The Secret To Marketing Is……..
Shhhhh…. I will let you guys in on this but make sure it stays with you and nobody else.
People like to talk and share ideas, views and opinion. I am sure you have heard the above statement quite a few times. What happens when someone tells you that they will share a secret with? You get curious. Unveiling something that is supposed to be a secret is a definite conversation starter. You know what they say, if you want everyone to know about something, tell one person and say “Don’t say it to anyone,” chances are it will spread like a wildfire. Hopefully this is not the case with everything and every conversation you have but when it comes to marketing the “it’s a secret” message sure does work.
I can almost bet you can’t resist on clicking something that says “Secrets Unveiled” or “The Secret to Losing Fat Within two months.” You get the idea. Keeping things secret is a tool, a skill and if used properly it can create quite a bit of buzz among people who share it. It starts from you and passes on from one ear to another. It becomes a conversation starter among people. People love to gossip and people love to be the first one to break the news to someone else who might have not heard it. That is one of the main reason why pushing the the secret button works wonders when it comes to marketing.
Sometimes the best approach is to keep things under radar cause it creates a buzz. People wonder what it is, what it might do and most of the times because of this curiosity they get ready to jump in and try out. And thats when your marketing effort converts into results.
The secret to marketing is keeping secrets….well, atleast one of the secrets.
Great article and I agree, using the words “secret” and “discover” in your sales copy will certainly help. The challenge that we master marketers are faced with today is that so many people are using the word “secret” in their sales copy that it’s quickly becoming a cliche. The average American is hit with 10,000 sales pitches a week. The average American has become quite discerning when it comes to the sales pitch. As such, sales copy begins to lose its effectiveness as other advertisers adopt it. For example, “Money Back Guarantee”. Everyone is offering a money back guarantee. Try “Double Your Money Back Guarantee” if you want to stand out from the 10,000 sales pitches a week crowd.
Fortunately, there are some creative variations on the “secret” marketing theme that are currently working very well.
A variation on “secret” marketing is to use: “What They Don’t Want You To Know”. Not only does this imply that a secret exists, but it plays on 1 in 5 peoples fears that someone is out “to get them”. The most powerful sales copy combines both fear and the secret.
For example, the sales copy that turned a dog e-book into a hundred thousand dollar a year business reads, “Grief-Stricken Man Searches For Answers After Unexplained Death Of His Dog & Accidently Uncovers Multi-Billion Dollar Cover-Up Responsible For Up To 87% Of All Dog Deaths. And Now He Teaches Dog Owners How To Easily Stop It Happening To Them Before It’s Too Late. You’re about to discover the terrifying-truth about commercial dog food that is linked to the deaths of thousands of dogs across the US every single day.”
Notice the variation on the “secret” marketing theme. The sales copy implies that there is a secret behind the unexplained death of dogs, a cover-up, without actually using the word “secret”. It then puts fear in dog owners minds by implying that your dog will die unless you know this secret about commercial dog food.
Thanks for your indepth comment. Unless you step out from the conventional marketing your results are going to be conventional. The trick isn’t about using a particular word or following the steps of others who have done it before. True marketing lies in trying something different. Same with pitching a sales. Creating curiosity with “secret” “revealed” and all can be done in an unconventional way to drive and generate more leads and as a result revenue.
Marketing itself is cliche. It’s just each marketer needs to break out from monotony that has been set by others and needs to be creative.