|
Human Nature and Herd Mentality
Here it is ……………………………
HERD MENTALITY
It is VITAL that you understand Herd Mentality, not just to protect yourself against it, but to ethically make use of it in your own Marketing efforts
Herd Mentality is the easy-to-understand term for Mass Psychology. And mass psychology is a subject you must get a basic grasp of, to make sure you understand what is going on around you.
You'll see it time and time again on the Internet...
A top "guru" does a great job of beating the drum for 12 daily pro, Big Idea Mastermind or whatever and, before you know it, there's a stampede to hand over hard-earned savings, and people are getting trampled in the rush to jump over the edge of the cliff. Hey, dry your tears - I was there, too (for a couple of weeks) 12Daily Pro, was a Ponzi scheme, taking money from new members to pay old ones, but people couldn't see it until the law got involved, "Mr guru" pulled out and moved on to promote “Guerrilla Marketing Bombshells” or some other nonsense, and poor old Joe and Jane Marketer were left with severely depleted bank accounts, (and in some cases criminal charges) wondering which particular herd leader they should follow next. Hey, I'm not saying you shouldn't try things out, I'm just suggesting you take a step back and examine the facts before and after you leap. If necessary, get out and cut your losses before you are in it too deep to beat a dignified retreat. These ads for "KISS" were flying around the email system in January 2003. They seem awfully familiar today. Here's how their ad read... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thought you should be told this TODAY!
YOUR LIFE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN...
* FACT 1: KISS can retire you in 180 DAYS!!
* FACT 2: 1 day to $7 28 days to $5000 180 days to $6 MILLION
.... MONTHLY and AUTOMATICALLY!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Incredible isn't it!!
This heap of unadulterated gibberish was being pushed around by a company called cyberwincity.com which ran lotteries and casinos! (Now there's a company I'd trust my life savings with!)
But you know what? HERD MENTALITY caused thousands and thousands of would-be marketers to believe the line (which I didn't show above) that said…. "Everybody's getting on the KISS bandwagon now. Don't let it leave without you."
And off they all went to give these people $20 a month of their hard-earned money.
The only people due to make $6 million out of this are the owners of cyberwincity.com, who are probably right now comatose on a white-sand beach in the Caribbean!
How is it that normally sensible people can get drawn into something as transparently dumb as this?
The answer lies buried in our self-survival system. It’s a deep-rooted desire not to get left out.
As humans, we share many common traits. No matter what nationality, colour or creed, the fear of loss almost always outweighs common sense (Join KISS or everybody else will make money from it and you won't.)
And it's a key principle of your Online Health Check to understand these triggers so you can use them effectively in your own marketing.
Nine words that get used a lot in online marketing are "DON'T GET LEFT BEHIND!" - "YES! You, Too, Can Discover..."
Notice the triggers... "get left behind" and "you, too"
Already the reader is beginning to suffer a sense of loss! What is it that other people already have or know, that he/she doesn't?
And the trigger can be set in the very first sentence!
Also, by understanding these Herd Mentality triggers, you can build a shield with which to protect yourself when faced with someone using the same technique on you. (You know that they do)
Start today...
Mentally dissect all the adverts you come across. Ask yourself the simple question, "Are these claims realistic?"
Forget the schemes that have no product (of value). "Get ten more people to sell our rubbish report, and we'll give you an extra rubbish report", does NOT qualify as a product! You should look for serious, quantifiable, products.
Forget the claims of how many other people have already joined this scheme. They're probably not true anyway.
Forget the insistence on how you should do it before the price goes up. It's a lie.
Forget the mathematics of full matrixes.
To fill a 9x9 matrix, you would need to sign up 387,420,489 people! There's about as much chance of that as there is of winning a national lottery without buying a ticket. Every man, woman, child and baby in the USA would have to sign up under you 1½ times to fill that matrix!
Forget the statistics. Remember what Benjamin Disraeli, the British Prime Minister is quoted (by Mark Twain) as saying... "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."
Just ask yourself the simple question... Does This Make Sense?
That's not to say that Internet programs aren't going to pay you some money, but many schemes are just looking for idiots who will send them their money (and wonder why their bank account is growing smaller!). The only winners are those who get in very early, which includes the owners, of course!
People who join these matrix-based (read: pyramid) schemes at the end of their (usually short) lifecycle get burned!
The problem is, you never know if it's nearing the end ... so best to stay away altogether!
If there is one thing you need to do to stop being a victim it is to STOP promoting garbage and choose, good products and services instead.
The dangers of Herd Mentality will always be there. It's human nature.
As a prospective Internet Mega-Star, it's your job to ethically USE IT in your promotions and to IGNORE IT in assessing other people's products.
Understanding Herd Mentality is a key step in building your business.
Cheers Mark Hodgetts I only endorse evergreen products. Here are some of my favourites
|
