Storytelling = Subliminal Selling

by 24 replies
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I thought this article was a pretty neat read... there's a sentence in here
that REALLY stood out to me.

"The commercials Neistat produces don’t feel like commercials at all -- and that’s the key to their success. Neistat knows what brands want, but he knows what ad-averse millennials want, too: great storytelling, adventure and authenticity. And his formula appears to be working."

The storytelling part.

I remember YEARS ago, back in 2003 or so, I had built up quite an email list in my fitness biz.

But my emails were the typical.... "here's how to do pull ups the right way"

And usually at the end would include a link to a product.

Then I got onto Matt Furey's list, and it took me a few months to realize, but
almost every one of his emails was a STORY.

So, in my emails, I started talking about my daily life, how I worked out, and ate, and did cardio, etc...

Each email was simply a short story out of the day of my life.

And I did what Matt did, which was include a clear call to action in my P.S.

That one change... using stories each day, tripled my sales and revenues.

And here we are, 10 years later, this article talks about how this entrepreneur is
such a hit... because his ads aren't like typical ads... they tell stories.

But this goes way beyond just a story when writing a sales letter. These days, whether it's email, blog posts, Facebook posts, Instragram posts... my #1 thought is... "how can I weave this valuable insight and advice into a story, so people connect with it, can relate to it, and feel like it will help increase sales.

Anyways, very cool read here... and proves the point that since the dawn of time... we've been attracted to stories.. .whether it's through books movies, or, well, marketing.

How YouTube Sensation Casey Neistat Succeeded in Making Ads for People Who Hate Ads
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#copywriting #selling #storytelling #subliminal
  • There's been some really interesting studies into story telling and listening.

    When a story is being told a process called neuro coupling takes place and the brains of both the teller and receiver sync up with the same areas stimulated in the receivers brain.

    In the receiver the brain actually anticipates what happens next in the story the closer the story matches there predictive anticipatory response the easier the story is learnt.

    It ties in to the old methodology of say what you are going to say, say it and say what you said.
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    • Receptivity to stories is an ancient evolutionary "hack" to the mind's emotional centre.

      If you're in the persuasion business that's exactly where you want to be. The reason it became hardwired into the brain was; In the days before the written word it was the best way bar none to transmit information into another's mind.

      In the ancestral environment danger was an everyday possibility, telling a story to another member of your tribe was a way of getting them to run a virtual simulation of a potential opportunity or a possible dangerous situation and give them a tried and tested solution to it.

      Basically the story was saying: If this happens, this is what you do.

      Because the listeners critical factor could get in the way and interfere, your brain disabled it to some extent. The wisdom within the story was usually so tried and tested across the generations that accepting the story without interference was nearly always better for your genes as an action heuristic was more likely to save your life than trying to analyse a novel situation on the fly.

      As civilization progressed the stories became more and more complex and condensed even more information into themselves you ended up with the first great stories such as the Greek myths filled with tales of heroes overcoming adversity and ending up with both the girl and the kingdom through heroic acts, self-sacrifice and outwitting wily opponents.

      If you're living in a tribal structure then these acts were just the ticket for protecting your tribe and your extended family (people you share your genes with).

      Receptivity to stories became dominant in the population. It's still there ready to be utilised by any copywriter with smarts. Nature even built in a pleasure response when you correctly anticipate what happens next and the dopamine rush you experience is your reward for toeing the line.

      The actual science of how it works is unusually simple for a cognitive trait. It's to do with what's called "theory of mind". TOM as it's known can extend even beyond knowing what someone else is thinking [2nd Order] to even higher levels such as a 4th Order level.

      "He knows that I know that he knows I know"

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_mind

      It evolved in the higher mammals along with mirror neurons to allow them to run a virtual reconstruction of what another mammal was thinking and predict what it was going to do next (sort of like a sandbox) and act accordingly.

      Very handy for your genes if the other mammal intends on killing you!

      The problem is though there has to be a highway between your own mind and the simulated mind or to be technical the two "global workspaces"...

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Workspace_Theory

      ...and this highway allows emotions another person is experiencing to leak into your own mind, it's a small price to pay for such a useful mechanism though.

      You experience it every time you watch a movie and feel the emotional triggers in the story. You know the hero isn't really trapped by zombies or handcuffed to a pipe in a rapidly flooding room, but you STILL feel the emotions of panic and unease the actor is portraying.

      As a copywriter you can sneak these emotions into your copy by using stories as the transmission vehicle. Emotions are the levers that create decisions.

      Whether they're someone else's you're experiencing in a story or your own pertinent ones it doesn't make any difference to how they influence you.
  • Yes, the noble art of telling a story.

    Why does it work so well?

    Once upon a time…

    Shocked and stunned copywriters realised the hidden secret to selling.

    NOBODY likes being pitched to.

    But they love hearing a good story.


    Steve
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  • Banned
    Furey is one of the best copywriters and info product sellers. Bought a lot of his products so it can work well. It depends on the product though I thinks.
  • Good post. Casey's whole story rings true. High school dropout, young father at 17, washing dishes to feed his kid, deciding what to do with his life, realizes he wants to be a filmmaker.

    He and his brother start shooting movies in Manhattan in the early 2000s with a cheap video camera, shows lots of talent, gets a couple of huge viral hits pre-YouTube (iPod's Dirty Secret), gets an HBO show, Madison Ave. calls to makes ads for Mercedes, etc., gets paid big $ to speak worldwide, creates new social network (Beme).

    His life story is authentic, and his mostly young-skewing tribe responds to that in a big way. He's probably the best best YouTube vlogger from a quality standpoint. He admits he started daily vlogging a couple years ago as a warm-up to his Beme launch, but his transparency, high quality videos and authenticity were what sold his audience.
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    • Narrative bunnies been movin' hearts and minds since Tarot, horoscopes, an' kathlick bejesus.

      All is imagry and arc in the dark.

      Also, dialog.
  • Stick a buncha actors on a stage an' get 'em to pretend real good, an' grown men're gonna weep.

    But you gotta have frequent interruptions in the narrative or it's like watchin' cheese an' the magic don't happen.

    Indy strikes out, bags the booty, comes home.

    Nope, I ain't watchin' that movie.

    Ditto buyin' anythin' when I sniff a pitch.

    People are wisin' up quick, but guts an' theatre always gonna pull.
  • Great salesmen are often great story tellers. You will notice how effective Gary Halbert
    was at telling an intriguing story. That was the meat of his copywriting chops really. He
    always had a story to bring across his points.

    -Ray Edwards
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    • Absolutely Ray... Gary had some of the best. Heck, whether it was in his copy, or an issue of The Gary Halbert Letter... you could almost always count on a story to come up.

      And it's funny how a lot of his students like Doberman Dan and Scott Haines, they use a lot of stories in their copy as well.. .especially when they bring up working with Gary.

      When you think about most people... there isn't a day that goes by where SOME kind of story isn't involved in their lives, somewhere, somehow.

      Like watching movies? It's the story.

      Like reading books? It's the story.

      Like some of the HBO or Showtime shows? Stories.

      Plays and theater? Stories.

      Love listening to music? Most songs are stories.

      So yeah, I'd have to say there's a little something to this story-thingy when writing
      copy :-)
  • it is natural human instinct to use stories to get our point across.

    All of these copywriting "techniques" and concepts really are things people naturally do themselves in their everyday life they just don't consciously realize it like a copywriter would and don't deliberately work to improve on these skills.

    Think of a time you had to convince your friend of something - maybe you know them so well that mentioning this "one thing" would for sure make them agree, or maybe you lied to your parents as a kid, tried to convince them to take you somewhere, whatever. I bet you used many of these persuasion tactics before you knew they existed.

    I have a seperate swipe file that I use for Amazon reviews. I've realized sometimes when I personally wanted to buy something, especially on Amazon, I look at the reviews and there's usually one person (probably a paid for review who knows?) who tells a good, realistic story about their use of the product and it pushes me to the edge to buy.

    I realize this and swipe the review to look it over later to determine why/how.
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    • Last time I hit on a movie for a synopsis was never.
    • Not really. Many people are terrible at story telling and don't even try.

      And most of those who do tell stories are just running their mouths... doing it to be the center of attention.

      For the most part, it's only persuaders and educators who use a story to make a point.

      Alex
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  • While I am not into theatrics style writing or fiction per se, for over a decade people have told me;"you should write a book!"

    Meanwhile, it always came by way of my brutal honesty when describing a personal experience, usually containing some form of humiliating circimstances that were either derived from, or leading to a measure of accountability in finding the solution.

    Often, I've questioned whether including yhis in specific marketing arenas would be of benefit? -or- damaging to ones credibility?

    As with the drop out making films... It works, if the extenuating circumstances (humility/failure/lack of 'x') is over-written by empowering the solution (experience/success/accountability) is sincere and transparent.

    But, if you try selling your failure with no solution... You might be a good comedian, and get a few laughs.
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    • All stories are a series of emotive hooks arranged in a narrative arc.

      Fiction, movies, comics, copy, oral tales, myth: all follow this broad format.

      Storytelling is kinda instinctive, 'cos showin' what we know is key to survival.

      So most people can tell stories about what they did that day, or the funniest thing that ever happened in their lives, or mebbe summarise the plot of a movie for a friend who missed it.

      But what kinda stories would these be?

      Mebbe kinda humdrum, or kinda boringly told -- so most people ain't gonna want to know.

      For stories to be effective, they gotta be good stories. And they gotta be brilliantly told.

      This is where anything instinctive gotta subject itself to the rigor of craft.

      Anyone can write a dumb story about a stoopid girl who discovers a secret door, but to make the bestseller fiction and movie list, you gotta have talent honed by years of painstaking fiction craft, kinda like Gaiman did with Coraline.

      Ditto movies. The narrative plays the same, but the means of delivering it, the expertise, differs from literature. Any goober can make a home movie on a vid camera these days -- but who's buyin'?

      Same with alla the other stuff I mentioned, includin' copy.

      Anyone can have a raw stab, and the result will prolly be a crock of crapola.

      Anyone 'naturally' half decent gonna be tempted to refine their craft, learn the stuff that mebbe ain't so instinctive, ain't so obvoius, and relates specifically to copy narrative rather than movie narrative or fiction narrative.

      Ultimately, every story, however it's framed, whatever its purpose or 'genre', is a series of emotive hooks arranged in sequence from beginning to end that clearly outlines/describes/shows a change, a transformation.

      In fiction, typically the protagonist triumphs over some kinda adversity, in movies, some guy in a cape saves the world from Godzilla, and in copy, the reader is moved to pick up the phone or buy the product or whatever you persuade 'em is

      THE END.
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  • I love following Andre chaperon, Ben Settle, and John McCullon. They all tell stories via email to sell their products.

    Some of them intertwine their stories over multiple emails ( more effective ) and some just use a separate whole story per email.

    Nonetheless they all have mentioned their revenues skyrocketed when telling stories to sell versus just plain selling via email.
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