When Deception Works Effectively In Your Marketing

I get stuff like this a lot, “Craig, why can’t I just run an ad with a headline that says “Free Sex” and then try and sell them life insurance.

Here’s why this doesn’t work, and frankly, why deception doesn’t work in general. I will give you an example that I think will make things perfectly clear:

Let’s say you are a guy. You come home from a hard days work. In fact, your day absolutely SUCKED. Your biggest customer got VERY pissed off at you… your personal assistant — who wasn’t too swift to start with — quit without any notice… and your biggest supplier just gave you a 30-day notice about how their prices are going to double.

On top of that, your back is KILLING you and your Chiropractor is out of town.

But… things are about to get IMMENSELY better. See, as you walk through your front door, your wife is standing there in just about the most erotic piece of lingerie you can imagine (and you’ve got a VERY vivid imagination). Her hair is all done up, her makeup is on perfectly… her lips are pouty red… and she’s got a glass of wine in her hands and another one poured on the counter for you.

She says, “Get over here — NOW!” as she slowly saunters into the bedroom, walking slowly in her FMP’s. She pulls you close to her, sticks her tongue in your mouth, and then continues walking towards the bed — you following her like a ravenous mountain lion stalks a bloody wounded gazelle — absolutely mesmerized.

She lays down on the bed, you follow, and then suddenly, she whips out a stack of pamphlets and papers with illustrations and price quotes about the new kitchen counter she’s been dying to get, that you haven’t wanted to talk about.

Sickening, isn’t it?

What’s your feeling at this point?

Disgusted? Disappointed? Frustrated? Annoyed?

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes, and more.

But you see, THIS is the exact same reaction — the same sense of disappointment you provoke in your clients — when you tell them “Free Sex” in the headline, and then you want to sell them life insurance… or golf balls… or toiletries… or anything else other than what the headline says.

Get it?

Look, the truth is, if you can’t be CREATIVE enough to tell a good story about the truth… then you’re probably not going to be able to lie and do it either. And if you can be creative and lie, then why not just be creative and tell the truth?

O.K.?

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

P.S. In this month’s issue of Seductive Selling, I’ll reveal the results of a dozen different online web page variables you can test — and how the results will impact your response rates. Test-drive it now, FREE at http://www.kingofcopy.com/ssnl — no deception involved, that’s for sure.