QUOTES OF THE DAY
"The mind is like an iceberg, it floats with only one-seventh of its bulk above water." - Sigmund Freud
“The best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing.” - Tom Fishburne
"It's not all about content. It's all about stories. It's not all about stories. It's all about great stories." - Mitch Joel
“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
SUMMARY
Advertising is ubiquitous in our daily lives. A typical person is exposed to 5,000 ads every day! "These messages attempt to persuade us to feel, believe, act, buy and change ourselves (Andrews, Van Leeuwen, and Van Baaren, 2013).
Of course, most of us don't process all of this information consciously. However, some messages do reach us and successfully change our attitudes and behaviors, most of the time unconsciously, through the use of powerful images. Did you know that your brain processes images 60x faster than words?
What is the hidden power of persuasion of successful marketing campaigns? What makes some messages more powerful than others? Why are we influenced to purchase one product over another? What makes story-telling so compelling? What kind of stories are more likely to stick? And, how can you develop a more emotionally appealing product?
In this section, we will explore some of the most common psychological techniques to create powerful messages. We will also look at successful marketing campaigns, some rather oddly satisfying.
QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT WHILE DOING THE READING
- Why our brains crave story-telling? How do our brains respond to good stories? What makes some stories stick? (in other words, how can you create a good story).
- Know how the following psychological techniques work: acknowledging resistance, foot-in-the-door, promised land, self-persuasion, social proof, guarantees, attractiveness, humor, scarcity, and mere exposure.
- What makes marketing so difficult and important in a startup?
- What is its relative importance to the product development and sales functions?
- Moreover, what is the difference between a market analysis and a marketing strategy?
- What is a positioning statement and why is it important?
- What is a discontinuous (disruptive) innovation?
- What is the impact of social media on sales and marketing?
REQUIRED READINGS/VIDEOS
- Andrews, Van Leeuwen, and Van Baaren (2013). Hidden Persuasion. 33 Psychological Influence Techniques in Advertising. Read chapters on: acknowledging resistance, foot-in-the-door, promised land, self-persuasion, social proof, guarantees, attractiveness, humor, scarcity, and mere exposure. [read here]
- The Power of Advertising Slogans [read here]
- Crowdfunding: A Tale of Two Campaigns. Harvard Business Review [read here]
OPTIONAL MATERIALS
- How Marketers Use Music for Mind Control [read here]
- The restaurant owner who asked for 1-star Yelp reviews [read here]
- 12 Things about Product-Market Fit [read here]
- Social Media for Marketing [watch here] Dollar Shave Club's first YouTube went viral, with 12,000 subscribers in 48 hours, helping to launch them toward a billion dollar acquisition in 2016.
- The 18th-century potter who became the world’s first tycoon [read here]
- The Secret to Making $450m Selling Coolers [read here]
- How Famous Companies Used Marketing Hacks to Grow [read here]
- Tai Lopez Is the Internet's Most Hater Entrepreneur and That's Why He is so Successful [read here]
- A Surprisingly Large Amount of Amazon Reviews Are Fake [read here]
- This 23-Year Old Makes a Full-Time Living From Kickstarter [read here]
- Content Ain't King Unless It's Funny. The Hustle [read here]
- How to Throw a Viral Marketing Event: Lessons From Ace & Everett's 100 Man March [read here]
- Trump’s Brilliant but Evil Marketing Ploy That’s Tricking Us All [read here]
- How the “King of Fake News” built his empire [read here]
- The Great Kalespiracy [read here]
- Marketing Principles [watch here] This animated video provides an overview of the 4 Ps of Marketing.
- Why Entrepreneurial Marketing [watch here] Anita Newton of the Kauffman FoundersSchool describes how some major companies' marketing strategies have focused on meeting customers' needs, and she provides a framework for creating and executing an entrepreneurial marketing strategy.
- One Page Marketing Plan - Book Review [watch here]
ASSIGNMENTS
1. Take Quiz 10: Marketing (due on Nov 8 at noon on Canvas)
2. Paper Clip mini Project Presentations (due Nov 8 in class)
3. Classroom Discussion 11: Tai Lopez: A genius entrepreneur or a fake guru?
Read chapters on: acknowledging resistance, foot-in-the-door, promised land, self-persuasion, social proof, guarantees, attractiveness, humor, scarcity, and mere exposure. [read here]
Next, watch this video by Tai Lopez [watch here], check out his website [see here], and read the following article [read here].
Answer the following questions:
(1) What kind of persuasion strategies is Tai Lopez using to make you sign up for his course? Be sure to be specific and reference the reading and discuss whether you believe these strategies to be effective.
(2) Based on your research, do you believe that Tai Lopez is a genius entrepreneur or a scam artist? In other words, do you think that his program can really deliver the promises he makes -- making you extremely rich.
(3) Tai Lopez is clearly very rich – do you think that the means justify the ends? That is, is there anything wrong with his business? For example, the evidence suggests that the type of people who are most likely to buy his courses are the most vulnerable and desperate populations in society, including younger people who tend to be more trusting and naive.
(4) Should the government do anything about it?