The most important word in marketing
Man Bites Dog I guardianmarketing.substack.com
Look,
I have an opportunity here to string this out.
I could pull on the thread, tease, tell you what this word is NOT, and do a bunch to try to convince you to read until you have the answer and then some.
But I'm not going to.
The word is "Because."
And I'll tell you why I just decided to drop 'the answer' at the beginning ...
Some of you reading this, know this. You'd see exactly where I'm going with it, probably find it obvious and/or boring, nod your head that you're right when you see the answer, and then move on.
Some of you don't know this, and honestly,
If that's you, it doesn't matter if I strung out the answer or not, you're still gonna want to know why.
Either way,
The real value is not in the word itself.
And I wanted to skip over the nonsense of teasing you on the word so that we can get to the real value.
The word is just ...
Let's call it,
A sign.
A sign of what's really going on, and how you can take advantage of this word throughout all of your marketing.
The idea behind "because" originates from Robert Cialdini, in his book "Influence."
BUT
The … let’s call it original … source of this concept is much older.
It goes all the way back to 1905, and a man named John E. Kennedy.
He's the one who coined the term "advertising is salesmanship in print." In 1905 he released a little book called "Reason-Why Advertising" (it was most likely an ad itself for his advertising firm).
(He may have gotten the "reason-why" phrase from Claude Hopkins of 'Scientific Advertising' fame)
The word "because" simply reveals the truth.
People want to understand why.
Why they should do something.
Why they should care.
Why you are saying and doing the things you say and do.
Why you care.
When you start talking to someone, give them an open door, ask them something. That action creates a whole world of unknowns. A puzzle that they will either consciously or subconsciously start to put together.
WHY?
Why is this being offered to me?
Why is the other person doing and saying what they are doing?
Why do I care?
Why is this better than any other option out there?
In the world of John E Kennedy, we might say that communication was a bit simpler than it is now. Less information. Less connection. Less noise. Less competition for attention.
Kennedy in effect argued that your main advertising message need only start from the needs/desires of the person you are advertising to and take a step backwards to just answer the question "why is this person going to be convinced to buy the thing I am trying to sell?" then anchoring your message in that "because" answer.
(Or you might say, “What’s In it for Them?1”)
Which, looking back from 119 years in the future ... still makes a whole lot of sense.
Funnily enough ...
Even if that reason makes little sense, or has no logical value, it will still fit the pieces together.
That's because when the question "why" shows up in the grand picture of whatever situation you are creating by putting the opportunity in front of people ... those people will often allow you to fit the puzzle pieces together for them.
Because ... well, humans are inherently lazy.
It takes energy to figure all that stuff out. It takes energy to think about why I should care, or why you are doing what you are doing, or asking what you are asking, or trying to get me to do something.
So.
Give me a reason to fill the gap.
This is what Robert Cialdini revealed in "Influence" with the word "because."
The story goes that a little study was done with people standing in line at a copy machine. Someone would ask to cut in line to use the copy machine.
And in the testing, they had someone just directly ask to cut - “may I cut in line” - and then in the next test they would say, "may I cut in line, because I'm in a rush." Adding because along with a reason why.
In the second test, nearly twice as many people allowed the person to cut.
Then they did a third test.
Removing any reasonable reason.
"May I cut in line, because I want to make copies." (Which ... everyone was already in line to do)
And they still had nearly twice as many people allow the person to cut in line (compared to the scenario where there was no ‘becuase’ uttered at all).
Because is powerful.
We often think "people want to know what's in it for them," but we can also see on a more fundamental level there's just a question of "why?" which appears whenever an opportunity shows up.
Why is this situation happening?
Why am I being asked this?
If they don't have that piece of the puzzle, its an unanswered question which they'll fill with anything they imagine and/or their own self interest.
"Can I cut in line?"
"Why the hell would I let you do that I was here first!"
Instead
"Can I cut in line, because I want to?"
"Whatever, fine."
That's the theory, based in practical testing and analysis.
How do you leverage “because” as a business owner/marketer today?
Here's my simple measurement I use to figure this out ...
Whenever you are offering someone something (a discount, an opportunity, something different), either overtly or silently slap "because" into the equation and see what happens.
Or just simply always ask yourself “why am I doing this” and “why should they care about the opportunity itself?”
You want to do a sale and make some more money.
Think about "because" as "a reason why" you are doing the thing as well as the reason why they might want to take the action.
Personally, I prefer the reason why to be something that is congruent with the dynamic and relationship I am trying to build with my audience long term.
I probably personally wouldn’t say …
"I'm running a sale on this because I want more money this month." But scientifically that will be more effective than just saying "I'm running a sale."
Why are you running sale?
Oh you want more money? Alright I guess I'll bite.
That might sound silly, but I have seen multiple different marketers run sales based on life events happening to them where they needed more money because of what happened. Car totaled. New baby. Moving to a different country.
It works.
Because people just want to know why. Why the opportunity is available to them. Why you are doing what you are doing. Etc.
The use of "Because" is a dynamic which came up on a recent "Cash Now Blitz," in which Laurel Portié and Nic Peterson went over many of the R3 Based "Cash Now Campaigns."
And for those promotions,
You want a reason why you're running the promotion.
This is going to start to look obvious, because you are going to begin with natural deadlines. Natural Deadlines are "because" reasons for running a sale.
"We're having a sale because it's Black Friday."
"I'm doing this special launch because it's the end of the year."
"I've created this new one time offer because it's my birthday."
Etc.
In the Cash Now Campaigns we start with natural deadlines because they are the easiest to use. Personal deadlines (like a birthday), Business deadlines (like a new product launch), Industry deadlines (like tax season), and other universally known deadlines (like Black Friday and holidays).
But it doesn't have to be a natural deadline like this.
As long as you have a reason - a because.
"I'm doing this special promotion because I'm going on vacation in a month."
"I'm running this promotion for just 10 people because I need a new car and that's how much it's gonna cost me." (This one was real, and effective)
"I'm selling 10 more spots to my program because I feel like having 10 more people in it now."
"I'm running a 24 hour sale, because I'm having a super great month and just feel like doing something fun."
Does not have to be a good reason.
Just has to answer that question that automatically comes ... you're giving me an opportunity - why?
Now,
Go to the other side.
Reason Why also is an opportunity to meet the other person in THEIR reasons why.
Why they should care. Why it’s important for them.
Black Friday is a fine crossover example, and an example of why everyone does sales around this time ... it's a reason to do a sale, and it's a reason to buy.
But we can think a little deeper.
"It's my birthday, and I know you have been dying to learn how to do XYZ, so I'm doing something fun here and launching a special 24 hour promotion."
Laurel Portié does this very well.
As of the publishing of this article, she is selling a 2 Day blitz Workshop on Troubleshooting Ads (coming up Dec 11th and 12th), because her students have been recently running into challenges on this specific subject and she wanted to deep dive on it now to get people ready for the new year.
(You can try commenting on Laurel’s post here on Facebook for access, but it may be sold out by now)
Why is she offering it? - Because her students have been asking for help with it
Why is she offering it now? - Because the new year is almost upon is
Why should you care? - Because this promises the detailed answer if you've been struggling to troubleshoot your ads
So,
When you write your ads, your emails, your marketing, any of your copy really ...
Make sure you answer the question why?
Why this? Why now? Why you?
Because ...
If you do, you'll get much more consistent, swift, and impactful results :)
Be Useful. Be Present. Love the Journey.
Joseph Robertson, CMO Man Bites Dog
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