Urge: Why You Really Want What You Want (And How To Make Everyone Want What You've Got) by James Mourey

Author:James Mourey [Mourey, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-08-23T18:30:00+00:00

I share my cult experience with you for three reasons: 1) it’s a crazy $#@% story, 2) it illustrates the power of persuasion at play, albeit in a nefarious, manipulative way, and 3) to really put in perspective how marketing, despite what critics may say, is not an evil, deceptive, misleading, scary, imposing, and uncaring beast. Marketing is like the pit bull of the business world: people assume it’s dangerous and deadly when, in reality, whether or not it is good or menacing depends entirely on how it is raised and nurtured (cue Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel” here…suddenly you feel the urge to give money to your dog or cat…hmmm).

You see, cults are characterized by several distinguishing features: unquestioning commitment to its practices (check – see: volunteers), punishment of dissent or questioning of its methods (check – I was reprimanded several times for this), leader dictating how members should think, act, feel (check – the “leader” of the group developed his method after being visited by a “spiritual being”), the leader is not accountable to others (check – the history on this guy is that he’s an ego maniac), leaders induce feelings of guilt, blame, or shame to influence participants (check – the leaders made participants blame themselves for their life’s ills), there is an established hierarchy that encourages advancement through more participation in group events (check – you could pay to participate in more seminars and “move up” in the ranks). And that’s just a few!

When we talk about Harley-Davidson riders and Apple fanatics as being cult-like tribes, we are simply relying on an expression that we do not mean literally. The important distinction is that the majority of companies are genuinely concerned about fulfilling the needs and wants of their consumers to improve their lives in a transparent way. Religious cults are more concerned about controlling lives in an opaque manner. When you go forward as marketers, keep this distinction in mind, as it is the difference between the ethical marketer and the unethical crazy person.

Still, if you ever hear your boss or a team member talking about your customers as a “cult” and asking how you can increase purchasing among this adoring consumer segment, I want you to answer, “Lock them in a room with no windows, deprive them of sleep, and make them feel bad about themselves and then we sell our product as the solution.” …Totally kidding. You can’t do that. Well, you can do that, but you probably shouldn’t. Instead, let’s return to some other, less questionable persuasion techniques.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.