Copywriters Say “Fear Sells,” Is This True?
Copywriters say that fear sells. They’ll tell you that if you want to have someone buy your product you have to manipulate their fears.
Is this true?
Yes, and no.
Fear-mongering is a real thing and people in power use it to manipulate people all the time.
But is it really what you want to do as a writer?
What are the psychological mechanisms at work here and how can we use them in a better way as writers?
Finding the right product.
Do we really want to be the type of copywriters that use conjured up fears to sell a product that doesn’t actually help anyone?
Personally, no. I don’t enjoy doing that.
So what can you do instead?
We can find products that help people and deliver on what they promise.
Let’s say Mary has toenail fungus. It’s embarrassing, gross, and annoying. It is really hard to get rid of.
Now, we could spend time trying to sell Mary just any product that claims to treat toenail fungus. Or we can do our research and send her in the direction towards something that has actually helped a lot of people.
Steering with problems.
Once we have found a really good product, we can then feel better about trying to lead people to it. People that could actually benefit from it.
How are we going to lead them there?
Through talking about their problems and fears.
Remember the pain Mary goes through every time she thinks about wearing a sandal. She worries about giving it to anyone she might get close to.
She never takes her socks off. She can’t go swimming with friends without thinking through how she’ll avoid them seeing her toes. There are a bunch of painful things we could talk about to let Mary know we understand the pain.
Understanding someone’s pain is understanding their fears. We could “fear-monger” them into a decision or we could show them that we understand and that we want to help.
Fear of loss.
This is an interesting one. People often buy out of fear of loss compared to buying to gain.
Also known as the fear of missing out. Happens all the time on Wall Street.
The stock starts to rise rapidly and a bunch of people buy-in because they’re afraid they miss out if they don’t.
On the reverse end if the stock goes down they’ll sell and lose money for fear of losing more even if they lose more than if they would have waited it out for tomorrow.
The fear of loss is a powerful tool for the copywriter. Use it to steer buyers to great products that they may really benefit from.
More bad news.
Fear really does draw attention. Why do you think most news headlines are full of carnage and mayhem?
It’s because the major news outlets know that fear sells. They know you’ll tune in for “Breaking News: Something just blew up! How this will crush your life savings!”
Compared to: “The economy is climbing and all is well! Whistle a happy tune!”
They know if they posted that, you’d go out to eat with your friends and have a great time rather than sit down and watch their ads.
Trust is more important than quick gains.
If a company or writer really wants to be successful, trust is a more important factor than cheap fear.
Understanding people’s fears and pains are important to gain trust. When you tell them you understand their fears and lead them to a viable solution you gain trust, therefore a loyal follower. If you use their fears to lead them on eventually they will see through your charade and leave.
Trust is important for the long game. If you only care about quick gains and leaving people behind then fear-mongering will work, but most likely will bite you in the end.
Final Thoughts
As a copywriter, use people’s fears and pains to lead them to products that will actually help them.
Using fear to gain trust is more important than cheap quick fear-mongering gains.
Having a large number of people trust you is more important than making quick gains and losing trust.
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Copywriters Say “Fear Sells,” Is This True?
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That’s all for now.
Hope this helps!
Happy writing!
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Copywriters Say “Fear Sells,” Is This True?
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Copywriters Say “Fear Sells,” Is This True?
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