Creating An Outrageous Advertising Campaign

How do you get new visitors to remember who you are or to get them to keep coming back to your website?

We can learn something from the newspapers. The scenario in a newsroom is always in a frenzy whenever there is no news about murders, rape cases, scandals, death or stuff that doesn’t have any shock value. It’s quite understandable because a paper that promotes good news doesn’t sell - it doesn’t generate powerful emotions nor does it shock people with negativity. The reporters would kill (mind the pun) for murder cases in order to save the front page.

While I disagree with putting negative thoughts into your head, there is something you can learn about the shock value when it comes to advertising…

Here are a few good examples:

(1) The movie 300 was one of the best movies I ever watched. The funny thing was, I went into the movie without even looking at the preview, nor read about it in the newspaper. I knew about the show only 2 days before it came out (unlike other movies that you will know about 3 months before screening).

So what compelled me to watch the movie with great anticipation?

Simple: marketing for the movie was done through viral marketing (online and offline).

I heard from a friend at that time about this exciting new movie about 300 men going up against 1 million. The concept was so outrageous and shocking to me that I was immediately sold on the idea and since then, whenever I needed a dose of inspiration, I would watch that movie again (I’ve seen it at least 5 times). By the way, if you ever want to motivate yourself, pick an inspiring movie and watch it again - it’s usually more inspiring the 2nd time you watch it.

(2) Perry Marshall gave a very good example about an industrial FAN company that sold fans huge fans for barnyards and other industrial sites. But what made them a cut above the rest?

Their Branding.

They called themselves BIG ASS FANS. (here’s the article)

They had a name that nobody could ever forget. They were getting celebrities to sign autographs at their Big Ass Booths, and they are selling a ‘butt-load’ of fans.

Now some may object their profanity, while others thought that the name of their brand was so outrageous, that they will go around telling all their friends about it (free advertising) just because they wanted to get a good laugh together with their friends.

Perry Marshall says:

1. You can be normal, acceptable, boring, and quickly forgotten.

2. Or you can be bold, flamboyant, offensive to some, loved by others, and long remembered.

(3) The Network Marketing industry. For many years, the ubiquitous MLM industry is laden with controversy. Everything from rags to riches to scams and poverty - you name it. Not many industries in the world generates as much emotional leverage compared to network marketing.

In other words, you either love it or hate it. Very few would sit on the fence. You either go ALL THE WAY in network marketing or you hate it passionately.

So how does this work out? Simply because of the method of approaching prospects the traditional way. Besides recruiting aspect, the part that riles people up is the fact that it is something that is very personal - people fear approaching others with a network marketing opportunity, others confront their true selves whether they want to pursue their dreams badly enough.

When you get to connect to someone in a personal, shocking way (the shock is learning about themselves), the response will never be neutral anymore and people will remember the scenario for life.

(4) My personal experience with branding.

When I started out as a ghostwriter, I was paid very little and I was competing against lots of other writers on E-lance and other freelancers. There were only 2 ways I could get rich from writing… I could increase my work load, or do what I’m doing now… I REFUSE TO DIFFERENTIATE ON PRICE.

I’ll never cut myself low just to work on a writing project. Other writers out there are willing to write for peanuts (e.g. $2 per article) and I don’t care what they are charging because there is this saying that goes, “If you pay people peanuts, all you get are monkeys…”

My rates are on my Hire-Khai page and I prefer to differentiate on quality and fast turnaround. If people don’t like it, I’m more than prepared to reject the project (not that my rates are that high anyway…) but the point is that you can’t really go far if you keep differentiating on price.

Furthermore, because I knew I had to differentiate myself with other writers and copywriters - I spent the last year creating products aggressively. A client even told me once that he decided to try out my services for the first time because he was sold on the idea that I created more than a hundred E-products in the last year and it was the reason why people remembered me.

Today, I no longer rely on cheap jobs to fill my ‘rice bowl’. I may write less, but I get paid more and people come to me instead of me going to them. This is another crucial aspect when it comes to ’stickability’. If people come to you (FIRST) on their own accord, there is a higher chance that they will buy the products and services you are offering.

So remember, SHOCK the crowd and get their attention - it gets easier later on.