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Cosmo Bullets

Cosmo Bullets - Quickly Picked Apart & Examined To Discover Their Most Powerfully Persuasive Properties - Part One

“Why bother paying attention to the bullets on the cover of a Cosmo magazine?” I thought to myself, “I’m not in the women’s entertainment business.”

Oh, naivité. Thy name is Paul. (That’s me, by the way.)

You see…

When you look at the cover of a popular magazine (in particular the ones that you can find on the rack at the supermarket checkout counter) you’re getting a glimpse into what the most motivating sales appeals and emotions are for the particular market the magazine is targeting.

But! – It’ll tell you so much more than just what applies to that particular market.

These snippets of copy (bullets, as they’re called — and I’ll get into what that means exactly in a future post) are designed to be impactful. To speak to the market as accurately as possible. With the highest degree of emotional connection, stimulating their desirous “greed” glands to the max.

In short, they are designed to sell.

So sit back (or at the edge of your seat, perhaps) while we explore some marketing power moves from the brilliant copywriters who worked at Cosmopolitan Magazine over the years.

Now… On to the bullets!

From the cover of the June 2015 issue:

Sex So Hot You’ll Need To Crank The A.C.!

Of course, sex is one of the most powerful appeals there is. It’s a surprisingly sophisticated appeal. It encompasses an emotional spectrum far beyond mere pornography or hedonistic behavior. It’s that heart-fluttering excitement when you first meet someone special. It’s the slightly-guilt-ridden thrill of eavesdropping on (or being completely exposed to) the details of someone else’s personal relationships. It’s the taboo of the physical expressions of love – no matter how “open” the society you live in, there is an inherent taboo nature to reading about other people’s sex lives that is, to most people, slightly thrilling.

So why wouldn’t the writers of Cosmopolitan, an entertainment and fashion magazine for women, take advantage of this naturally intriguing appeal? The answer is not only do they take advantage of it, but you’ll notice the appeal to sexuality in almost every bullet they feature on their covers. (If not explicitly, it’s almost always present implicitly.)

Beyond the outright appeal to the subject of sex, this bullet – “Sex So Hot You’ll Need To Crank The A.C.!” – inspires a vision in the reader’s mind that they can relate to even if they are as chaste as a disinterested nun. That vision takes advantage of an experience most people have had on an average mid-August day… being hot, sweaty, and wanting to crank up the air conditioning! That feeling is common enough that almost anyone who doesn’t live in a subarctic climate can relate to it, and it’s being used (hijacked even) in this instance to give you an almost visceral glimpse into what kind of amazing sex you could be having if only you knew what was between the covers of this particular issue.

Buying decisions are made based on emotions.

If you can inspire visceral feelings with your copy, you have a better chance of creating strong emotions in your reader’s mind that are tied to those buying decisions. Visceral feelings are created by using the type of language that is understood on an emotional level.

Consider if we completely “neutered” this bullet, and changed it instead to:

Love-making done so that your body temperature will rise by over 2% relative to room temperature.

Technically the same offer. Emotionally dead.

And emotional death is the death of persuasion.

To apply the technique this bullet uses in your own work, emphasize an element of your product or service by using a visually powerful and/or emotionally playful description or analogy, and mix it with a strong appeal (like sex, if it applies).

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How to turn simple “everyday” experiences into entertaining emails, blog posts, and other valuable content your audience will salivate over.

How to turn simple "everyday" experiences into entertaining emails, blog posts, and other valuable content your audience will salivate over.

There are good stories all around us — if only we would put them into the proper context so our audience would find them entertaining and valuable.

Here’s how:

1. Pay attention to what is happening

You can’t turn your everyday experiences into riveting and relatable content if you aren’t paying attention to what’s happening – what’s happening to you and what’s happening around you.

What gets your blood boiling?

What inconveniences you?

What problems do you face – even minor ones – and how do you solve those problems?

These are the simple little things that, when given the right context, can become valuable content.

2. Note these experiences and analyze them

If you’re ever going to convert the mundane into the irresistible, you have to be able to remember what the heck is going on.

When it comes to creating content using the simple everyday occurrences in your life you’ll quickly realize that there are a lot more things happening in your life than you thought – no matter how insignificant they may seem (or used to seem before realizing they could be turned into valuable content).

So be sure to note down your experiences in some way.

If something makes you emotional, note it.

If something causes you confusion, note it.

If you find yourself having to deal with a problem over and over, note it.

Then analyze what it is about those experiences that caused you to note them down.

3. Put the experience into a framework of some kind

What do I mean by framework?

A story, basically.

I say “framework” instead of “story” for the simple reason that I don’t want you to think that you have to come up with any grand characters, unexpected plot lines, or elaborate settings to create good content.

Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill. And don’t reinvent the wheel. (And don’t be afraid to use a few clichés.)

Instead use a simple framework – like PAS: problem, agitation, solution; or AIDA: attention, interest, desire, action – to guide your story along.

Frameworks work because they have a natural flow to them that keeps readers interested. Rather than over-explaining, or over-complicating your experience, simply put the pieces into the framework. Then, adjust the story if need be.

And the beauty is you don’t need to know a thousand different frameworks.

A framework is like the structure of a building – almost every building you go into is built with a similar structure, but each building can be a completely different experience.

It’s the same with stories.

Unless your readers are acutely aware of story structure, they won’t notice that you use a similar framework any more than someone who goes into a building would think to themselves “Haven’t I been in a building that was designed like this one before?” Most people are concerned with other things, like the contents of the story/building.

4. The “Golden Rule” of converting everyday experiences into valuable content

Here’s a golden nugget to remember when deciding which experiences to write about – and credit goes to email copywriter John Bejakovic for writing about this gem of a Rich Schefren quote in one of his daily emails:

“What’s most personal is most general.”

This is why valuable content can be derived from simple, common, everyday experiences. No matter how insignificant they may seem, you can be sure that you’re not the only person who is dealing with them. But you might be able to convey them in a way that others haven’t done before.

It’s also why you can be more vulnerable than you might think your audience will tolerate. When it comes to building a relationship with your readers, the boundary of “TMPI” (“too much personal information”) is rarely crossed.

With practice, you can use these 3 steps (and one “Golden Rule”) to mine almost limitless amounts of entertaining, valuable, audience-and-relationship-building content from your own daily experiences.

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4 “Military-Grade” Direct Response Marketing & Persuasion Tactics

4 “Military-Grade” Direct Response Marketing & Persuasion Tactics
Replace “quit smoking” with “build your business.”

1. Provide Clear Reasons Why

Your prospects will never act (buy, subscribe, reply, etc.) without simple, understandable, and motivating reasons why they should. Just like a smoker needs specific reasons that personally apply to them to finally quit, so do your prospects need similar reasons why they should buy from you.

2. Set a “Quit Date” or Deadline

A deadline is one of the most powerful psychological factors when it comes to getting action. Nothing gets done without a deadline – whether it’s quitting a bad habit or making a purchase for a product. Tell people when they need to do it by, and they are more likely to.

3. Replace the “Addiction”

To create long-lasting change you have to address what is already in your prospect’s mind. This is the issue of “positioning.” What position do you hold in your prospect’s mind? Is there something else that already fills that category for them? Can you replace that position (hard to do!) or create a new positioning slot for them to put you into in their mind (easier)?

4. Use Consistent Reminders

No one is likely to change their ingrained habits (especially deeply addictive ones) after being exposed to an alternative just one time. It requires repetition. Give your prospects and customers “something to chew on” consistently. This will ensure they do not stray back to “old habits” — or worse, other competitors.

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How To Effortlessly Crush Your New Year’s Resolution…10 Days at a Time

New Year’s Resolutions are like arranged marriages.

Society might say you need to do it, but it seems like such a big commitment, and you’re probably not quite sure about the whole scenario.

Instead of choosing a New Year’s Resolution – which can be daunting and pressure-ridden – do this instead.

The Power of Ten

What I like to do is forget what day it says on the calendar and simply set a “10-Day Resolution.”

Something simple, actionable, and doable.

Why ten days?

A few reasons.

A 10-day resolution provides more opportunities to hone in and focus on the chosen resolution rather than a 7-day commitment — let alone a whole year.

For me, a week is just not long enough to really dig into a new habit or activity in a meaningful way.

There seems to be a mental barrier in our minds – likely from years and years of attending Monday through Friday school and jobs – that allows us to “forget” last week’s efforts and continue with our long-ingrained habits.

10 days is just long enough to break through that mental “one-week” barrier and let your mind know that you’re really doing this thing.

10 days will let you get a real feel for what implementing this new habit is like, while not being too daunting to commit to.

Multiples of Ten

It’s often stated that you need to do something for 3 weeks (or 21 days) to make it become a habit.

I think that’s good general advice, though I would argue that it takes even longer to truly make a new habit stick.

Here’s where the mind game starts to take over.

After completing one 10-day streak of commitment to a new habit or activity, if you felt it was helpful and useful you can simply do another 10-day streak. (After all, it wasn’t sooo bad the first time, right?)

After the second 10-day steak you’ll find yourself at a precipice.

You’ll be 20 days into the traditional “do something for 21 days to make it a habit” timeline.

At that point, you have a choice.

Is it really worth sticking with this habit for another 10 days?

If so, by the time you finish that third 10 days you’ll be on a 30-day streak! That’s well beyond the 21-day recommendation for long-term habit development.

If you decide after 20 days you don’t want to continue with your chosen commitment you haven’t wasted an entire year(!), or even a month on it.

But you’ve exercised your commitment muscles much more than you would have if you had only done a 1-week commitment.

10-day commitments strike the perfect balance between committing long enough to give it a good chance and not committing for so long that the entire process feels daunting and makes you want to fold right off the bat.

Try it out.

This year, create resolutions that not only last, but do what they’re meant to do in the first place – help you truly improve your life for the better.

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The Paradox Of Focus.

In life and in business it is hard to know what to do next.

There are so many things that are demanding our attention, the list never seems to get shorter.

But what if the list DID get shorter?

What if it was completely truncated down to just ONE task?

THEN would you know what to do next?

That’s exactly what I have spent the last 10 days doing.

Putting an enthusiastic focus on just one project, and working on it each day.

And here’s what I noticed.

When you focus on something exclusively (like I have been for the last ten days) you inevitably begin to think deeply about it.

This creates a cascading effect of new and interesting thoughts and discoveries.

Here comes the paradox:

The more you focus on something, the more you’ll have reason to lose focus.

Through intense focus, you’ll discover material that is likely to take away your focus!

One thing leads to another.

Thus is the fractal nature of life.

I have been coming up with so many ideas that I am almost constantly confronted with new ideas that I am excited to pursue – but that would be taking away from my main focus.

Now, I recommend USING this paradox.

How?

Well, if you are looking for MORE ideas, try focusing on ONE specific thing for an extended period.

If you’re anything like me you’ll get bombarded with ideas (both related to what you’re focused on, and not).

Remember to keep a notepad handy.

And try not to lose focus 😉

Two Stupid-Simple Ways To Have More And Better Ideas

As copywriters, advertisers, and marketers we live and die by our ability to come up with striking ideas.

The perfect hook, the right angle, an attention-grabbing headline and lead…

These things don’t just come out of thin air (no matter how many “formulas” you have in front of you).

So wouldn’t it be nice to have a way to cultivate your ability to have more and better ideas?

The following two recommendations will set you apart from 90-95% of the people out there (probably closer to 99%).

And they are both so simple and easy – it will be doubly astounding to you.

First, you will be astounded at the sheer simplicity of the recommendations.

At how potentially powerful yet easy to implement they are.

The extra effort you must add – that you might not already be doing – is so minuscule you might even initially discount and ignore this advice.

But if you take the advice to heart and stick with it…

I dare say you will be astounded yet again!

But this second round of astonishment will not only be due to the positive effects that you experience from the advice I’m about to give you.

But you will now be astonished at how FEW people (like I said, maybe only 1 in 100) actually take advantage of this simple yet powerful advice.

Ok, so, without any further delay…

What is this “Oh, so astounding!” advice?

Step 1: When you have an idea… WRITE IT DOWN!

The number one thing that stifles our ability to have great ideas is not the ability to THINK of them, it’s our ability to REMEMBER them.

Seriously.

We’ve all had those experiences where you have a good idea and think to yourself, “Oh, I’ll remember that one!”

And then – POOF! – it’s gone.

Never to return again.

So have a system (use your phone, carry around a notebook… I’ve done both) and capture your good ideas as quickly as humanly possible whenever you have them.

With me so far?

Pretty simple, right?

And if you did just that, you’d set yourself apart from the 95% of people who simply do not write down their good ideas, and instead let them disappear into the howling winds of their minds.

Ok, now on to step two – the part that 99% of people DON’T ever seem to get the memo about.

AFTER completing step 1 – i.e., after you’ve written down your initial idea to the point where you will not forget it – follow this critical instruction:

Step 2: Ask yourself… and document your answer… “Where did this idea come from?”

All too often we get enamored and wrapped up in our new idea, pursuing it to the exclusion of everything else in our mind at the time.

That’s only natural, and that’s why step 1 is to write your idea down. You want to capture it as best as you can so you don’t lose it.

But wouldn’t it be nice to be able to continue mining the source of that idea?

Now, quite often the answer as to what inspired the idea you had is rather obvious – for example, you were reading a book about a certain subject and then you had an idea about that subject.

No real mystery there.

But every once in a while you’ll have a truly “random” idea – or so it would seem.

And THAT is when you would benefit from doing a bit of post-idea analysis.

Where did the idea come from?

What really inspired it?

Is there something you could do to further stimulate more ideas along the same lines?

Basically, you’re trying to figure out if there is any way to replicate the stimulus that inspired the idea in the first place.

To do this, after you write your idea down, simply put a note at the end that says something like, “Inspired by ____.”

Then fill in the blank with whatever it was that you were doing, reading, or thinking about when the idea occurred to you.

Sometimes it will be something rather concrete that inspired the idea, like a book or a news article. And other times it will be something more abstract, like a memory or some other initial idea.

Logging WHERE your ideas come from – in addition to the ideas themselves – is the key to discovering further yet-to-be-discovered treasures in your mind.

Try it for yourself.

You’ll instantly set yourself apart from the other 99 people out of 100 that never bother.

And to further set yourself apart from the crowd, make sure you’re subscribed to the Copyganda newsletter, so you never miss another tip like the one you just read.

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“Prime” Time

I want to talk about this cool thing I saw Doberman Dan Gallapoo do a while ago.

This really got me.

What he did was sent out an email that was all about the benefits of having readers on your email list.

How the best customers are people who read.

The sad fact that most people don’t even read anymore.

How only the top few percent of people are actually readers.

The message went on to say that people who can’t focus or don’t have a long enough attention span to read are not even worthy of being on his list, because…

They’re not even capable of having a business for themselves.

So that was the gist of the email.

The lesson: target your marketing to readers.

Basically, try and sell to readers because they’re buyers. They’re actually going to consume what you create. They’re going to buy it, and they’re going to do it.

And those are the type of customers you want on your list (or at least the type Doberman Dan wants – and I can’t help but agree).

Great lesson, I would say.

Fine and dandy.

Solid email.

But then there was a “P.S.”

It went something like this (paraphrasing):

“P.S. If you like reading enough to read this far, you should read this.”

Of course, I’m curious. So I clicked on the link.

(But was it really my curiosity that caused me to click the link?)

It lead me to a sales letter.

Now, here’s where the wizardry of the spell Doberman Dan had cast begins to kick in.

The reality is, I wasn’t really in the market for whatever he was selling on that sales page.

But I kept reading.

I read the headline, the lead, into the backstory, devoured the bullets, through to the offer copy, the guarantee, the close, and I found myself at yet another “P.S.”

Before I knew it I had read the whole damn letter!

Of a product I knew I had no interest in buying whatsoever.

(I actually went up and down the page a few times, it was a great sales letter.)

And after going over the letter a second time (looking for all of the “tricks” and “tactics” used by the great Doberman Dan) I had a moment of reflection, and said to myself, “You know, I would never have gone through this whole sales letter today – twice – if he had not proceeded it with an email about readers.”

Fresh in my mind were all the reasons why I should keep reading (remember the list from before… how readers are rare, readers are only the top few percent of people, non-readers don’t deserve to be on his list, etc.?).

He implanted the idea that if you can’t even read through a sales letter – if you’re a copywriter and you can’t even deign to take the time to read some sales copy – what kind of person are you, really?

If I hadn’t been cued up with that idea in the first place, I likely would NOT have read the sales letter.

I probably wouldn’t even have clicked the link.

Now, I didn’t buy the product. I just wasn’t the right customer for it.

But there I was reading the sales letter.

Why?

I had been psychologically primed – by the email extolling the virtues of reading – to do so.

Like inception, a form of hypnosis where you put an idea into the person’s head and then “let” them have that idea for themselves as if it were their idea in the first place.

Subtle. Yet powerful.

My recommendation?

Think about how you could use this concept in your own market.

How can you psychologically prime your customer with an email so that they WILL go through your sales page?

Instead of proselytizing about the habit of reading, maybe you could emphasize people’s inability to focus, or their lack of follow-through, or their inability to follow simple instructions — whatever concept works best with your market.

Something that infiltrates your prospect’s psyche as they’re reading it, so they go, “Yeah, I don’t want to be that type of person that can’t even follow through on one little thing.”

And then – what do you know! – you offer one little thing for them to follow through on.

Give them an opportunity to go through the psychology that you’ve just set up in their mind.

It’s something like: “The most successful people are not afraid to go through a few little hurdles… Hey, by the way, here are a few little hurdles for you… Good job on that hurdle, here’s another little hurdle for you…”

First, you psychologically prime them by describing the journey they can look forward to – and then you provide them with the path.

And that’ll work a lot better than if you just provided the path in the first place, with no priming.

And now that you’re nice and primed yourself, it really would be foolish of me not to follow through on that feeling.

I recommend subscribing to Copyganda by filling out the form below to satisfy that particular itch.

That way, you’ll never miss another opportunity to be psychologically primed and manipulated into gaining a deeper understanding of the wily ways of persuasion and sales.

Oh, and go check out https://www.dobermandan.com/ and subscribe to his email newsletter, too.

Money-Saving Tips From A High School Dropout

In high school, I got really into playing jazz piano.

To the point where I eventually quit going to high school altogether (except when I would go to the band room – which was almost every day) because of my desire to spend time playing the piano.

But before I stopped going to school, I remember one time when I was in art class.

We were supposed to design our “dream home,” with an architectural plan, interior design, a mock-up of how the landscaping would look, etc.

Well, at the time, I was so involved with learning this song (Dolphin Dance, by Herbie Hancock), that all I wanted to do during class was look over the chords and the melody and analyze them.

I couldn’t give two shits about my “dream home.”

I had to get out of it. And quick.

My solution?

I hastily sketched on the page in front of me for about 3 minutes and immediately went back to studying the song.

Here’s what my “dream home” looked like: A fully underground home, with no above-ground structures, no landscaping, a one-room layout, and a completely minimalist interior.

In other words, it was an empty box underground.

Just about the bare minimum of what qualified as completing the assignment.

I didn’t care!

I was too busy studying the song.

Which brings me to the point I’d like to make.

I find there is a general lack of understanding in today’s copywriting and marketing world about the need to study, and re-study, analyze, and re-analyze, mimic (clumsily, at first), and re-mimic (with eventual originality and tact) the very material that we wish to master.

I’m not sure if this is a sign of the times – that people are unaware that they can go out “into the wild” and discover information for themselves, without needing someone to spoon-feed it to them on a silver platter behind the paywall of their latest $3,997 course – or if it has always been this way.

But when I was in high school, studying jazz piano, it was obvious to me that if I wanted to master this skill I had better wrap my head around exactly what it is I was trying to do in the first place, and then study it enough so it becomes second nature to me.

The only solution for that is to immerse yourself in it.

You cannot master a language without listening to it, studying it, analyzing it, and speaking it relentlessly.

You can’t master jazz piano without listening to jazz music, studying and analyzing the songs, and practicing relentlessly.

Likewise, whatever form of persuasive communication you’d like to master – whether it be Facebook ads copy, writing VSLs, or a daily marketing email – you don’t stand the ghost of a chance if you don’t spend some serious time and energy immersing yourself in the material, studying and analyzing it for yourself, and practicing what you have studied.

Yes, courses and trainings can help.

In fact, I highly recommend quite a few of them.

But I also believe they are often given too much importance, to the detriment of the student’s innate abilities to learn for themself through personal experience.

Here’s a rule that I now follow BEFORE buying any course or training…

(This tip was learned through many hard-fought mental battles and many, many thousands of dollars spent and lost – so pay attention!):

Whatever the topic or theme of the course that I am interested in, I now do AT LEAST as much research into the actual topic as it takes me to read the sales letter.

At first, I would do ONE HOUR of research into the topic PER $100 of training cost. (So for a $300 course I would do at least 3 hours of self-directed research and study into the subject the course was covering.)

And I would recommend that to most beginners, for a few reasons:

1 – You never know who is trying to outright fleece you.

2 – You would be a better student of the course if you had a preliminary knowledge of the subject (you’ll be able to ask more pertinent questions and have a clearer idea of what you want from the course).

3 – You may realize after a few hours of self-study that you don’t even want/need the course anymore.

Again, I’m definitely NOT “anti-training” or “anti-course.”

But I definitely AM “anti-getting-ripped-off” and “pro-self-study”.

Think of a good course as something that might be able to answer the questions that you have AFTER you’ve exhausted your own search to find those answers. (As opposed to something that will take you from zero to a hundred with no other skills, attitudes, habits, etc., required.)

That way, you will have developed the most important thing that a student (and therefore any teacher or course creator) can hope for, namely, the DESIRE & ABILITY to actually LEARN.

Do with this information what thou wilt.

And for more money-saving tips from a high-school dropout turned copygandist, be sure to subscribe below.

Lessons From A 95-Year-Old Propaganda Campaign

Today I wanted to do something a little different.

Inspired by my post yesterday — “Heads or Tails?” — I thought I would take a quick look at some Bernays ads from 95 years ago.

In this short perusal of old cigarette ads, we notice the extensive use of: before and after, specific targeting, suggestion, symbolism, repetition — and I didn’t even go into some of the more subliminal aspects of the ads, like the simple yet strategic use of colors (red for attention, passion, and desire) shapes (the Lucky strike logo is a red circle, not unlike the bullseye on a dart board) and layout of the ads.

These ads were produced with the purpose of swaying public opinion significantly to a new attitude — toward the acceptance of women smoking.

They are NOT direct response ads — they do not ask for immediate action — but instead, attempt to implant an idea in the head of the reader.

Note specifically the usage of the “Bait and Switch” — between the metaphoric & symbolic interpretation and the literal interpretation of the ad copy/images.

Heads or Tails?

Today’s persuasive writer is caught between two seemingly disparate paradigms.

One side of the coin comes from the “father of public relations” and the author of the book Propaganda, Edward Bernays.

In the introduction to Propaganda, Mark Crispin Miller writes (emphasis mine):

“[Bernays’] aim was not to urge the buyer to demand the product now, but to transform the buyer’s very world, so that the product must appear desirable as if without the prod of salesmanship.”

The other side of the coin – tossed and spinning in mid-air – is called by none other than the incomparable marketing genius Eugene Schwartz, author of Breakthrough Advertising.

He stated (paraphrased):

“Like a nuclear engineer, the copywriter does not create the forces he works with, rather he simply harnesses their power and directs it.”

And thus the predicament of today’s modern persuasive writer, as they sit in front of their computer keyboard, waiting for the coin to land:

Which method to use?

One strategy attempts to change someone’s reality from the outside…

The other utilizes what is already present in that person’s reality to persuade them to see things in a new light…

Both methods are extremely powerful – but each has its respective downfalls.

As copywriters and advertisers with limited budgets (I’m assuming you don’t have access to the type of funding that can put headlines on every major news network in the country) we have an uphill battle ahead of us when it comes to changing the mass of public opinion in any significant way.

Likewise, when it comes to harnessing the power of what the market already desires, we find that we are at the mercy of the currently prevailing ideas of society – the ones which we have no power to change ourselves in any significant way.

Is there a solution to this predicament?

Certainly.

And is it any surprise that the answer is…

The internet!

What do I mean by that?

Well, both Bernays and Schwartz – though their writings were separated by 3 or 4 decades – were writing at a time when “the masses” were the main concern for the advertiser (or the propagandist, as the case may be).

Every message had to be tailored to appeal to the vast majority of your audience – even if that audience was a smaller offshoot of a larger audience. Try as they might – and there are many examples of success with this, even back then – they just did not have the ability to “segment” the way that we do today.

What does finer segmentation offer us today?

Well, if Bernays were around today he might build a list of followers based on their capacity to have their minds “molded”, who would be willing to read his work and would be open to his suggestions, to the point where he could then provide solutions to the “problems” that he himself has implanted into his audience’s mind.

Schwartz, on the other hand, might take advantage of the fact that markets can now be finely filtered into segments based on the interests that people have. He would then attract those people who already have that passion which he would like to harness to create sales.

I hope it is obvious which approach is more inherently ethical. (If not, please keep reading regularly. The ethics of marketing and salesmanship is one of the main reasons I began writing the Copyganda newsletter – and something I’ll be diving a lot deeper into in the coming days, weeks, months, years, decades, etc.)

So how do we reconcile these two approaches?

Which path will today’s persuasive writer choose to go down?

Both!

That’s right.

Bernays and Schwartz would no doubt have used both approaches given today’s technological abilities of communication.

The major difference today (other than the ethical implications) is in the scale of their approaches.

Back in the day, both methods were concerned with persuading the public “en masse”.

Nowadays, businesses and companies can attract a small segment of people based on their innate passions and drives – AND they can also “mold” the minds of those followers to be more likely to purchase their products and not the products of their competitors.

They truly are two sides of the same coin.

I would argue that “world building” – a strategy that more and more marketers are becoming familiar with and utilizing – is the sophisticated combination of both of these methods.

Like a coin that has landed perfectly on its side, both options are available.

Whichever method you choose, be sure to “spend” your coin wisely.

Paul

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