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This law says "When you admit a negative
the prospect will give you a positive".
As an example the Listerine strap line
is:
"The taste you hate
twice a day"
It goes against corporate and human
nature to admit a problem. For years the power of positive
thinking has been drummed into us.
One of the most effective ways to get
into a prospects mind is to first admit a negative and then
twist it into a positive.
Examples of how different companies have
used this law are:
"Avis is only No. 2 in
rent-a-car" (we try harder)
"The VW will stay ugly
longer"
"L'Oreal - because I'm
worth it"
What is going on here? Why does a dose
of honesty work so well in the marketing process?
First and foremost, honesty is very
disarming. Every negative statement you make about yourself
is instantly accepted as truth. Positive statements on the
other hand, are looked at as dubious at best. Especially in
an advertisement.
Marketing is often a search for the obvious
since you can't change a mind when it is already made up.
Your marketing efforts therefore, have to be devoted to using
ideas and concepts already installed in the brain. You have
to use your marketing programme to rub this in.
When a company starts a message by admitting
a problem, people tend to, almost instinctively, open their
minds.
Now with the mind open, you're in a position
to drive in the positive, which is your selling idea.
Some years ago, Scope entered the mouthwash
market with a "good tasting" mouthwash, thus exploiting Listerine's
truly terrible taste.
What should Listerine do? It certainly
couldn't tell people that Listerine's taste wasn't all that
bad". That would raise a red flag which would reinforce a
negative perception. Things could get worse. Instead Listerine
brilliantly invoked the law of candour:
"The taste you hate twice
a day"
Not only did the company admit the product
tasted bad, it admitted that people actually hated it. (Now
that is honesty!). This set up the selling idea that Listerine
"kills a lot of germs".
The prospect figures that anything that
tastes like disinfectant must be indeed a germ killer. Listerine
went on to new success.
How do you market a firm of Insolvency
Practitioners - if you click on advertising you will see how
Purnells have used the graphics of:
- A Noose
- A
lemon and
- A
"thumbs down"
to introduce the subject then using the
"Turn it around" strap line have introduced likely clients
to the available opportunities.
The "law of perception" is also used
in those adverts by making the introduction to Purnells.co.uk.
That website is intended to change people's perceptions and
to show that Purnells are genuinely interested in
"Turn it around"
and have a stream of programmes available
to assist "Recovery".
Can the "Law of Candour" be used in your
business?
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