You’re worth $1100 per year to the advertisers
If you are the average American, about $1100 per year per person is paid by the world of business to simply get your attention…whether you are 3 years old, 30 or 80. That’s a whole bunch of money to get your attention…and attention is what it’s all about.
Your brain isn’t able to pay attention to all of these advertising messages if it doesn’t know which ones to pay attention to…so your brain is being taught what to pay attention to…and some of the strategies are brilliantly clever.
50 years ago, getting someone’s attention was fairly simple. Today it takes new skills and knowledge to gain the attention of people. Nothing is easy about getting someone to pay attention to YOU and the old theories and methods are not only antiquated but in many cases worthless.
Covert Advertising
Interestingly, covert advertising has been around for years but today it is the hottest trend in promoting products and services…and you CAN play.
Remember watching the movie Back to the Future starring Michael J. Fox? For those of you too young to remember, this movie was quite the hit about 20 years ago and had two well-done sequels. The movies cost a fortune to make and as the series continued, one trend was clear. More and more brand name products were featured in the movies.
I remember seeing a USA Today newspaper in one of the movies and I remember people drinking a Pepsi in all three of them. (Now you can check my memory by hitting your video collection and discover ALL of the products that were covertly used by cast members.)
More recently, the hit TV show (I confess that I enjoy it), Survivor is using a number of sometimes subtle, sometimes in-your-face promos for everything from Mountain Dew to cars to candy bars. They could pay for a traditional 30 second spot, but why not link their covert advertising to people we obviously have emotions for?
Another kind of example? Celebrities like Rob Lowe, Kathleen Turner and Lauren Bacall have hit the talk show circuit with what amounts to promos for medications…all paid for by the pharmaceuticals. Sometimes covert, sometimes overt…always effective.
More? Revlon became part of a storyline in the daytime soap opera, All my Children. Austin Powers: Goldmember was a veritable stage for various products and promos…again some covert some overt.
Is all of this ethical? In general yes, and in general it is not only ethical but profitable and something the smaller business owner should be utilizing in their community or profession.
How Does it Work?
How does covert advertising work? As you have learned from reading the last several months of Coffee you know that the human mind is “primed” by viewing this kind of material. It simply makes people watching more likely to purchase when presented with the opportunity.
Why Covert?
One question is why are companies going to covert marketing, such as putting their products in movies and TV shows? Everyone needs your business (especially now when companies have to lay off workers because business is so bad) and covert marketing works well. For some companies, traditional advertising (30 second spots on television) are simply not working as well as they used to. Everything from more entertainment options to smaller audiences have a lot to do with this.
Placing an ad in a newspaper or magazine can be one of the most treacherous methods for small businesses to attempt and they are almost guaranteed to fail today for the business who can’t afford daily full page exposure.
What Can You Do?
So what are YOU, the entrepreneur, the small business person, the professional to do to succeed in promoting their business? How can YOU, the individual or small business person accomplish what the big companies are now succeeding at?
You probably don’t have the money to pay All My Children or Survivorbut you certainly have the ability to utilize Covert Advertising.
Here are some specific ideas you can implement immediately.
(1) Write an article about your area of expertise for a trade publication or journal and utilize your personal experience and a personal story to illustrate a key point in the article. (Don’t overuse this strategy. Remember this is covert advertising.)
(2) Write an article for your local newspaper…the paper that shows up in the box below the mailbox once each week…for free. Write a 7 or 10 point article. “10 Ways to Lose Weight in 2020.” “10 Ways for Warren Township Residents to Reduce Their Taxes.” Then somewhere around point number six or seven include your specialty as part of the solution and link it to the line at the bottom of the article that identifies who you are, your phone number and website.
(3) Get some contact info printed at the end of your article.Forget saying the name of your business when people ask you who you are. Say that you are the “FOUNDER or PRESIDENT of the ultimate website on influence and personal growth, kevinhogan.com.” Some publications don’t like to put too much information in the line at the bottom of the article and this assures you will make it.
(4) Have a colleague plug you in their brochure, advertising, speeches, and you do the same for them. I promote a lot of my friends books and audio programs. They do the same. Key: Pick your best product and service and make sure it is something that all customers will be ecstatic to have!
(5) Reciprocate. If your friend makes country gifts, have one on your desk so when people ask about it, you can give them your friend’s address. Have them do the same thing for you. (This may not work as well if they sell tires…)
(6) Promoting yourself or your own product can work and it can be effective but having a testimonial and using quotes is really how to optimally use covert advertising. Always use real quotes and always return the favor. “I always knew that Psychology of Persuasion was a good book, but when Richard Brodie, who wrote Virus of the Mind, said it was one of the best he ever read, I felt incredible!”
was a good book, but when Richard Brodie, who wrote Virus of the Mind, said it was one of the best he ever read, I felt incredible!”(7) Ask for quotes/testimonials if you don’t get them unsolicited. I wrote Joe Vitale (author of Hypnotic Marketing) in 1995 for a quote for Psychology of Persuasion. He came through with: “This is a work of sheer genius. If I were the only person on earth to have this book, I’d rule the planet.” Ever since then, I plug Joe’s best work everywhere I go. (notice the second line of this item!)
(8) There are literally hundreds of ways to make alliances with other people that can help you. If you work at a gym you can give out the cards of the best nutritionist you know. But don’t just give it out. That isn’t covert, that is a throw away. “This woman is the finest nutritionist I know and she will help you get in shape, get healthy and become a new you. She is your final destination.” Then, the best nutritionist you know can recommend that they go to YOUR gym because it isn’t the pick up spot that Bally’s and Lifetime are, but a place you can go and not be bothered while you work out. Constantly promote people who do good work and ask them to do the same for you.
We will talk more about Covert Advertising again very soon. Keep watching!
Covert Hypnosis: An Advanced Course in Subtle Unconscious Influence The Master’s Secrets Revealed! (Vol. 1 – 8)
“This is THE advanced course in subtle influence! Remember when you read Covert Hypnosis: An Operator’s Manual, and you got that WOW! feeling inside?! Well, that was just the beginning. In Covert Hypnosis: The Master’s Secret Revealed, you are going to learn how to subtly move inside the minds of anyone you communicate with. In trance or out…this is the most powerful material on Covert Hypnosis on the planet. Period.” Kevin Hogan, Psy.D.
In CD 1, Kevin Hogan reveals specifically the secrets of how to weave the exact messages you want others to act upon into stories that captivate listeners.
CDs 2 & 3 show you how to motivate and compel other people to change their behavior as quickly as is humanly possible. Benefit: You can utilize these covert tools with your own unconscious mind because they link into the core drives and desires that you have!
CD 4 reveals ALL 22 elements of Covert Hypnosis for this first time anywhere! Never before released by anyone, anywhere. The complete Covert Hypnosis Model for change is here. Business? Sales? Consulting? Coaching? Therapy? Learn specifically how to generate change in their thinking with the Covert Hypnosis Model.
CD 5 gives you all the tools necessary to take a person’s deepest drives (sex, eating, acquisition, connection, etc.) and fuse them into building compelling outcomes (the girl of your dreams, lose weight, acquire wealth, meet new people easily). Ignore either aspect, and failure is assured. Successfully meld the two in the unconscious mind and amazing things can happen.
CD 6—Pattern Recognition: Getting someone to think about something is one thing. Getting someone to feel driven to DO something and then watch them do it like magic is something else entirely. Learn so much in just this one CD!!!
CD 7 – This is 2003 neuroscience and research that reveals how to rewire the brain. Some neuroscientists call it “sculpting.” It’s not something that happens instantly and it requires the use of both hemispheres which can be pretty tricky if you don’t know what you are doing.
CD 8 – You are going to learn some unique techniques in the eighth volume of Covert Hypnosis. Not only are you going to learn the truth about values (when they are critical and when they are MEANINGLESS) but you are going to discover the values of the unconscious mind! The unconscious mind and conscious mind do not correlate to each other but they both correlate to the behavior of every person you meet.
Intrigued? Discover the secrets to what separates Covert Hypnosis from every other compliance technology Discover what even the experts don’t know about how the mind interacts with the unconscious mind.
More Information about Covert Hypnosis or to order
