Gold marketing principle 12 Use salt to make them thirsty
Here's another old saying: 'You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.' Is it true? Well, it's only true if you don't know anything about motivation. The fact is, you can make a horse drink every time if you know how to motivate it - how about putting some salt in the horse's oats! That'll get old Nelly drinking!
The same problem confronts businesses everyday. A good ad may bring droves of people into the store - only to see them look around and leave without buying anything. The problem is, you have led your horses to the water, but you could not motivate them to drink! So how do you do it?
You do it by getting their interest, then adding salt to intensify that interest, and then make the only way to satisfy the interest is to take action and buy.
For example, let's say you're selling a book on how to get easy credit. Here is a lukewarm way to conjure up reader interest in a sales letter:
'In The Book of Easy Credit, you will learn:
• How to get an unsecured credit card.
• How to go after venture capital.
• How to convince a banker to give you a loan.
• How to get a government grant.
Now here is the 'salty' way to sell this same product:
'The Book of Easy Credit reveals more than 104 amazingly easy and little known ways to get credit from sources we guarantee you have never heard about!
You will learn:
• Where millions in untapped money is waiting for you right now in this one underused resource, page 83.
• The three things you must know to get a credit card, even with a bad credit rating, page 47.
• Six 'magic' statements that will get a banker to accept your loan application every time, page 104.
• The seven deadly kinds of credit you absolutely must avoid, page 137.
• Which government agency is most likely to give you a grant, and why, page 98.
In the first example, the sales copy simply tells the prospect what they will get, which is not all that bad - it's just not as salty as it could be! In the second example, the copy teases the reader. It hints at the tremendous knowledge they'll get if they buy, but they have to buy to find out. Better yet, it makes the reader curious. Just what are those six magic statements you can tell a banker? Which credit sources must I avoid?
Salting your marketing messages is very much akin to 'selling the sizzle and not the steak.' If you make the prospect salivate at the smell and the sound of the steak on the grill, they'll be motivated to buy and get the steak itself. So how can you salt your marketing communication? Just remember, without a little salt, the horse will only drink when it wants to!
Continue reading here: Never underestimate the intelligence of the buyer
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