Whilst wandering around the favorite videos of some of my newest YouTube friends, I discovered something that reminded me of some of my earliest education in psychology: the “art”, as it were, of brainwashing.

Watch the following video from the creator of a popular MLM (Multi-Level-Marketing) program and notice the unusual use of the word “prompting” at time marker [0:29].  I had never heard this term used in this way prior to watching this video:

Having never heard the term "prompting" used this way before as a noun, I was reminded how interesting it is that each unique culture creates its own terminologies in order to isolate and insulate itself from others.

The Power of a New Language

Like an “inside joke” among friends, this “creation of a new language” is a very common tactic within shrewd marketing programs, such as MLMs and cults alike.  Each group leverages the same psychological and social principles to create their fervent following.

They’ll take a very common concept and create a new term for it. Then, those who use that term "properly" are considered "insiders" reinforcing the bond between members and creating a barrier for “outsiders”.

Once someone learns this new language, they, too, can communicate with this “secret language” to others on the inside, and they now feel a heightened affinity for the group and its members.

Language Controls Behaviour

In marketing , like brainwashing, if you want to control a person’s behavior, you must first control their thought, and the creation of a new language is one inroad to that thought control.  This is why you will see new programs and books constantly being introduced with new words for the exact same things that have been around forever.

Even the big guys, like Microsoft, do this.  They come up with a slightly improved version of a technology, and give that thing a whole new name and all of its tinier parts have different names than the same tiny parts of the previous version.

In the marketing world, this brainwashing concept of relabeling things you already know with a new word or using an existing word in a slightly different way is called “branding” and “differentiation”.

From the book “Cults and New Religions Movements” by Lorne L. Dawson , I’ve found some very interesting passages on human thought control that are very applicable to this marketing concept of “new language” development.

The goal of all of this is your conversion or your remolding… You affirm that you accept and understand the ideology by beginning to talk in simple catchphrases of the group… Using the new language fosters your separation from your old conscience and belief system.

Create Your Own Cult

What is it that YOU do, in such a unique way that someone else could see your unique value through creating a new word or using an existing word differently?

Can you create a community of loyal fanatics using Social Media tools like Twitter , YouTube, and Blogs that use this new language and turn your clients into a horde of raging fanatics ?

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Having the skills without the caring doesn’t matter.  I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have a drunk derelict who would give his life trying to save mine administer CPR than a triple PhD who’s motivations are purely selfish.

Without further ado, here are some quick tips on improving your marketing from some of the top marketing folks around:

Marketing tips summary:

Adam Urbanski – Take a flip cam or small camera to live events, such as a networking event, conference, or training conference for your industry.  Record video segments like the one above and distribute them to convey value to your clients.

Bob Jenkins – Use teleseminars in a way that connects you to your audience and leverage those teleseminars many different ways, such as products, blog posts, articles, and promotional giveaways.

Carrie Wilkerson – Attaining success through M & M’s: Mindset, Mentoring, Masterminding and Massive action.

David Preston – Pull out the yellow pages, find websites without lead capture, and help them install lead generation tools.

Coach Deb – Get more things done in less time by cloning yourself, such as leveraging software which helps you get more done without even being there.

Mark Shilensky – Be authentic with your audience, share from your heart and give them everything you’ve got.

Felicia Slattery – Start speaking to market your business.  Think about the 3 questions you get asked the most and turn it into a presentation.

Willie Crawford – Conduct an exclusive interview of your affiliate partner’s product about the 10-15 benefits of that product.  Transcribe that interview, distribute the PDF far and wide.

Melanie Benson Strick – Make sure you outsource your marketing to those who can do the work better, faster, and cheaper than you.

James Wedmore – Use Video as much as you can, whether you get an inexpensive flip-cam or something more expensive, make video part of your daily routine.

Erica Douglas – Talk to your clients on the phone or in person about their needs and actually listen to their answers.  Follow up with a phone call or a personal letter thanking them for their time.

Which of these tips helped you the most?  How and when will you begin using it?

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Now, this retailer, oddly enough, is quite the effective marketer, due to her nationwide television adverts, traveling double-decker billboard bus, and tons of free press and huge buzz about her unique style, not to mention, her quite effective marketing techniques.

If you can manage to stomach it, examining her site shows quite a few offers, lead generation tools, sticky content and SO much more.  However, if you didn’t already know about LINGsCars.com – you’d probably be afraid to give her money, assuming you don’t have a seizure while trying to find the link you’re looking for.

The thumbnail doesn’t do the site justice… click the thumbnail to see the real site.  WARNING: If you have photosensitive epilepsy, click at your own risk! It’s THAT garish.

So, here’s how Ling’s site is a great example of things NOT to do.

1. Ow! My Eyes! Other than the potential side effects for the epileptic, that site just plain old HURTs to look at.  If you want people to hang out on your site and do things (like give you money) it has to be easy enough on the eyes to let them feel comfortable doing so.  After looking around on that site for a few minutes, my retinas had a burned-in image of all those garish flashing colors.
2. Where do I click? Let’s pretend I really WANT to give Ling my money?  Where do I click for that?  There’s a gazillion links on that page.  How long do I search to find what I want?  What’s a link?  What’s NOT a link?!

Other than that, though… it’s quite a piece of work.  Testimonials, free-live support, consumer information, contact info… it’s all there.  ALLL there… and ALL on the home page. 

You tell me!  If you did a search on Google to buy a car and found this site, without ever hearing about them before…  How would YOU react to this web site?

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Here’s how…

First, remember that your "brand" should be consistent — all of your messages you send to your audience need to align with one another, lest your audience become confused about who you are.  Branding comes in the form of websites, logos, newspaper advertisements, phone book ads, coupons, mailers, etc.

Now, take a look at the following window lettering/signage for an exercise place down the street from me.  The name of the company makes sense "Get Fit" – good so far.  They even narrow their target market fairly well – "Women’s Personal Training" – absolutely commendable.

But WHOA MAMA!  What’s up with those huge bulging biceps? I haven’t conducted a formal market study or anything, and I’d love to hear your opinion on the effectiveness of this.  But, my initial reaction as I’ve shown this around to close friends has been that of initial alarm or shock.  That’s not necessarily a good thing when trying to attract new clients.  Men who want to be beefy might be attracted to this or gals coming in to hit on their trainer.  Maybe this is an attempt to leverage "sex in marketing ", and I’m just missing it.

I have a hard time coming up with a worse image to use, really.  Maybe a picture of pie or cookies, or someone sitting on their duff in front of a television would be worse.

What might have been better?  A silhouette of a slender-figured woman, perhaps?  Dumb bells?

It’s important to talk to your target market in terms that they understand to sell them what they already want to buy.  A lot of the women in the area are stay-at-home wives who generally keep themselves in pretty good shape.  Maybe they’re looking for motivation or for someone to keep them on schedule.  Maybe there are frequent health and fitness goals of this audience that could be catered to in their logo.

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Working long, long, hours in Orlando for the past 3 months or so, it wasn’t until very recently, I even spent a moment (not asleep) at the hotel.  When I did, I was studying, or programming, or something similarly productive.

If you’ve been working with me on the marketing front for any length of time, you’ve noticed I constantly mention how the most effective marketing motivator (for adults) is sex.  If you can find a way to squeeze sex into your marketing message, you’ll suddenly find customers.  To summarize, "sex sells".

Here’s why…

To be technical, sex is an "emotional motivator", along with fear, love, greed, and spirituality.  People buy because they are motivated to buy and these emotional motivators are at the core of this motivation.  For example, in the IT industry, the most successful sales reps for hardware, software, consulting, and outsourcing are women — notably, hot women.  Why?  Well, frankly it’s actually kind of sick, but to quote a notorious sicko, "It is what it is."  What I mean is, you don’t have to judge them as right or wrong, just realize that the horny old men in charge of IT dollars are simply looking for a little company.  Some of these sickos go so far as to impose "favors" in exchange for business.  Some male sales reps succeed by outsourcing the association of sex and their product by taking prospects to strip clubs, or providing for other forms of entertainment which fit that bill.  Regardless, it’s there, it’s pervasive, and it’s probably not going to go anywhere, despite my or your distaste for that reality.

Sexy Marketing

A few nights ago, I took a break and watched a little (gasp) television.  The ads I saw while flipping through the 50+ channels astounded me, not because the concept was new, but just how basal and absurd the link between the product and sex was. Regardless, they managed to squeeze a little sex appeal into an Arby’s commercial:

Now, the Arby’s spot is not as over-the-top as the Carl’s Jr commercial for the spicy BBQ burger featuring Paris Hilton from 2005:

Paris Hilton is nearly naked, writhing around in various provocative positions, covered in sudsy water which appears to be fairly cold.  At one point, Paris chomps into a token burger, but then proceeds to writhe around some more, cover herself in suds, completely bend over (I think that’s the “downward facing dog” Yoga position, if I’m not mistaken) and a few other things.  Luckily we didn’t have to actually hear her talk or anything, or have some voice-over ruin the fantasy… but what the hell does that have to do with a hamburger? Oh yeah, "It’s hot."  OMG!  That’s just sad.  However, the news around this ad created gazillions in free promotion for Carl’s Jr.  And here, 3 years after the ad was banned, it’s still virally floating around the internet.   Carl’s Jr. created a web site a few weeks after the ad was banned and the thing got so much traffic that it crashed again and again and again.  If advertising is about impressions and if impressions create customer momentum – there’s so serious momentum being generated here.

Another commercial I saw recently (can’t find it on YouTube) is for TVLand evening programming, or Nick at Night or something like that.  It features a married couple who, through perspective shots ala Austin Powers are engaged in a variety of provocative situations:

• The man opens a refrigerator, spouse in the background with two melons visible over her chest.
• The man, reclined on the sofa, hands folded behind his head, sits with a smug grin as his wife strokes a 2 liter bottle of soda, conveniently placed over his pants.
• He stands up and stretches, she tilts the bottle over a bit creating unmistakable phallic imagery.
• She goes over to the television, and leans over to form a perfect right angle, the man slightly behind (and nearer the camera than) her lifts the remote and pushes it forward toward her posterior.
• The narrator says something like, "we know what YOU want… to grab hold of your remote and watch TV with blah blah’s evening lineup."

THEIR message was actually almost related – get your spouse, go to the sofa, and relax together with our programming… maybe you’ll get lucky.

If you can find a way to harness the power of sex in your marketing, you’ll make a splash.  It doesn’t have to be vulgar, or over the top.  But, it’s amazing how powerful it can be.

Next up, "fear" — or why you need an alarm system, life insurance, baby gates, a fence around your pool, and absolutely MUST get your children’s fingerprints taken and sent to the FBI.

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So, here’s something you might find handy if you’re setting up a WordPress blog for yourself.  Maybe you already have one and just didn’t know how to optimize this (You know who you are!) because you’re as Stupid as George Bush .

To do this you’ll have to update your header.php file – the simple way to do this is to navigate to the current theme folder on your web server (in the wp-content/themes/ area) and copy the header.php file on to your PC. There, make a backup of the file (in case you need to restore it later on), open it in a text editor or an html editor and locate the following tags:

<title>
</title>

Once you find that chunk, delete it and replace it with this snippet of html, instead:

<title>
<?php if(is_home()) { bloginfo(’title’); } else{ wp_title(”); echo ‘ » ‘; bloginfo(’name’); } ?>
</title>

Then, rather than your blog name or, heaven forbid, the word "Archive" appear first in the title — the title of your post actually appears first in the title.   Then the search engines will believe that your page has more to do with that particular title, and get you more search engine traffic for the keywords which appear in your title.

Enjoy!

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Something I tell my clients regularly:  Do something to market your business — ANYTHING.  It’s better to mail a low-budget direct marketing letter to a small list than it is to wait forever to get the time to make the perfect letter, and to budget enough to mail it to tons of people, etc.

As it stands, so many small businesses end up in "analysis paralysis", doing nothing while they look for the best way, rather than doing something.  As a result, once you get off of your butt and actually do some marketing, you’re narrowing your field of competition significantly.

Your results from a bad marketing campaign are bound to be astoundingly better than the results you’ll get from no campaign.  Well, it would seem I’m wrong again,  there ARE exceptions to every rule.

So, there’s something I have never mentioned, because I assume everyone understands this…

It would seem that part of the success from showing up apparently includes NOT acting like a complete jerk while you’re there.

A client of mine recently experienced an amazing telephone call from a telemarketer who sells Google AdSense consulting.  Normally, I’d applaud this effort — getting business is a good thing.  Telemarketing can be great way to drum up business.  And in this age of "Do not call" lists, telemarketing to businesses is just about all that’s left.

Read the following transcript from his conversation with the man claiming to be Director of this company.  Make sure you read the whole thing. It’s pretty dull at first, but gets extra spicy at the end.

Pompous sounding telemarketer:
Hello, could I possibly speak to the person who manages the Google advertising campaign?

Small Business Owner:
That would be me.

Pompous sounding telemarketer:
Oh, it’s yourself?

Small Business Owner:
Uh-huh.

Pompous sounding telemarketer:
Well, I’m lucky there, aren’t I?   You also answer the phone?

(Note: You can tell here, that the caller is starting to be a bit of an jerk about the size of the company he’s dealing with – being able to reach the chief, cook, and bottle-washer so readily, who also answers the phone.)

Small Business Owner:
(chuckling) Of course. Why not?

Pompous sounding telemarketer:
(chuckles once, then abruptly stops) I’m the director of a company – we’re based in England. We have a satellite office in Miami, in the US, called Blueprint web marketing . We’re a world leading Google Adwords agency, which you, personally, advertise on.

Small Business Owner:
Okay…

Pompous sounding telemarketer:
Yeah… uh. Your advert appeared in Google Europe. Do you get much business from Europe?

Small Business Owner:
Uhm, we get a fair amount, sure.

Pompous sounding telemarketer:
(Incredulously) Oh, you do? Well, I mean what’s the business, primarily, being in the U.S.?

(Note: So, now the telemarketer is frustrated, since it’s obvious his primary appeal is that people are wasting their money on clicks in Europe when people don’t do business there. But this particular business owner has a product that be sold and employed world-wide.)

Small Business Owner:
I’m sorry, what the question again?

Pompous sounding telemarketer:
(louder) Most of the business that you generate will be U. S. based.

Small Business Owner:
What’s the percentage? (no answer from telemarketer – painful pause)

I’m sorry, I’m having a hard time understanding ya. (chuckles)

(pause)

Pompous sounding telemarketer:
Hello?

Small Business Owner:
Hello?

(another painful pause)

Pompous sounding telemarketer:
I’m sorry, do you not understand English? (sighs)

Small Business Owner:
Yeah…

(another painful pause)

Pompous sounding telemarketer:
(sounding QUITE agitated) Well, no, that was quite a rude thing to say. I mean, I thought you spoke English in America.

Small Business Owner:
(stammering) I, I do. I’m sorry… I’m having a bad… connection…

Pompous sounding telemarketer:
(interrupting loudly, and talking over the SBO)  It’s alright, no, it’s alright. I think, I think you’re as stupid as George Bush (slams phone down).

Small Business Owner:
(in disbelief) Oh, my God! (hangs up)

I tried to catch all of the subtleties of the call in my transcription.  But, for the full effect, you have to listen to it, yourself .

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It’s going to take me a little bit to gather my notes and work up all of my thoughts on the lessons I’ve brought back into a cohesive package, so I’m going to drop another little nugget of wisdom on you.  This is a simple and fundamental concept any business can apply to their marketing, and every business should.

A few days before we took off, I was golfing with an old friend and client, a partner with half-ownership of a prolific landscaping company, here in Tampa. I was talking about market segmentation and customer lifetime value and all that stuff that I get all excited about. He was examining the landscaping and telling me how they could be doing this and that better with their selection of materials or plants and such.

One of the things we worked on was selling benefits versus services. You see, people don’t buy “lawn mowing” – they buy what having someone else mow the lawn for them provides. Or, if they’re forking out the big money to have a full planter bed installed, they’re buying what that new bed of plants and flowers and such provides them – they don’t want the bed, they want what they get from the bed and plants.

Now, how would you do something like this when marketing a lawn mowing and yard trimming service? What could such a basic service as mowing lawns do that would be so appealing to home owners? Is a “freshly mown lawn” enough of a motivator?

Here are some ideas of what lawn maintenance companies provide as an emotional end benefit:

• “Stop slaving away on your lawn”
• “Get your weekends back”
• “More time for golfing”
• “More time for fishing”
• “Get to know your kids”
• “Relax and enjoy your weekends”
• “Enjoy life again”
• “Get that Christmas shopping done”
• “Watch the game instead of mowing your lawn”
• “Spend more time with your family”

Taking that same perspective, what emotional appeal can you use for a landscaping service?

• “Make your yard a showpiece”
• “Cut your water bill with xeriscaping”
• “Save natural resources with drought resistant  landscaping”
• “Create a yard in tune with nature”
• “Increase your privacy, naturally”
• “Create the yard you’ve always dreamed of”

As you can see, all it takes is a little rearranging of your thoughts on the service you provide, regardless of how mundane it might seem to you. Marketing something like lawn mowing and landscaping can be spiced up significantly if you realize the benefits of your service and start selling those benefits rather than the raw product of “cutting the grass.”

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Imagine paying a small fortune for your web site, then realizing years later that you never made a dime from it. Unfortunately, 4 out of 5 small business web sites cost far more money than they ever bring in. Local businesses like dentists, restaurants, plumbers, HVAC repairmen, and real estate agents have all forked out their hard-earned money into a web site that just doesn’t do a thing for them.

In reviewing and revamping small business web sites to become marketing machines here are the top 5 mistakes to avoid (and, coincidentally, the top 5 reasons to fire your current webmaster)

Top 5 Small Business Website Mistakes

1. Your site has no content. In order to be flashy, splashy, and cute – graphic designers (especially the very expensive ones) will create a web site that, strangely enough actually doesn’t have words, at least from the perspective of the search engines, like Google. The entire site may be combinations of flash, movies and graphics. Web spiders and web surfers alike are attracted to sites with content. They want to know more about what you do, your reason for being in business and how you can help them. A big, pretty, obscure logo gives them nothing to chew on – so they leave: no phone call, no e-mail, and no new customer.
2. Your web site markets your company’s name, not your company’s product. Your page title, image files, domain name, and web copy all use your company’s name a gazillion times over.
   
   The good news: People will find you on Google of Yahoo when they know your company’ name.
   
   The bad news: People who already know your company’s name probably already know how to find you! Instead of focusing on you, your web site should focus on what your customers are really looking for. Here’s an example: Let’s say you are a dentist in Clearwater, Florida. Your prospects are NOT going to be searching for Ronald J. Effington, DDS. They’re going to be searching for “Clearwater Florida dentists.”
3. No headlines, bad headlines, or company name headlines. This is really a three-way tie,  in my opinion. They’re all incredibly similar yet have a subtle flair to each style of mistake: they keep the reader from knowing what you have to offer.

The first thing someone visiting your site wants to know is how you can help them, not what your name is. The reason they stick around is because they realize that you have something valuable to offer and they’re working their way to it.

If your web page title is your company name, the top 3 inches of your home page is your company name, and your web page have no subheads to help them find their way to something useful – web surfers will be gone before you can say “Bob’s your uncle.”

4. No objective. Your site is simply there. You talk about how great you are, how long you’ve been in business, the brands you service, sell, or deliver, and so on. But there’s nothing for the prospect to do unless they want to just start doing business with you right then and there. But they can’t! Maybe there’s a phone number or address, but what do they ask for when they call?
   • “If you have tooth pain – come read THIS page.”
   • “If you’re planning on moving to the Tampa Bay area, here’s how I can help, send for my tips brochure.”
   • “If you’ve been injured in an auto accident, you need someone who can represent you and get you what you deserve from those money grubbing insurance companies, schedule your free 30 minute consultation.”

Your web site needs to have specific objectives for each type of visitor, call out to that visitor (maybe even literally), and focus exclusively on accomplishing that objective:

5. You don’t answer your emails, ever. I had a client recently share with me that he filled out a form for more information and actually had someone reply an entire year later . Yes, that’s right, 365 days after asking for more information about their products and services, they finally got around to seeing if they could be of help.
   • Your prospects use credit cards to pay at the drive through so they don’t have to wait for the cashier to count change.
   • Grandmas have cable, DSL, or fiber-optic networks connected to their house to send baby pictures and quilting patterns to their grandma friends, and they know that you will get their message on your computer in the next 5 seconds, just like Ethel does.
   • I can order a computer right now, over the internet, and have it delivered to me, tomorrow morning by 9am.

I hope this isn’t a surprise to you, but this is the 21^st century. People are getting accustomed to faster and faster everything. If you can’t keep up, pretty soon, you won’t have to worry about trying to.

At very least, put an autoresponder in place that says: “Hey, we got your mail, someone will be attending to your request as soon as possible. Thanks for giving us a chance to earn your business.”

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Perhaps this is so profound it should be a sign in every small business. School does not teach practical life lessons in this regard, and frankly, it’s a little disturbing.

In school, "trying" is worth something. In real life, it doesn’t mean squat. The only thing that matters is results. Some examples:

• Sports coaches are forced to praise the kids for trying hard, even though they lost.
• Teachers commend students for giving it "the old college try".
• Parents praise their kids for trying hard even though they fail an exam or fail to make the team.

They all say: "It’s okay, you gave it your best and that’s what matters most."

Throughout their education, people are conditioned to complain that they tried so hard and then expect a sympathetic ear, a sticker, or some other token reward just because they tried. The unfortunate consequence of these years of conditioning is that those who end up without rewards for simply trying turn into angry, jealous, and resentful people. They see the success of others as something mysterious or serendipitous – especially when others get their success without suffering as obviously as they have.

In the real world, "the college try" doesn’t get you a thing. Real world sports teams which lose game after game end up with new coaches and players traded away. In real world business, a CEO who makes too many mistakes is read the riot act by the board of directors, a salesman doesn’t make their quota is replaced by someone who can. The real world rewards one thing: setting and achieving goals.

Successful small business owners just don’t want to hear about all of the pain someone had to go through to get the job done. If they wanted to live through that, they’d just do the work and keep their cash to themselves.

Employees, clients, partners, etc. occasionally act like they deserve special consideration because they tried to do something (but failed). Let me tell you, they don’t. You have the right – and, if you want to maximize your successes, the responsibility to – only reward successes and to withhold those rewards upon failure.

You have to continually educate those in your sphere of influence that you don’t care how hard they try — you only care about results: the meeting of deadlines, the accomplishment of goals. And those who don’t get the lesson can go milk the life blood out of some other poor sap who is not so picky about the details.

Now, let’s back to our originally scheduled programming: putting more money in your pocket, with smart management and smarter marketing.

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