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How to Use Fear to Sell More |
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If you shock, scare, or offend your audience with your advertising message, you might be using Shock Advertising, a sometimes controversial, always provocative, and certainly high impact tactic.
The Church, the government, and advertisers do share that in common—they all employ scare tactics to get our attention. The message sounds like this: Quit smoking or end up in a body bag, go to Church or go to Hell, go to war or suffer at the hands of ‘weapons of mass destruction.’
See if your brand or message can break through the clutter using similar tactics…
- Does your product or service solve or alleviate a problem that’s taboo or too embarrassing to say aloud? Let’s call this category the “unmentionables.” Contraceptives, feminine hygiene products, cigarettes, and diarrhea-solutions all fall under this category. For example, if someone is troubled by gas and fears public embarrassment, highlight that distressing problem. Remember, humans will go to great lengths and pay hefty price tags to avoid painful and/or embarrassing situations. You might consider pushing your advertising content toward the unconventional.
- Could your brand benefit from instilling fear of a particular event? The argument favoring shocking content is supported by the idea that it significantly increases our attention and recollection of the content. Massive car crashes and victims pummeled off the road grab our attention, and brands like Allstate capitalize on selling these overtly violent images.
- Does your product or service offer peace of mind? Consumers like to think their brands are completely honest with them; it builds trust. Give consumers a dose of reality, like State Farm’s Nowwhat.com campaign. Share the ugly truth about cigarettes with consumers, like The American Legacy Foundation’s thetruth.com. Don’t be afraid to blurt out the frightening, the offensive, or the downright revolting.
How can knowledge of these tactics help your brand? According to the basic model of consumer decision-making (EKB model), consumers must first perceive they have a need or become motivated to solve a problem. Then they’ll search for information and make a purchase decision. Here’s how to motivate your consumers…
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1- Create communications that grab your consumers’ attention by showing consumers the problem/situation in a negative light. Let them know how the problem/situation can affect them in their daily lives. Highlight how terrible the problem/situation really is. Mix and match any of the following:
-Testimonial: Someone is talking about how much suffering the problem/situation has caused them. The consumer empathizes with the person and their problem and thinks, “me too!”
-Illustration: Literally show them what happens when the problem/situation takes place. For example, they see the bacteria multiplying at lightening, frightening speed.
-Statistics: Nothing is scarier than real numbers. The higher the better. If it happens daily, monthly, or by the second—tell them! For example, “every two and half minutes, a woman is raped in this country.”
2. Offer the solution. Consumers need you to connect the dots for them. Do the legwork and position your brand as the vital piece of the puzzle.
-Testimonial: You’ve told them about the problem—now others can tell them about their success stories. Your brand is the solution and the protagonist in each of these stories.
-Illustration: Your product saves the day! Show them, don’t just tell them. For example, Lysol is sprayed on the bacteria, and the bacteria die on the spot.
-Statistics: Remind consumers that during test trials, four out of five women didn’t get wet spots when they used Stop-That-Sweat.
-Benefits: Let them know exactly what the benefits of using your brand are. For example, “this medication will immediately kill the fungus that causes Athlete’s Foot.” Think about high-impact words to describe your product, like powerful, proven, clinical, etc. Steer clear of fancy lingo; use language people can relate to. Action verbs also work wonders in a sequence: alleviate, protect, help, remove, and strengthen.
3. Direct them to your Web site. Your immediate goal is driving consumers from ‘problem recognition’ to ‘information search and evaluation.’ If you’ve done a good job, your consumer should now be well aware of the horrors of their problem/situation and receptive to your brand as the solution. Time for the call to action. Today, consumers do most of their compare and contrast in the virtual world, so have a Web site ready with compelling content. This will help push your consumers through the decision-making steps, compelling them to make a purchase.
-Beat the competition: Compare your product to the competition and show your product doing a better job at solving the problem.
-Be consistent: Make sure your communications remain consistent with your brand message (everywhere your consumer can set eyes on it). Include your Web address throughout all communications.
Disclaimer: Shock advertising might raise a red flag with organizations such as, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC); People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA); Parents Television Council (PTC); the Church; and the government.
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