Cashvertising: How to Use More Than 100 Secrets of Ad-Agency Psychology to Make BIG MONEY Selling Anything to Anyone (Cashvertising Series)

The fear appeal is also more successful if the fears targeted are specific and widely recognized. It’s a lot easier to sell your sunscreen because everyone knows the sun can fry you like bacon and turn your skin into a melanoma factory. It’s much tougher to sell laundry detergent that helps prevent ultraviolet damage to clothing. Why? Because few p

What’s more, if you create too much fear, you could actually scare someone to inaction, like a deer, staring frozen into the headlights of an oncoming SUV. Fear can paralyze. And it will motivate your prospect to act only if he believes he has the power to change his situation. That means in order to craft an effective fear appeal, your ad must con

In their study, Age of Propaganda (2001), Pratkanis and Aronson argue that, “the fear appeal is most effective when: 1. It scares the hell out of people. 2. It offers a specific recommendation for overcoming the fear-aroused threat. 3. The recommended action is perceived as effective for reducing the threat. 4. The message recipient believes that h

CHAPTER 2 How to Get Inside Their Heads: The 17 Foundational Principles of Consumer Psychology Principle #1: The Fear Factor—Selling the Scare

People have eight basic wants—the LF8 (survival; food and drink; freedom from fear, pain, and danger; sexual companionship; comfortable living conditions; to be superior; care and protection of loved ones; and social approval). 2. The strongest advertising appeals are based on these eight basic wants. 3. The most effective way to create an appeal b

Ad-Agency Secret #13: The Power of Questions What kind of questions? Any kind! Just look at the writing in this book. You’ll see many examples of this ploy. What does it do? (The last sentence is a perfect example.) It causes your prospects to desire the answer. So what happens? They continue reading to find out the answer. I love this technique. W

Ad-Agency Secret #18: Directing Mental Movies

If you can’t get a full endorsement—a testimonial, for example—you can achieve similar success by spotlighting readily recognized symbols that carry the weight of endorsement.

Sigh. With all this research, isn’t there anything on which we can all agree regarding rhetorical questions? Perhaps just this: the use of rhetorical questions may be beneficial for increasing message retention. Questions designed to emphasize a point, rather than to persuade, are likely to cause your audience to remember your message. Makes sense,