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Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Free Advertising by Winning Hearts and Minds, Not Controlling Them.

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[NOTE: There is a valuable download at the end of this article]

Let's revisit the Law of Inertia:

"An object at rest tends to stay at rest, and an object in motion tends to stay in motion until enacted upon by an external force."

This is one of those topics which, at first glance, doesn't seem terribly exciting. In fact, a title such as the one above might even make you yawn at first contact.

But just think for a second - it's like exercise. Or just about ANYTHING that's good for you. The mere thought of it doesn't excite most people. Even STARTING to exercise, or make the effort to do what's good for you seems to be anything BUT exciting.

HOWEVER....ONCE YOU GET GOING.....LOOK OUT WORLD!

"Get out of my way! I'm exercising! I've been waiting 20 minutes for that bike! Hey pal, I'm on that machine, I just went to get a drink."

Or, after a few practice walks, you go further and further until one day you realize, "Wow, I kinda like this!" and your 1 mile walk turns into a 5-city tour requiring a new pair of soles for your shoes.

And if this hasn't been your experience recently, you know darn well what I mean. Once you get up off your backside, shake off the cobwebs and start moving, inertia is still the rule: an object in motion tends to stay in motion...

So what does this have to do with sincerity?

There's a lot of manipulation going on in life. Today's children are, despite our best intentions, brought up in a culture where the protection of "free speech" has such a broad definition that noone even knows what the truth is in anymore - and the organ in us that senses truth is either severely undernourished or extremely atrophied.

What results is that we have to make a lot of concessions and compromises on what we instinctively know to be right and honest. Then we spend a good amount of time convincing others and ourselves (same thing really) that our decision was prudent or judicious when it is, in many cases, just an attempt to make the best of a bad situation.

No doubt there are wide-eyed optimists amongst us who tell us "it's not really that bad." but did you ever wonder why they have to say that? And then there are those who insist we're all going to hell in a handbasket and their manner of expressing it suggests they'd already been there once or twice.

So where is sanity? There's no doubt that in our most lucid moments, we all want it. Most of the time, we want it instinctively, but rarely consciously. Rarely do we say, "I'm going to do whatever is required of me to represent sanity in an otherwise insane environment." It's just that it's a colossal undertaking and creatures of comfort have no business embarking on a journey to a "new land" where the journey will, without doubt, have many uncomfortable moments.

What does this have to do with marketing?

Depending upon your length and breadth of experience in the internet marketing culture, you'll have some degree of awareness of the techniques used in order to get you to buy something. They are deceptive at worst, inconsiderate at best. And truly fun and informative purchase experiences are few and far between.

When a person goes to see a magic show, they know in advance that someone is going to be entertaining them with sleight of hand, deception and mental trickery. This is recognized as a form of entertainment, and the price is known in advance.

In the internet marketing culture, the prospect has no advance knowledge that they're about to encounter deception and mental trickery, and of a kind so effective - that many who succumb to it become violently supportive and defensive of it after the fact. And it comes as no surprise that such people, believing the tactics to be, "just the nature of selling", go on to use such tactics themselves. Why? Because they're effective. Just like any number of drugs are guaranteed to get you high - and people like results, and people like to feel good. And people would rather feel as if they are in control and doing the manipulating rather than being manipulated.

If only it were that simple.

And the price of the product on the deceptive SALES (show) letter, isn't known until the bottom of the sales page.

But here's an argument typical of a lazy thinker:

"Yes, but you can easily scroll down to the bottom of the sales page and see what the item will cost."

Reply: But that's not the price of what it costs to READ the sales letter. To read the sales letter (see the show) costs no money. And most, if not all, people (except the most battle-weary), will read the sales letter no matter what just to see if the ensuing product price is justified. In fact, many sales letters get read for the same reason people watch Jerry Springer, "Let's see if this guy's full of BS or not...", "I can spot BS a mile away, noone's gonna pull one over on me."

And so the sales letter is read through those ultra-vigilant eyes and WHAM - in comes the NLP, the hypnotic copy, the deception, the manipulation, the trojan horse. Yes, even the brightest and most aware amongst us will succumb to this without formal training because those who wrote the sales copy DID have formal training. Think in terms of juries. Jury members have NO formal training in being a critically thinking jury member - but lawyers on both sides of a case DO have formal training in jury selection and the manipulation of jurors opinions.

In reading ad copy, my friends, you have almost ZERO chance to resist. Why do you think some marketers openly - OPENLY - gloat that their products on hypnotic copywriting can make prospects...

"...want your products like a school of frenzied piranha"?

But wait! You didn't buy anything after reading the sales letter, so that must mean you resisted, right? Think again. Doesn't it reek of truth that the mind is like a stomach and anything that passes through it would have some kind of an effect on the psychological body? So you didn't buy the first time, or the second time, but unbeknownst to you, you're becoming more compliant, taking the techniques to be more and more normal.

In other words, your natural resistance to the psychological toxins begins to break down as you develop a TOLERANCE for it. And pretty soon, you're hooked and now it's no longer a game of "buyer beware" or "making prudent purchase decisions", but rather a matter of

AVOIDING WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS.

Pretty soon, you may find yourself acting strangely. Maybe you don't see it, and instead of waving this off much like an addict would at the suggestion of there being trouble, you'll courageously look to the people around you for feedback.
  • Does someone think you're on the computer way too long?

  • Are you making quite a few purchases of programs, scripts, apps, services, etc, that seem to be getting you nowhere?

  • Have you declared bankruptcy somewhere amongst all this?

  • Do your aspirations include being able to rub elbows with internet marketing big names at a high-priced seminar someday?

  • What kinds of things do you keep telling yourself in order to maintain this HUNT for the MISSING INGREDIENT to your online success?

That's just a very small number of questions one might ask him or herself, but they're not to be taken lightly. This is a very real problem - people are regularly being manipulated to make purchases. And the people using the techniques not only have no scruples about employing the mental manipulation, they actually believe it is their sacred right to do so.

Now you're not being asked to blindly believe what you're reading here.

But that being said, you are now at least armed with information that can be used as an antidote someday - information that can open a window and let some light shine into a process that can only run unimpeded in darkness (unconsciousness). Now, whether you agree or disagree, are for or against the idea that insidious mental manipulation is in regular use and that not only do most people have no idea of it, but also have ZERO resistance to it, you can never quite be the same way around it again.

Each time you encounter it, a kind, gentle voice will matter of factly mention, "Hey, there's an example of what the article was talking about!"


Now What?

Alright, we've established that mental manipulation, deception and trickery is not only existent, but also flourishing. So what does one do about it?

Almost nothing.

You don't defeat it, or undo it, by fighting it directly. It's defeat is by first weaning one's self off of the toxins themselves. That means though you might "PASS a LOUNGE" on the way to work, but you don't have to stop in and take a DRINK.

"Oh, but I just needed to use the bathroom!" (Famous last words...)

If I had to choose between using a toilet in an opium den and going in my pants, I'd go in my pants. THAT is because I understand the nature of mood/mind alteration and that "mental resistance" is no resistance at all.

The solution is to align yourself with the kinds of marketers who SELL, but do so ethically - and who do their best to fully disclose the terms of involvement - marketers who don't see you as one of "my people" on a list somewhere, but who see you as a real person struggling to achieve a new standard of living. This doesn't mean the marketer has to hang out with you at a barbecue, or entertain long email conversations with you, but they should respect you and treat you with dignity during the sales process from A to B and cordially answer any relevant follow up.

When you make it a conscious practice to align yourself with decent folk, even if at first, you start to YAWN and feel stiffness or discomfort, it can only result in a good outcome. And if your "organ of conscience" is not starved to death or severely underdeveloped, it is telling you right now that this is true. Align yourself with people who understand that serving your needs also serves theirs, and will also serve unseen individuals for generations to come.

And THAT, my dear reader, will result in the best kind of advertising that even money can't buy and greater happiness for...."As you do unto the least of my brethren, you also do unto Me."

Here is a download link for a report by Dick Sutphen entitled,


"The Battle for Your Mind."
(if you don't have Winzip, you'll need it and can get it here: Winzip )


Sam Freedom says, "Don't be afraid. It's only the truth." ;-)

Best wishes, until next time,
Sam

[This is post written by the author about Mind Control. It includes a link to a startling report that reveals how mind control is, and can be, used regularly. You may link to this page, but you may not copy any part of it without the author's permission.]

Sam Freedom"s Internet Marketing Controversy Blog

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9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Sam! Great article. What you said about marketing techniques is sooo true. I've fallen for a lot of it in the past year just trying to get established on the web. After a few times of falling into their traps of deception(lies) I felt dirty and became disillusioned.

Everyone should read the "Battle for your Mind" that you so kindly provided. It's a start.

CJ

Sam Freedom said...

Hi CJ,

Thanks for the response. I believe whole-heartedly that your experience is one shared by many. We just don't hear about them because either they don't speak up for one reason or another, or it's not in a central location catering to the archiving of such stories for research purposes, and therefore, it just floats silently downward into the annals of forgotten stories.

I was once taught that I, too, am like those I just wrote about in some way and the way to "combat" it is not by violence or blame, but to redouble my efforts to present material of an even greater quality. Shall I rise to the occasion? Let's pray! :-)

Thanks again,
Sam
http://www.sam-freedom.com

Anonymous said...

Sam,

Thanks for your insightful remarks. I've been looking for a reasonable explanation of why some of these techniques I've been learning about in the past 6 months have not been sitting 100% comfortably on my mind. Your comments will help me think about these ideas with more clarity.

Peace,

JudyO
www.DevelopmentalSupport.com

Sam Freedom said...

Hi Judy,

Yep, that's your conscience calling to let you know something's not quite right.

You're welcome! :-)

Sam

Anonymous said...

Hey Sam,

Great Article! I'm somewhat of a Mind Control
freak myself....as in I've always been interested
in learning about it and have done a good bit of
research on it. I would have to agree with you.

There is so much of this NLP and Hypnotic writing
going on these days, it's hard to resist many of
the offers I see. The thing is, Newbies are being
taught to use these tactics just as the big boys do
so they can compete...or at least make sales.

One thing I notice tons of people doing is decieving
people into thinking that they are reading a "limited"
offer, when in many cases there is really no limitation
at all and is only being used as a marketing gimmick
to make people "Buy Now" or "Sign Up Now".

I see a lot of GREED going on in the Internet Marketing
Circles and it seems that people are resorting to
deception to serve their greedy purposes.

The sad thing is, NLP and Hypnotic/Mind Control
techniques work and they work REALLY WELL.

Sometimes I'm overcome by these techniques and almost
feel like I need something that I really will probably
NEVER use. I'm aware of these techniques and still I
almost give in to them. Imagine those who aren't aware.
They get used and abused and never even realize it. :o(

Just my .02.

Peace & Prosperity,
Matt Fulger

Anonymous said...

Another outstanding article My Friend and you know I don't say this lightly. Mind Control works in other ways also named Guruitis, where the so called 'guru' has a major portion of internet buyers in any particular marketing area convinced that they are getting the bare minimum of you are not buying from the 'guru'. Nickle-to-a-dime what a person bought from the 'guru' was never any better than the product that the guy with the ugly site was selling. More than likely the 'guru' stole his idea, hired a programmer and placed the 'guru' name on it. Just think Sam, we create and re-create the same 'gurus' over and over again by catching Guruitis and infecting others along the way.

God Bless My Friend,
Hodges Hines

Moon Dancing Nana said...

Mind control? Me? Well, I would write more but the last 8 Guru's to email REALLY REALLY want me at their seminar. The downpayment is my first born. Thanks for whacking my frontal lobe into reality. Glad I found you. Now I will have time to Dance and maybe learn what HTML tags really are....

Hypnosisstories said...

Great, great article.
Success ALWAYS starts in your head. You have to BELIVE in your skills to archieve something or you will automatically fail like 99% of those who don't have enough energy to reach their goals.

Jay Terry said...

Title must be really catchy it should be easy to understand. You don't have to make it complicated. It would only confuse the reader and probably skip your piece.