Credible means believable doesn’t it?
Why do you see so few magic shows on television? It’s not credible no matter what they do.
It’s very difficult to successfully do magic on TV isn’t it? It’s because we all know that they can do things with the cameras to make the trick happen.
Magic is much more credible done live than seen on television.
I don’t know if you saw it but several years ago there was a magic special on from Disney World where they made Sleeping Beauty’s Castle disappear. It was a great trick. I mean that’s a pretty impressive trick. They went up there and walked around right where it was a second ago. My daughter said at the time, “Yeah they could have done it with the camera.” So it has no credibility.
In promotion the better the deal and the bigger the promise the less creditable it is unless we then take steps to make it credible. So we have to be concerned with the believability of what it is that we are doing. In order to create credibility and in order to create believability we want to amass proof.
Now the weight loss business is the best place to learn, to look at, and to observe how proof is used. You want to learn how to market with proof. Go get yourself a copy of the current National Enquirer. The newspaper read by more people. Everybody snickers about the National Enquirer. No one will admit to reading the darn thing. But they sell more newspapers than the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times and any other ten major cities you want to name added together.
A lot of people are reading the National Enquirer. Admittingly they’re in a closet with a flashlight doing it but their reading it. And in the National Enquirer one of the most continuing types of advertisement in the National Enquirer are different types of weight loss things. Eight, ten, twelve pages of those kind of offers in every issue of the National Enquirer and a page in the National Enquirer is not cheap.
Now look at those ads and you will see some things in common. They have to really work at creating credibility.
Why?
The only reason why an overweight person would not respond to a weight loss offer is they don’t believe it. And typically most overweight people have tried to lose weight with various means and have failed. So each time they try something and fail their credibility gets stretched a little further doesn’t it? It’s that much more difficult for them to believe again.
So credibility is the number one marketing problem for anybody in that business. So what do they do? What’s in common in all those ads? Well you will see visual proof. Most will use visual proof. Typically it’s a picture of a gal with a small waste holding her old pair of pants with a big waste. You all know the photograph and she stretched them out land you could fit a neighborhood in with her. This is called ‘visual’ proof.
Then there is usually testimonial proof using comments or letters. Or there could be expert endorsements like the professor from Yale University or an MD. Of course there’s also a guarantee….. usually a very strong guarantee.
A guarantee like this… Use all the stuff up. Use the entire 40-day supply and if you haven’t lost, I forget how many pounds, return the empty bottles and we’ll refund all your money plus give you another supply to try free.
Why do they do all that?
Wouldn’t one be enough?
Wouldn’t one type of proof be enough?
Well what you really need to do is you need to visualize scales. Over here is doubt, skepticism, uncertainty, reluctance, procrastination all the things that will stop the purchase. And over here they got to pile on enough proof, not just to get the scales even, but to tip them in their favor.
So the key words are a preponderance of proof, an overwhelming amount of proof. And you want to overwhelm with proof in order for you to be way ahead in what it is that you do.
Author Info: Dan Kennedy is internationally recognized as the 'Millionaire Maker,' helping people in just about every category of business turn their ideas into fortunes. Dan's "No B.S." approach is refreshing amidst a world of small business marketing hype and enriches those who act on his advice. 
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
That is why the Referral Marketing Dan teaches is so powerful. It adds to the believability
…blowing smoke up your customers tail ends doesn’t convince them to use you… It actually makes your job harder to sell to them.
Using quantifiable proof allows the customer to see how amazing you are or your product or service is and that is the easiest way to make a sale.
Having an automated email responder is an excellent way of slowly building up credibility with your customer base. Dan’s suggestion of the follow up after the sale, is something I will implement now. As he says…”It’s the customers perception of service, that matters, rather than the reality of the quality of service.” Excellent Dan, thank you, Iain.
I think this is the reason why the Internet was such a “goldmine” back in the day. It was so new and fresh, any two gun totting sunnuvabitch could come online and post his thinly veiled “story.”
Right. The sales pitch.
But it had this “personal” feel to it. With much less people interacting online, it was a novelty of sorts. People got the feeling their friend and brother-in-arms was writing to them… not just another company looking to make a buck.
Well, that’s pretty much dead in the water these days.
A sketchy “heartfelt” story simply doesn’t cut it anymore. Not with all the competition and general marketing awareness on the rise. The Internet has reverted to the modern day shared skepticism, and rightly so.
The burden of proof is ever rising hand-in-hand with the supply of information. The need is increasing exponentially. There are so many more options these days and they show no sign of leveling off any time soon.
That’s why anyone who can deliver exceptional results, and can prove it — really prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt — these are the people who are going to crush it every time. And rightly so.
You have to get specific, tangible, measurable results first. And prove it.
Everything’s really downhill from there.
A preponderance of proof is definitely becoming more and more of a vital part for the existence of any business. Skepticism among consumers is rampant. We as business owners/entrepreneurs MUST overwhelming prove our case and leave no doubt whatsoever.
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