re a front line financial expert, managing an entire sector, at a multi billion dollar company.
To me, it sounds deceptive… what do you think?
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The most important marketing lesson for every business…
Meet the new boss; Same as the old boss
The Who – Won’t get fooled again
Wow, I was just listening to the old song “Won’t get fooled again” by the Who. And let me tell you, it really brought back some memories from my youth (I guess that shows you how old I am).
At the end of the song, Roger Daultry sings “Meet the new boss – Same as the old boss” and it instantly got me thinking about marketing.
OK, I can already hear you saying… “What? How the hell can an old rock-n-roll song make you think about marketing? You friggin egghead!”
Well, maybe I deserved that… and maybe not. But at least let me explain where I’m coming from, before you feed me to the alligators…