Two Headed Space Alien Eats Alaska!
January 26, 2007
Today's post is brought to you compliments of Barbara Ling. Barbara is an Internet veteran, like me. She has almost 20 years of experience teaching people how to make money online. Barbara is the author of the comprehensive Beginners Make Money Cookbook and also educates employers and recruiters on how to target their perfect candidates. See more info on that here.
I especially like this, which I found in her email signature: "Teaching Business the Netiquette Way - Have You banned complacency today? You should... because... Success Is An Attitude!" Enjoy this article about reading between the lines - and being more aware of just what you're getting yourself into, when you click a link advertising something that's too good to be true. This is the first of a series of articles Barbara will be offering, over the next few weeks. She got my attention - that's why I asked her if she would share - in order to get your attention, too!
Here you go:
Two Headed Space Alien Eats Alaska!
Mystery Concrete Slab Earns PhD!
Newborn Baby Iguana Predicted Killer Tsunami!
Hey! Hold it right there! What on earth do you mean by humphing to yourself, "Sheesh, those headlines must certainly be false!"
Well.....alright....perhaps you're on the right track. After all, they do sound too implausible to be true, eh?
Let's try another batch of headlines:
27 Year Old Loser Sneezes Off 15 Pounds, Becomes Hunky HeartThrob!
42 Year Old Mother Of 4 Discovers Secret Miracle Weight Loss Through Shopping!
56 Year Old Couch Potato Cousin Uncovers Secret Rigid Robustness Through TV Remote Recreation!
Hmmmm. If you're like most folks, right after immediately dismissing the above headlines as supremely ridiculous, a little voice said to you, :Gosh, I *like* shopping...and someone lost weight doing it?"
Or, "Wow, *I* use my TV remote when I'm imitating a couch potato...this old guy got rigid robustness from it? Hey, why can't I? Nobody is watching me now....it couldn't hurt if I actually read more about those headlines, right?"
Hmmmm?
If so, you've just experienced the seductive lure of "selling the dream."
It sounds so innocent ....yet allow it to grab hold of your emotions, and your money will be sucked out of your wallet faster than a teenager developing agonizing angst.
In essence, here's how it works. First, you have a desire (burning or banked) to obtain *something* - become thinner, amasse a fortune, attract 365 members of the appropriate sex to your toned and taut body, etc. Whatever the desire is, it has one annoying common criteria - you have to work harder than an ant who is building the Empire State Building to achieve the goal.
This requirement simply takes too much energy on your part to implement... and so your desire is mired in a neverEnding dream. Life goes on. And your dream is always at the back of your mind.
Suddenly, you learn about a product or a system or a process or a class or a course or a pill or a supplement or a book or a (you get the idea) that promises to hand your dream on a silver platter ....for only $29.97/per month (S/H not included)!
Voila! No more *physical/mental* effort is involved! You only have to hand over your hard-earned cash and faster than a toddler class can inhale 24 ice cream cones, you will be the proud owner of, well, something that gives you your results.
At least, that's what they *say*.
Are they telling the truth? Are they selling a dream? Will Luke marry Laura? How can you be certain that you won't be scammed?
The good news is, the Internet affords you a wealth of resources to investigate claims and see if the product really does as it says. For example, consider sites like Fitness Infomercial Review and Infomercial Ratings , places where you can read other people's reactions and experiences to the products....and hopefully make a better buying decision.
But this is just the first step you can take regarding scam protection. In the next installment of my series, you'll learn little-known secrets for uncovering the good, the bad, and the downright ugly of Internet surfing.
I'll see you there!
Romer!can [nice blog, btw!], you are very right. Most women aren't fooled by the kinds of headlines here. The point is: there are headlines that do fool us, that are just as inaccurate or misleading. We need to all be aware of the ways unscrupulous scam artists attempt to get into our heads and lure us into a bad purchase.
I believe Barbara's examples are meant to be outrageous - to show the foolishness of not doing your due diligence when reply to come-ons on the Internet. The other goal was to get a laugh... because, after all, none of us is perfect (least of all me).
I like your first sentence - it made me smile! And, I am so glad you stopped by and left a note.
As to what this has to do with marketing to women online - you hit the nail on the head. When marketing to women online, please be honest, authentic, and approachable. Women will love you for it.
Posted by: Yvonne DiVita | January 27, 2007 at 09:22 AM
I must admit my upperlip bent into a snarl as I began reading what definitely seemed like ridiculous marketing advice that women will respond to World Weekly News style headlines, as though females are a homogeneous group of lemmings.
Fortunately, it ended as some kind of warning for the weakminded sisters who are tempted by such riff-raff.
Interesting.
Most of the women I know wouldn't bat an eyelash at salespitches intended for thirteen-year olds and don't find themselves in need of being saved from the latest bullplop scam. They're smart, sophisticated, and savvy. (For the most part. No one's perfect, least of all me.)
So, what's the marketing lesson here? Did I miss the obvious takeaway on how to market to women online? Or did I just see a hint that essentially 'reveals' that using bottombarrel techniques might help me lighten many ladies purses?
I'm at a loss here and thought I'd share my confusion with you.
Posted by: Romer!can | January 27, 2007 at 09:11 AM