A few years back, I was reading one of the mighty Gary Halbert's newsletters. Gary was telling a story about his time in the military. For over a page, he continued weaving his narrative.
I was sucked into the story before the end of the second paragraph.
Somewhere, around the second page Gary started planting the seeds of a new product launch in the text. The story continued, yet the desire to buy whatever Gary was selling was building at the periphery of my mind.
I slid closer to the monitor in anticipation, and thought, "Yes! Gary is going to sell me something. I can't wait to find out what!"
Then I remembered…
…Gary is gone.
What a master of psychology.
Gary knew how to push my buttons. He made me want to buy his product even though I knew he was gone.
And I needed to know how he did it…
The Secret Psychology Trick Used by Everyone from Kings to Scammers to Persuade, Manipulate, and Even Control Humans.
What I'm going reveal now is almost never talked about by any copywriter. It could be used for good or for evil. I hope you're ready for such a great responsibility. Let’s all promise to use it only for good.
The basics…
Every copywriter knows you must understand your market’s pains, needs, wants, and desires.
For example, if you write copy for finance, perhaps you poke at mistrust of the IRS or government. Maybe you call out the greedy broker or the blood thirsty lawyers.
You know what works for your market…
…but why does it work?
The Need that Drives the Need
I'm going to let you in on something you probably already know. We were all fucked up as children. EVEN if we believe we had great caregivers.
There are some common "life traps" most humans fall into as they develop into adults. Those cracks in our psyche are called schemas….
…and once you understand schemas, you can figure out someone's pain, needs, wants, and desires like a master musician playing violin.
When you understand schemas, you'll understand the deep emotions that drive your market’s EVERY decision.
The eleven primary schemas are:
- Abandonment
- Mistrust
- Dependence
- Vulnerability
- Deprivation
- Social Exclusion
- Unrelenting Standards
- Failure
- Defectiveness
- Subjugation
- Entitlement
When you understand your markets primary schemas you can craft a sales message that delivers an avalanche of emotional conversion power.
Each schema is broken down in detail by Dr. Jeffery Young and Dr. Janet Kiosko in their book Reinventing Your Life: The Breakthrough Program to End Negative Behavior and Feel Great Again.
Young and Kiosko's book is a must reading for copywriters and business owners.
Grab a copy of Reinventing Your Life and give it a read because I'm going to spend the next few weeks digging into schemas and showing you how to use them in your copywriting.
While you wait you can check out more copywriting tips here.