Recently I created an e-book consisting of 47 "Unspoken Marketing
Secrets." One of the more talked about secrets stated that
people will believe a wild claim if it is just side of believable.
Some people thought I was going overboard on that one. I wasn't.
People will believe just about anything, and the sooner you accept,
the sooner you can profit from it.
Want proof? Let me march in just a little of the colorful evidence:
Exhibit A:
In 1749 two noble Englishmen wanted to prove that people would pay
to see the absurd. They ran an ad that claimed a man would appear
on stage in one week. Said man would then jump into a common wine
bottle. While inside, he would sing. Did people respond to the ad?
The public stormed the theater. Hundreds stood outside, unable to
get in due to the crowd. When nothing happened, they rioted, trashed
the theater, carried debris into the street and burned it all. They
were really mad.
Exhibit B:
In the mid-1800s P.T. Barnum displayed a mermaid at his museum.
How did the public respond? His ticket sales tripled. (Tripled!)
It didn't matter that the "mermaid" was an obvious manufacture,
a weird blend of monkey and fish. People wanted to see it and decide
for themselves what it was. Get that: They WANTED to see it.
Exhibit C:
When a circus in the mid-1950s said they had a unicorn on display,
fifty percent more people came to see the show. (FIFTY percent more
sales!) How can you argue with a fifty percent increase in business?
Were the people stupid? No. They were CURIOUS.
Exhibit D:
When a network television show in the 1980s aired an "alien
autopsy," ratings increased. Surely people didn't think they
were about to see a REAL alien! Or did they? Maybe they just HOPED
to see one.
Exhibit E:
I now live outside of a small Texas Hill Country town called Wimberley.
Just a few weeks ago---in late 2001---my girlfriend and I left a
restaurant only to be stopped by the screaming bold headline on
a local newspaper: "UFO LANDS IN WIMBERLEY!" Did we think
a UFO really landed near us? No. Did we pick up the newspaper? Yes.
In fact, we grabbed extra copies to give to family and friends.
We also agreed that if we were going to advertise in any newspaper,
it would be THAT one. What did the headlines on the other newspapers
that day say? I have no idea. Who cares?
Look. People are fascinated by the outrageous. They want to believe
in aliens, ghosts, mermaids and more. They want to watch a man sing
from inside a wine bottle and see a pony with a horn on its head.
Who can blame them, really? Don't those scenarios sound exciting?
Come on. Admit it. Which would you rather see: A pony or a unicorn?
A wine bottle or a man in it singing? A fish or a mermaid? Another
boring show on TV or the world's first alien autopsy?
Most people in business simply aren't outrageous enough. This doesn't
mean you should mislead your customers, but you can certainly entertain
them with something unbelievable---but possible.
Maybe the real question is this: Are you being outrageous enough
for your customers and clients?
If you aren't, you're probably disappointing them.
Think about it.
Right now I have to go on our neighborhood UFO watch. It's my turn
to hold the flashlight.
