On the face of it, my friend Andrew did the sensible thing when the Rottweiler came running at him – he legged it as fast as he could to a place of safety.
My house, in fact.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t in, but he already knew that.
Andy knew exactly where I was.
I was standing where he was about 13 seconds ago…
… leaning against HIS front door.
That’s right, even though we were both already inches away from a place of safety when the Baskerville-like beast leaped over the gate and made a dart for him…
Andy’s feelings told him to run as fast as he could in the opposite direction.
Heck, even If he’d have fainted backward, he would’ve landed in his hallway.
(He’d also have scared the hell out of his dad, Mr Hill*, who was redecorating the hallway)
Even though Andy’s rational mind was probably screaming:
“You’re at your house! Just turn around and go in. Mum has Cornetto’s!”
… it wasn’t the one in charge. So he ran.
That’s the weird thing about feelings and instincts – when you act on them you often finding yourself doing something totally illogical:
– You buy the car that slightly reminds you of KITT from Knight Rider… even though it’s expensive, broken, and presently on fire.
(Turns out it was a Toyota Camry and I had Glaucoma)
– You opt for the double cheeseburger for lunch… even though you’ve been experiencing chest pains for the past few days and can’t remember the last time you had any sensation in your left arm.
Marketers have known for a while that we humans act on emotion, not logic.
They use it against us. It’s why they’re always trying to get us to “feel” things and imagine “stuff”.
It’s why they paint pretty pictures and write copy that flows and feels easy to read.
They want you – and your PayPal login – running as fast as you can in their direction, so you can buy their courses and sign up for stuff.
Anything… to prevent your rational mind from jumping in, slamming on the brakes, and reminding you that you don’t need to do this.
The door is right behind you.
Of course, there are sleazy and non-sleazy ways of tapping into this “emotional/instinct” malarkey, but here’s the lesson…
When you’re writing words – whether it’s a blog post, sales page, or podcast bio, look for how it FEELS.
Tighten it up a little and sprinkle in some powerful and compelling words, sure… but regardless of what word wizardry you use…
Make sure you read it out loud, so you can experience what your reader will “feel” as they read it.
Then ask yourself:
“Will reading this send my reader off in the right direction?”
Will it get them clicking through to your sales page?
Will it convince them to download your podcast?
Will they find themselves in an almost Pavlovian trance, scrolling to your email signature, looking for the best way to send you money?
(Ahem!)
TL;DR – what do you want them to do next… and how can you get the emotional side of their brains thinking:
“Oooooh! Let’s go there!”
John Holt
* Now the title case and wonky apostrophe in the subject line make sense.