Does knowing marketing tricks make you immune to them?
After all, taking the ‘red pill’ should help you see the truth, right?
If you do a Google search, you might find hundreds and hundreds of marketing tricks and gimmicks that can be used to increase the numbers. Almost all of them are based on human psychology, and we can always relate to them happened to us at least in once in our lifetime. Online and/or offline. We can see many brands, companies, businesses doing these ‘things’ in order to achieve their objectives every single day.
But can you really make yourself immune to them by knowing what they are and how they’re used?
The short answer — No.
Look. If we can remember every damn thing we have read in our lifetime, we wouldn’t be here, as a civilization. I can guarantee you that. That’s the first thing.
Just because you read an article about “how these sneaky marketing gimmicks make you pull out your wallet in 3.5 seconds” on Medium, doesn’t mean that you will go against the grain and be like Neo who swallowed the red pill. Chances are, you won’t even remember you read the freaking thing in the next morning.
The other thing is, like I said, these so called ‘tricks’ are actually based on HUMAN PSYCHOLOGY, which means that if you’re thinking you can actually avoid falling in to them, that means you’ll be (at least, trying to) turn your back on YOUR OWN MIND. Which also means that you’ll have a way better chance at quitting smoke, liquor, masturbation, and two-hundred-and-forty-six other addictions.
Let me explain it in English for better understanding.
Your brain notices almost everything within your eyesight, everyday. But, it ‘chooses’ to ignore a lot of things, based on what mood (or mindset) you’re in, at that moment. Also, it ‘uses’ some little things in the environment to create a ‘judgement’ about that situation. You may or may not ‘remember’ those little things.
Think of it like this. An attorney tells his/her assistant to do a research about something that’s related to an individual case, and prepare a report on it. So the assistant does the research, and prepares a report with the HIGHLIGHTS from the research. That means, the assistant may have — deliberately — didn’t include some things from the research, that wouldn’t have mattered to the report and/or the case. What matters to the report depends on the situation. The report helps the attorney to come to a decision/conclusion. But the attorney doesn’t know what came up in that research or what the assistant didn’t include in the report. All he/she knows is the things that’s in the file on his/her table.
Just like that, our brain acts as an ‘assistant’ to us, in our daily decision making process. But we usually don’t ‘know’ the raw data that the brain took in from the constant massive flood of data input, that helped creating the judgement and make the decision.
Trigger words, color schemes, different fonts, font sizes, pictures, graphics, animations, explainers, videos, tonality, voice, talking heads, etc. All of these, when used right, convey a sense of ‘authenticity’ to the mind. Even by utilizing tools like email newsletters, podcasts, best-selling books, audiobooks, featured content, and stuff, the brands, businesses, and companies are trying to establish that sense of ‘authority’ further, and strengthen their relationship with their clients and/or prospects.
The thing is, all of the marketing ‘tricks’, ‘gimmicks’, ‘hacks’, and stuff, fall under the category of ‘the subtle things that BRAIN notices, and uses to make an overall decision, but we don’t consciously notice’. Unless you’re reviewing a sales copy or you’ve trained your brain to notice such subtle things in a way that a combat veteran does, chances are, you won’t even consciously notice they’re even there.
Yet your brain notice them, and take them into account to make a decision.
THAT is the ultimate goal of these marketing tactics. It’s not to convince YOU, but YOUR BRAIN. Even though 99.9% of the marketers and marketing gurus don’t know/realize it.
So, unless you’re a marketer, who constantly deals with these techniques in order to achieve business objectives, you won’t succeed in the war against marketing gimmicks. Hell, you won’t even see them coming.
Why?
Because, like I said, it’s your brain which ‘sees’ them in the first place, and if you haven’t trained your brain to ‘notice you’ about these subtle things, you won’t be conscious about them.
Also, don’t beat yourself up for being unable to do anything about it. After all, even scientists can’t resist these marketing tactics.
Yep, that’s suppose to make you feel better, so, cheer up!
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