I’m sure you’ve seen headlines like this.
“I’m a bartender. Please stop mixing bourbon with Italian bitters.” Or “I’m a swim coach, please stop kicking from your knees.” That is, something in the form of “I’m a [some kind of expert]. Please stop doing [some thing].”
I find those headlines annoying. I don’t care if you’re a bartender. If I want to mix bourbon with Italian bitters, that’s my business. On the other hand, I do care what the swim coach says because I need to work on my kicking. I’ve always hated kicking.
This tactic pulls a lot of the right levers. Let’s break it down.
It starts with “I.” There’s something to that. It establishes a connection.
Not only that, the person is an expert. The headline is promising inside information from an expert. And if the algorithms have done their work, it’s an expert on a topic I care about. So now we have credibility, authority, and interest. That’s pretty good.
On top of all that, these headlines usually arouse curiosity. Why shouldn’t I mix bourbon and Italian bitters?
There’s also an element of fear. If I mix bourbon and Italian bitters, will people think I’m a clueless rube? Will they be snickering at me behind my back? “Look what that guy’s doing!”
I don’t want to be “that guy.”
Another way to think of this is “negativity bias.” We’re drawn to negative information. The word “stop” grabs our attention. It says “you’re doing this wrong.”
In some cases it’s solving a problem. I really do want to improve my freestyle kick, so how much should my knees be involved?
So why do these ads annoy me?
First, it seems condescending. “I know so much more about what you should be drinking because I’m a bartender.” Oh really now.
Second, the tactic is overused, so it sounds click-baitish. Also, after you click through a few of these you realize most of them don’t deliver much of value anyway.
Third, it’s too direct and commanding. What gives you permission to tell me to stop doing something? If you’re a doctor, okay. Sure. But just because you’re a bartender …? I mean, you’re supposed to be serving me, not judging what I do.
It’s interesting to review the psychological components that go into a headline like this, and there are some lessons there that might be of value.
The larger question in my mind is what happens to your brand when you use these kinds of tactics. Nobody disputes that they work, but are you doing more harm than good in the long run?
Clickbait headlines, fear-based marketing, scarcity and urgency tactics, over-personalization, and aggressive retargeting have all become common because they work – despite the fact that people hate them.
Let’s put it in the context of dating. Let’s say a man took a class on tactics to use to get a date. The tactics might work, but the next day the woman is thinking “I can’t believe I fell for that.”
That’s what you’re playing with when you use these sorts of tricks. It might result in short-term success, but it doesn’t build long-term trust.
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