The Scapegoat Technique (A Must Know + Dangerous)

Yup. One of the necessary parts of any pitch from the stage for a money making plan is a combination of "The truth has been held from you" and "It's not your fault at all".

Sometimes, I've had to grit my teeth when I say it (because it's never true). But without that key component, they won't buy in the same numbers.

Yes, it's called a common enemy.

It's used a lot in pharmaceutical pieces...

they lie and put out drugs that are harmful and hurt more than they help. Your prescriptions could be slowly killing you...all in the name of big money.

They make millions off of dangerous drugs...here's a natural remedy that works better, and it's found in ordinary foods.

Wrote a sales letter for a financial newsletter for Agora...it was banned by 6 publishers because of the information it exposed...you can get the inside scoop...subscribe to my newsletter...

The Chinese are stealing the election.

Social Media is tracking your browsing history.

Monsanto is controlling the food supply.

What the government doesn't want you to know about the coming alien invasion.

What pet food manufacturers are hiding from you...and how it is slowly killing your best friend.

If you can find a common enemy, you build up a common connection.

I did a post on here before about using emotions in your writing...just remember that for every negative emotion you use, you need to direct them to a positive emotion.

Thanks for the post. Very interesting subject.

@Shawn Cesar...

the whole common enemy scenario serves a couple purposes. Most people don't want to admit they've caused most of their problems.

Although I've done it before...it's not always advisable to state the facts that because someone wants to sit around on the couch all day, eat donuts, never exercise, smoke, blah, blah, blah...they then suffer strokes, heart attacks, end up wearing diapers and sitting in nursing homes staring at the walls all day...

so we tell them it's not their fault. It's someone else's fault that they are suffering. It's stress, money problems, the economy, fast food, a divorce...

we let them know we understand and we also hate their common enemies and we are there to comfort them and offer a solution.

We want them to think, "Wow, someone understands why I'm a big fat piece of lard and why I look like a bag of doorknobs in my clothes, and why my thighs rub together when I walk and I get out of breath and use the motorized scooter in Walmart"

so guess what?

It's not their fault they have no self-control. It's not their fault they eat whoppers and drink soda by the case. It's not their fault they hide chocolate under their mattress or eat twinkies in the middle of the night -

it's the evil bad people that cause it...and we know they cause it because they did it to us too but we fixed it and now we want to tell them how we fixed it and now we're in great shape and get tons of women and...

anyways, you get the point.

So, here's a tip for the day. If you're stuck when it comes to writing something...sit down and write a letter to your mother, your sister, your brother, and tell them what you're offering and why they should get it. Be personal. Be emotional. Tell them why you're worried about their weight, their dementia, their lack of exercise, their cancer, their diabetes...

Dear Mom

Lately, it seems you're forgetting things. It never used to be that way. I remember when you were once outgoing and...

then, once you write the letter, use it. It's personal, it has emotion, it is something everyone can relate to and if it's interesting, people will read it to the end.

Write copy that grabs people by their emotions.

I'm rambling on, but I love the post you wrote and find it interesting.

You see everyone , i told you it was the government, they have been harming all of us for so long. From all the brainwashing and smart tvs, bad tv, bad...

And now that we get to discuss with liberty and ESREVER technology , oh man, these frequencies are like spirals...I told you guys it was the government.

-------------------------------------------------------------

so how was that, that seems like the only plausible way all this has happened.

: )

I love threads like these where everybody starts to throw golden nuggets!

It gets me excited

In reality, there's so much more to copywriting than most understand...

it takes years to understand, and then it can leave you just as confused as when you started.

Some things always seem to elude me...

why do some products take off when I think they have zero chance and yet others I think will be winners fizzle?

Why is it I can spend days and weeks writing something and it bombs...while I can whip something out without thinking and it goes over like gangbusters?

Am I even good, or do I just get lucky sometimes?

Do I really understand human psychology?

I try to remember that most big-name copywriters have had a lot of big bombs. Major companies with winning campaigns have also had many that failed. Am I just saying this to make myself feel better? Is it something I admit to make it seem like I'm just like everyone else? Am I just trying to fit in?

We study the winners, but they won't always be a winner again. Times change, politics change things, the world changes, pandemics...

What I do know...

I go through my whole day pretending to be something. I put on a persona to everyone I meet. It's not always me...but it's how I want to be perceived.

There are thoughts I have that I don't think anyone else has. There are dark places in my mind I go to that I think I'm the only one that goes there. Things I would never want anyone else to know...

yet, I'm not alone. I know everyone is like me.

I know every single person I meet is like me deep down inside. They have hidden thoughts. They have dark corners in their mind. They're portraying a person they want the world to know.

We play mental games and say little things and act certain ways to have people think of us a certain way. It's a show we put on every day and in almost every situation.

We talk about truly understanding people and writing to them as though we're talking to them personally. But how personal do we get when we know how they really are?

There's a line we can't seem to cross. We can flirt with talking to them personally, but unless we're better than their best friends, we can only go so far, and then there's a limit.

So, what we do in reality is baby them and pretend we don't really know the real them. We pretend they're normal and we talk to them on the level they portray to be. Or do we?

How much should we hold back?

Should we talk about their sexual fetishes? Should we discuss things they may do in the bedroom they don't want anyone to know? Do we suggest they act like they're not racist but deep down they have racist thoughts against certain groups of people?

And if we bring up things we know are true, why would they shut us down? Is it society? Is it the way humans are?

I've spent decades studying humans.

So, I may be the first to say this...but this is what I think...

what we strive to master is talking to people on the level they want to be perceived. We talk to them in their fantasy state.

In reality, when we're studying an avatar to write to,we study the acting part of humans. We study the roles people play in their day to day life to be perceived a certain way.

We strive to not only make them seem normal but that they fit into society. We understand their problem and we have a solution and we want them to think they fit into the solution because it works for everybody else.

What I'm trying to say, once I completely understood people, I backed up a few steps and realized I could go too far. It became apparent to me that in reality, what I really wanted to do was pretend I understood and talk to the persona everyone portrayed in their day to day lives.

I know this is deep for most, but if you stay in the business long enough, it's probably something that causes you to stop and think.

Just my thoughts and like usual I get long winded

There are similarities between some marketing techniques and what cults do to indoctrinate someone.

Share a common interest or motivation with someone

Tell them they are amazing

Isolate them by blaming other for their failures

Promise a solution that's safe.

Although I have kinda mixed feelings about this (especially telling someone who eats a lot it's not the reason they're fat), I have to admit that I've used this strategy several times and I've had decent results with it.

It's just human nature to find a scapegoat somewhere and run from responsibility and the hard work which is dealing with the problem

@Claude - I like your term "throwaway lines"

I find myself using those but never thought to phrase them like that.

I'll be in intense negotiations with someone, and when it seems to be getting too intense, I'll say something like, "I'm ready for a beer". I rarely drink, but the line will usually let me gauge the person's character. Often, they'll respond with something like, "me too"...which seems to break the ice and give the perception that we can actually relax and do other things besides talk business...and that I'm not that bad of a guy (haha). Just an example.

Anyways, after my post about human psychology...

I opened my email today and saw an email from John Forde (one of the best DM copywriters around), that had this to say that related to the issue I had brought up:

Generally speaking, I'm not a fan of psychology.

Let me rephrase that.

Generally speaking, I'm not a fan of what passes for modern psychology. Meaning, I don't like the contemporary zeal for navel-gazing, self-analysis, or self-labeling.

In my opinion, thinking obsessively about yourself -- which so much of modern psychology seems to advocate -- is a waste of time.

Worse, it might even be harmful.

I don't think, as a rule, we hear each other all that well, or enjoy the present all that much, when we're filling the silence with excessively descriptive theories of the self.

When someone says "I wanted to treat myself" or "I am [insert brand-new acronym here]" I usually cringe.

Happiness, I believe, is gained through looking outward. Through progress. And through outwardly directed gratitude.

With that little rant out of the way...

The touchy-feely kind of "mind science" I don't like is not, of course, all there is to psychology. Not even close.

There's plenty offered by the field that could make you a better, more creative, and more intuitive copywriter. Perhaps even a better human being.

Especially where psychology focuses on "reading minds." That is, where it's designed to give you insights about how people think, particularly in those cases where your subject isn't quite so aware of how or what they're thinking themselves.

I've written here about a few of them. Daniel Pink, for instance, does a great job in his books. Steven Johnson is another writer with a lot of insight into the minds of others.

Books like Predictably Irrational, Freakonomics, Blink... they're all glimpses of what goes on behind the eyeballs of our fellow humans. And must-reads for the serious marketer.

But today, let's take a quick tour of some classic thinkers.

In particular, three big ones.

First, where better to start than with that famous Viennese cigar-chomper, Sigmund Freud.

No doubt, most of what you know about Freud is how obsessed he seemed to be with sex. Also, the struggle between ego and id. In easier terms, your moral and logical compass versus your raw impulses and deeper desires.

But Freud's ideas go deeper and could be more useful to you, than that over-simple, cartoonish summary.

You might remember how, in past issues, I mentioned that Freud was the uncle of Edward Bernays, the legendary godfather of public relations and persuasion, and author of the 1928 book, "Propaganda."

Bernays shaped advertising and political use of the media for most of the 20th century in America. He advised every White House from Wilson to Clinton. And he built his theories largely on what he read in his Uncle Sigmund's research.

What can you take from Freud as a copywriter?

At the very least, the understanding that we are absolutely not purely logical beings. We're not even mostly logical.

Despite being the animal that "thinks," we're mostly dominated by that irrational, impulsive id. When you're writing copy, that's the part of the psyche you're writing to.

The logical parts of your pitch are just supplemental gravy.

If you want to take it even further, my friend Michael Masterson (aka Mark Ford) has said that most everything is driven by that innate other obsession Freud talked about.

That is, our desire to be desirable. It's why we want to earn more money. It's why we want to be stronger, slimmer, have smoother skin, or seem smarter to others.

Ultimately, we have an irresistible desire to be respected.

This makes for a good segue to our next legendary mind reader, Abraham Maslow.

Born to a Brooklyn kid to immigrant parents, bullied and lonely for most of his childhood, he turned to books and study. And got smart enough to show them all.

Maslow's work really kicked into high gear, though, after the horrors of World War II got him to rethink what motivated people.

What he came up with differed from a lot of the thinking of the day. He called it "humanistic psychology." And it was through that channel, he came up with his famous "hierarchy of needs."

You've seen this, I'm sure.

It's a pyramid showing the driving forces of human behavior, starting with the most basic and ranging to the more profound.

At the bottom, you've got things like the desire for food, water, shelter, warmth, and a soft bed. And just above that, the desire to feel safe and secure.

Above that, you've got our need for friends, intimacy, and love. Higher still, you've got the need to feel accomplished and respected.

At the top, the desire to feel like you've become the best you can be, in all your creative and innovative glory.

For a copywriter, those insights are indispensable. Every desire your prospects have, for any kind of product, are going to fall into one of those categories. Even if the prospect isn't as aware that these are things that he or she is looking for.

This leads to mind-reader number three, Victor Frankly.

You may or may not have read his autobiographical work, "Man's Search for Meaning." If you haven't, you should.

The message, of course, is so much bigger than what we usually deal with here. And the setting in which it was set, a far more serious and painful one.

Frankly was an Austrian psychiatrist who was already working on his theories about human motivation when the Nazis annexed his country in 1938. He treated their victims until 1940 when he was swept up and send to a concentration camp.

It was there that literal life-and-death struggles helped finalize his theory that meaning -- a central, guiding purpose for living -- is the single most powerful human motivator.

Without a guiding purpose, we give up.

Again, so much more than a copywriting insight. But, when it comes to hidden deeper desires, this is the deepest.

You might think you're just selling a financial tip sheet, a new vitamin, a real estate investment, or some exercise equipment.

But you're not.

You're selling purpose. Or at least, the means to make that purpose into something well realized.

Don't get me wrong, here.

Am I saying that you shouldn't bother writing copy until you've gotten a degree from Columbia in psychology? No.

Don't overthink this.

Good selling is still largely built on trusting your gut. Just understand that you're so rarely selling to a prospect at the most obvious level. The real motivators are usually buried much deeper.

And often, those deeper desires will at least rhyme with the ones you and I have just talked about above. This is how, for instance, the iPhone came to symbolize its owner's life philosophy. Or why you might splurge for the sleeker, nicer car at the dealership when a more practical one would do just fine.

To sell, first seek to understand.




Found it interesting and thought I'd share it.

Oh yes, it is definetely useful in marketing. I whink it is connected with the fact that people don't want to feel responsible for all the chaos which is taking place right now. THat is why different conspiracy theories are so popular.

I, not entirely new to the world of marketing, came upon an ad for a self-improvement product recently. It started with: It's not my fault for being the loser that I am.


And my not-entirely-new-to-the-world-of-marketing head said, Yeah, right. Coz it's not me who's chosen to... While my I-need-to-save-face-at-all-cost-and-belong gut said, You got that right, bud. And it reached into my pocket and took out my credit card.


Thing is: environment beats will, but monkey brain beats college-educated, marketing-trained brain in its sleep.


Every time you can reach to people's 'ancient' pre-dispositions, you can get them to move the way you want.


David DiAngelo's as Eban Pagan has a few videos on youtube where he re-frames situations / things to reach beyond the first level of response. Worth watching.


As DiAngelo he's got courses on how to get a date... And he does some interesting things there... Including this one: I teach you only how to get the date, not how to hold on to a woman you like, just how to get her to go out with you the first time.


Back to scapegoating: Ever noticed how rarely you hear in the media about people being below average? Everyone in the US is average or better. Everybody is middle class or better, nobody is lower class, though there is poverty.


People have egos and the need to belong and they are powerful things. Wanna sell me something, make my ego purr and tell me you're like me (not I'm like you, though, that's not good enough) and you're a long way to convincing me to buy.


Why do I write this post after so many much more brilliant posts were written? It's not my fault: it's that pesky primitive brain of mine. It's joined forces with my ego. They've taken over my fingers. I can only watch in horror as they make me look like a fool. Pray for me.


I'm back in charge: Thanks Cesar for starting this thread, and for the brilliant answer-givers above mine. I have not enjoyed a Warriror Forum thread as much as I did this one in a long, long time.

Tellya, any DiAngelo date expoits come sniffin' my ass, prolly my ego ain't purrin'.

That is the prahblem with the monkey brain: no long term plannin'.