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Mind Gaps:Or,
How Wrod Illsuinos Can Imrpvoe Yuor Slaes
© 2004 By Joe Vitale
I'm teaching an intensive seminar on
Hypnotic Copywriting techniques in September. One of the
principles you'll learn there is the idea that the mind
is easily tricked by optical as well as literary illusions.
You're probably familiar with optical illusions. There
are numerous books and sites showing pictures that can be
seen in a variety of ways. One famous image looks like an
old woman -- until you stare a little longer and suddenly
see the profile of a young woman in the same image.
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Something similar can happen
with words. After all, words are images, too.
They are subject to the blind spots in our
brains. For proof, read the following.
Aoccdrnig to a rsceearcehr at Cmabrigde
Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the
ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng
is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the
rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and
you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.
Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed
ervey
lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. |
Fascinating, isn't it?
I'm
*not* advocating mis-spelling words or
intentionally misleading people. I'm demonstrating a
principle. Your mind is vulnerable. It can see things
that aren't there and miss things that are there. This
is important information. It's what allows magicians the
ability to fool us.
So, how does this fact help you with your sales letters,
ads, emails, websites and any other writing you do?
Here's how: You can consciously weave your words in such
a way that people fill in the blanks. In other words, you
can help them imagine buying your
product or service without asking them to get it. This is
the sport of hypnotic writing. Here's an elementary example:
"Imagine driving this sleek car down a country road."
BEAT the Cold Winter of 2007 ARIZONA'S NEWEST WONDER
Kartchner Caverns State Park opened in 1999. This stunning limestone cave system is one of the top in the world. Visit Sunny Southwest this cold winter |
What did you see in your mind?
Most likely you imagined a sports car.
But why a sports car?
The word "sleek" led your mind to create a visual. That
image came from your mind, not mine. I gave you a prompt and
your mind leaped to a conclusion. Minds are like that.
Also, in the paragraph before that example, I
planted the word "sport" in your mind.
Did you notice it?
It's where I wrote, "This is the sport of hypnotic
writing."
The word "sport" was already in your consciousness, and
was easy to bring up when I asked you to imagine a "sleek
car."
Here's another example: Go back to the opening paragraph
of this article. Look at the second line. It says: "One of
the principles you'll learn there is the idea that the mind
is easily tricked by optical as well as literary illusions."
Notice anything unusual?
You shouldn't have. But your mind interpreted the
sentence that YOU will attend my event in September. I could
have said "One of the principles *people will learn at my
event* is the idea that the mind is easily tricked by
optical as well as literary illusions." But by writing it so
YOU would be in the sentence, I am leading your mind to
imagine signing up for the actual event.
I was talking with my hero Kevin Hogan (author of "The
Psychology of Persuasion" and everything else about
influence...) and he says that if you can actually get your
customer to see themselves doing or using whatever it is
your product does, you win big. The trick is, they have to
imagine *themselves* with your product.
BEAT the Cold Winter of 2007 ARIZONA'S NEWEST WONDER
Kartchner Caverns State Park opened in 1999. This stunning limestone cave system is one of the top in the world. Visit Sunny Southwest this cold winter |
Showing how another person is going to experience
something or has experienced something isn't enough to push
the "yes" button in most people.
In other words, "Yeah, John felt the same way, then he
tried this and found it worked" is a weak persuasion tool.
Kevin explains it this way:
"Joe, what you want your participants to do is see
*themselves* writing ad copy and then have them see
*themselves* getting the incredible results of
Hypnotic Writing. Specifically. The orders racing into
*their* email box. Not yours or mine."
My earlier sentence -- "One of the principles you'll
learn there is the idea that the mind is easily tricked by
optical as well as literary illusions" -- is a psychological
switch to get you imaging yourself at my event.
That example may be difficult to grasp at first. It's
actually an embedded hypnotic assumption, or presupposition.
It's explained in my e-books and will be demonstrated in my
seminar in September. So let's take a final quick example:
I went to the MSN home page and saw a headline that
read, "See a Ferrari laptop." I like sports cars, so I
clicked. Imagine my surprise when I saw a picture of a
laptop computer, not a convertible. My mind highlighted the
word Ferrari and let me slide past the next word.
I could go on and on. For example, sometimes I end a
letter with "Stop buy and see us." Few note I used the word
"buy" instead of "by." The mind sees it as "stop and buy."
I learned that subtle method when a friend of mine out
of town ended an email with the words, "Take Car." He meant
to say, "Take Care."
He slipped and wrote "Take Car" as a way to speak to my mind
and urge me to drive and see him.
In short, these "mind gaps" can be cause for confusion,
or for communication. I can't explain all the ins and outs
of this rarely looked at subject here (that's what my
seminar is for), but let this article be a stimulus for your
own thinking -- without the mind gaps.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Dr. Joe Vitale is holding an intensive training
in his copywriting methods September 11-12 in
Austin, Texas. Only 10 can attend. You will
learn Dr. Vitale's hypnotic writing formulas and
become certified as a Hypnotic Copywriter. Cost
is $5,000. To register, write
copy@mrfire.com
Get a crash course in hypnotic copywriting by
grabbing many of Joe Vitale's works at --
http://www.HypnoticLibrary.com/g.o/10386 |
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