The Danger Of Using Fear In Your Marketing

The news media — and social media — are all abuzz these days over “The Deadly Ebola Virus Scare.”

Some people have decided to remain calm and rational, while others choose to be filled with fear, worry and panic.

Whichever response you personally choose, one thing is clear: The news media are in fiercer competition than ever before for people’s focus, and they are extremely aware of the fact that fear attracts attention.

Which begs the question…

Should YOU use fear in the marketing of your business?

*NOTE: I’m not talking about the spread of over-hype, sensationalism and misinformation that characterizes much of the current conversation around the Ebola virus.

I’m talking about a well-known fact among sharp marketers:

People will do more to avoid pain than they will to gain pleasure.”

In other words, the Fear Of Loss is more powerful than the Hope Of Gain.

I’ve conducted this experiment a number of times over the years during seminars I’ve hosted on effective marketing strategies for small business owners, entrepreneurs and sales professionals, and the response from those in attendance is always the same…

Picture that a family member of yours calls you to let you know about an amazing investment opportunity: If you give him $100, he can turn that into $200 right away.

How super-motivated are you to immediately hand over your $100 to him? Wouldn’t you have at least some hesitation? Maybe a few questions you would want to ask before you’d be ready to invest?

Now, imagine instead that someone seemingly comes out of nowhere and snatches your wallet. He removes $100 of your hard-earned money and takes off running. What would you do?

Wouldn’t you immediately run after him – or at least yell for someone else to – without even thinking about it for a second?

If you’re like most human beings, you’d act a lot quicker and with a lot more certainty to avoid the loss of $100 you already owned than you would to pursue the possibility of gaining an additional $100.

Same amount of money; completely different level of motivation and urgency.

Why?

Because Fear Of Loss is more powerful than the Hope Of Gain.

Many products and services are well-known to be sold based on fear, such as alarm systems, warranties, health insurance, and many more.

However, the choice of whether or not to use fear in your marketing is completely yours to make.

If you do choose to use the element of fear in your marketing, here are four keys to using it effectively…

1. It is MUCH easier to sell a cure than prevention.

If what you are looking to sell is most-commonly seen as a way to avoid a possible future problem that may or may not occur, you should look to reposition it as a cure for a very real, very present problem.

Example: “Physical Fitness” is much easier to sell as a means to feeling more confident and/or being more attractive to the opposite sex than as a key to living a longer life.

Example: The look, feel and even “cool” extras included in new cars are much more compelling selling points than an expert’s opinion that the car will not lose much resale value years down the road.

Example: A properly-prepared will is more effectively sold as a tool to provide a person with a sense of control and peace of mind in the present than as something that will prevent future hassles and legal problems.

2. Instead of just pointing out the fears, worries and frustrations of your prospects, it’s always best to empathize with them by letting them know that you’ve been where they are, and know what they’re going through and how they’re feeling.

Here are two keys…

a. Describe their feelings better than they can themselves.

b. Use the phrase, “In my experience…”

3. Fear can be a great attention-getter, when used in a headline. (*Check the headline of this blog post. You clicked on it to read it, didn’t you?)

4. For best long-term results, don’t try to scare people or MAKE them feel fearful. Instead, simply recognize fears that they already have, and offer them solutions to remove those fears from their lives.

Nobody likes being scared – unless it’s their voluntary choice, such as when they go see a horror movie or ride a crazy roller-coaster.

Or pay attention to the news, or get caught up in the latest social media-fueled “scare”…