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Tag: social proof
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Persuasion Articles of the Week
Photo “Sweet Treats” by Tradlands, Flickr, CC-By-2.0 -
The Ten Dollar Guarantee I Won’t Return To This Restaurant
Within 5 minutes of sitting at our table, our first waiter spilled a full glass of white wine onto the lap of the man next to me. The waiter apologized to Stan, bringing towels.
But never a new glass of wine for Stan’s partner.
“Overflow.” by Ben Seidelman, Flickr, CC-By-2.0 And it gets worse. But let me back up for a moment. (more…)
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How to Please Your Customers: Hopkins’ My Life in Advertising Wrap-up
My new boots came in the mail. They were far too small. I felt like a kid again and my feet had grown over the summer.
These boots had everything I wanted. Leather, waterproof, and insulated, I expected to keep them for years. But of course, they had to fit right.
Winter Boots are a necessity around these parts. Image “What’s Down There?”by James, Flickr, CC-By-2.0 Luckily, the online retailer made the exchange simple and free. I mailed the boots in to try a second pair, and I waited.
It was going to be a cold, snowy Thanksgiving in Wisconsin.
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Swimming in Shortening (My Life in Advertising: Chapter 5)
Have you ever cooked with shortening? It’s a shelf-stabilized, hydrogenated vegetable oil. Shortening has less water and a higher smoke point than butter, and it’s cheaper to produce than lard. Perfect for pastries, I’m told.
Cotosuet Shortening Shortening doesn’t appeal to me to cook with. Maybe I don’t make enough pastries. Maybe it’s the hydrogenated aspects. Maybe all I can think of is swimming with friends after greasing ourselves up. Yep, this happened.
Chapter Five! Hopkins moves to Chicago to work at Swift and Company, the large meat-packer and food-service company.
His first account is to sell a lard and butter substitute called Cotosuet, a shortening made from cottonseed oil and hog fat. Delightful.
Hopkins conceives the idea to partner with a new local grocery store and a local bakery. They bake a huge cake for the grocery’s opening, selling the Cotosuet to visitors to the store. The store opening is crazy busy. People everywhere come to see the massive cake. The social proof was hard to resist — everyone was buying the Cotosuet so it must be desirable. They sell out of their shortening. Soon after, Hopkins and his team replicate the success in town after town, selling trainloads of Cotosuet.
Hopkins agrees that this may have been a stunt, but warns that “dignity doesn’t get us far. No argument in the world can ever compare with one dramatic demonstration.” [tweetthis display_mode=”button_link”]No argument in the world can ever compare with one dramatic demonstration. [/tweetthis] His stunts sold his product, repeatedly. For Hopkins, sales alone defined success for an advertisement.“The way to sell goods is to sell them. The way to do that is to sample and demonstrate, and the more attractive you can make your demonstration the better it will be for you.” [tweetthis display_mode=”button_link”]”The way to sell goods is to sell them…. to sample and demonstrate” -CCHopkins [/tweetthis]
I’ll admit it, a good demonstration can certainly sell products! I’ve bought a set of steak knives that impressed the hell out of me — from a late-night infomercial! Oh, the shame. Think about one time when you’ve been sold by a good demonstration and let us know in the comments below!
This is the current Persuasion Reading List selection, My Life in Advertising by Claude C Hopkins. Join PersuasionReadingList.com to discover the best in Persuasion texts and techniques, because this knowledge directly influences your advancement in life.
Swift and Company made all kinds of crazy things. The plain-speak in these ads is typical of Hopkins’ style. “My mama used wool soap”, Boston Public Library, Flickr, CC-By-2.0