Are you familiar with the phrase Permission Marketing?

If you’re trying to sell anything online (including your ideas), you should be.

In 1999, a certain smart marketer made some observations about what kinds of persuasive communication worked well as we moved into the 21st century … and what kinds didn’t.

Permission marketing is the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them. ~Seth Godin

The 20th century was the era of interruption. Your favorite television shows were “brought to you by” an increasingly noisy set of ads for soap, cereal, and shiny new automobiles. Nearly all mass communication was supported by advertising — television, newspapers, radio.

The internet brought something different.

The attempt to “monetize” the web with advertising has been a mixed bag. There have been a few stunning successes (ok, one stunning success, Google AdWords — which succeeds because it delivers a marketing message at the precise time the customer is actually looking for one) and a lot of flops.

If you’ve spent any time at all on the web, you’ve noticed something: You cannot make anyone on the internet do anything they don’t want to do.

The net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. ~John Gilmore

The internet routes around not just censorship, but any impediment to what its users feel like doing. It’s in the nature of the internet (and more to the point, of the people who use the internet) to “route around” experiences they don’t want.

You can’t force anyone to pay attention to you online. All you can do is entice.

Permission Marketing was an expanded observation of that fact, and an exploration of an alternative. Instead of trying to gain attention by being increasingly obnoxious, we can earn a prospect’s permission to deliver a message to them.

This calls for a whole new tool kit. If people are going to ask you to communicate with them, you have to come up with a form of marketing that’s too valuable to throw away. Advertising copy gives way to content — informative, interesting material that speaks to a highly informed customer.

Is Permission Marketing just another term for “email”?

Email has been the “killer app” for permission marketing for a long time. RSS seemed like a promising candidate, but never picked up widespread adoption. There are some interesting things you can do with permission and direct mail, if you have a massive budget and a wealth of experience … which most businesses don’t.

Email is a jewel of a tool for permission marketers, but sadly, most email marketers are still doing it wrong. The basic tenet of Permission — that you need to create content with enough intrinsic value that you earn prospect attention — is ignored most of the time. Spammers and phishers still sneak through, eroding prospect trust and killing conversion for the good guys. Companies still buy email lists, then use them to send unwanted garbage.

In other words, nearly everyone’s email box is cluttered with a tremendous amount of crap. So as Permission Marketing evolves, the question isn’t only How do I create content that’s so excellent that people will opt in for it?

It’s also How do I fight the Towering Wall of Crap and get my own message heard?

Please don’t misunderstand. Email is still what works. But there are other tools out there that can make it work much better — for your business, yes, but much more important, for your audience.

Boost the power of content by improving the context

Permission in 2013 depends more than ever on context. What does your site design look like? How’s the quality of material you publish for free? (For example, your blog posts and any free resources like white papers or ebooks.) How’s your reputation with your audience? With your colleagues, peers, and competitors? How do people talk about your business on social platforms like Google+ or Facebook?

Yes, you need excellent content. That’s always been the fuel that Permission Marketing runs on. But you also need to place that content into a context that lifts it above the ordinary.

Resist the dark side you must

Along with a rise in the awareness of permission marketing, there’s been a stark rise in permission window-dressing.

• Companies that implement email sequences, then populate them with lame, anemic content.
• Companies that think content marketing means “clever ads.”
• Companies whose blogs are about as exciting as a sinkful of cold dishwater.
• Companies that bring in popular, vibrant speakers to cover their own total lack of remarkability.

Behind all of this is a lack of courage. Companies get too big, too lawyered-up, or too beholden to their venture capital to actually say anything.

Content won’t work for you if you lack the courage to actually stand for something. Which is why it gives small business (and big, flexible businesses, as it happens) such a tremendous advantage. While the dinosaurs stare anxiously at the sky watching for meteors, you have the opportunity to dart in and take over the world.

What’s learnable, what isn’t

The most important trait in all this is the willingness to say something worth saying — something that’s real, instead of a bowlful of lukewarm corporate glop.

Everything else can be outsourced or learned.

If you don’t know how to create remarkable content, you can bring in strong writers who will give your message a vibrant voice.

And if you don’t know how to promote that content, publish it in an appealing way, leverage it for more traffic, deploy it strategically, or create a robust content strategy … that’s what you have us for. You might start by attending Friday’s webinar on an evolved permission marketing strategy — how to go beyond the standard email opt-in to create a more remarkable audience experience.

Here’s where you can get more details on that. Hope to see you there!

About the Author: Sonia Simone is co-founder and CMO of Copyblogger Media. Get more from Sonia on Twitter and Google+.

If you define influence by the size of your Klout score, you can stop reading this right now.

If you believe influence is driven by the creation of a relationship between two parties, where one sees the other as truly knowledgeable about a particular product or service, then let’s talk about the science behind that influence.

Establishing influence is a multi-step process that moves the influenced through four key stages.

They move from awareness of the influencer, to knowing the influencer, to liking the influencer and finally finishing with preference for the influencer’s advice and counsel.

And, as an influencer, you’re going to earn your long-term living in that last stage of the relationship.

But you’re not going to get there by simply writing or talking about a particular subject matter. Instead, you need a strategic plan anchored in real science.

The law of propinquity

The law of propinquity states that the greater the physical (or psychological) proximity between people, the greater the chance that they will form friendships or romantic relationships.

The theory was first crafted by psychologists Leon Festinger, Stanley Schachter, and Kurt Back in what came to be called the Westgate studies conducted at MIT.

In the study, the strongest friendships developed between students who lived next to each other on the same floor, or between students who lived on different floors, if one of those students lived near the stairways.

In non-scientific terms, the Westgate Studies found that the frequency of contact between students was a strong indicator of future friendship formation.

The propinquity effect

There are two dimensions to propinquity, and they play different roles in marketing strategy.

There is physical propinquity and psychological propinquity. For the purposes of this article, let’s focus on psychological propinquity, as it most directly relates to creating influence through content creation.

Propinquity theory tells us that the more often people see your content, the better they get to know you. This makes sense. Each time someone is exposed to your content, they are interacting with you, your thoughts and beliefs. This leads to a feeling of knowing you, because it mirrors how we get to know people in the real world.

Repeated exposure to your content moves them from simply knowing you to actually liking you. Again, this mirrors the making friends context we’re all familiar with in the offline world.

The more we interact with people we know, the more we tend to like them — which has been repeatedly proven in numerous studies of romantic relationship formation.

Because they like you, they consume more of your content. As they do, a portion of the audience will find a common ground with your beliefs. This intersection of your beliefs, interests, or personality and your audience’s creates Psychological Propinquity. And that is what leads to preference and influence.

Know. Like. Trust.

An important note: studies also showed that being a jerk invalidates the propinquity effect. If research subjects didn’t like an initial interaction with a person, subsequent interactions didn’t lead the subjects to change their mind and begin liking the person.

Creating propinquity

Because of the power of propinquity to create influence, it’s not something you want to leave to chance.

Instead, strategically map out a propinquity platform and then fill that platform with high-quality content. The process of creating a propinquity platform is a bit too complex for a single post, but here are four steps that you can use to begin the process today.

1. Catalog all the places your desired audience turns to for information — specifically information associated with the product or service you sell. If you’re paying attention to your audience’s world, this should be a fairly easy exercise and produce a list of obvious online and offline media, conference, and trade-show options.
2. Begin finding those platforms that you’re not familiar with yet. Use a keyword generator tool to find the terms your audience uses to seek out relevant information. Then conduct searches on Google using those terms. Visit the sites you find on the first couple of pages and look for signs of active communities of readers.
3. Listen to your desired audience on social media channels — Twitter makes this especially easy. Specifically, you’re looking for posts where they share a link. Create a list of sites they share, and look for correlations.
4. Find relevant Twitter chats and participate in them. When the chat is over, scroll back through the chat and create a Twitter list of all the participants. Then follow that list for a few weeks — and again, look for tweets that contain links.

These last two are especially useful when you’re trying to create influence in a new industry where you don’t have extensive direct experience. Provided your target audience uses Twitter, these last two steps can help you quickly understand the key websites favored by your audience.

Your goal is to find online sites that your desired audience turns to for helpful information. Then determine if any of these sites will allow you to guest post or create content for their use.

By doing so, you will create multiple propinquity touches against your prospects. You’ll be the person “they see everywhere” and come to associate with category or product expertise.

The benefits of propinquity marketing

By mapping (then managing) your prospects’ progression through the various “Propinquity Points,” you can exponentially increase the frequency of your content impressions against a specific audience over a shorter time period.

This higher frequency of impressions — combined with the halo effect of your content appearing within already-trusted content channels — will more quickly move the audience through the propinquity process.

Do you have other ideas for creating a trusted propinquity platform? Let me know in the comments below …

About the Author: Tom Martin is a 20+ year veteran of the marketing and advertising industry with a penchant for stiff drinks, good debates and digital gadgets. He is the founder of Converse Digital and author of The Invisible Sale. Get more from Tom on Google+, Twitter, or LinkedIn.

Fact: Email is still (by far) the most profitable online sales channel.

That means an essential aspect of your audience is the segment that trusts you with their primary email address. So, it seems fair to say that enticing your prospective customers and clients onto an email list is crucial.

Once you start building that list, you always want more. It’s like crack, really.

Email subscriber count crack, to be exact.

And like any addiction, you start considering desperate measures to get more. Things like annoying the majority of your site visitors in order to increase your daily sign-up rate.

Enter the popup, hover over … what have you. That annoying thing that jumps up in your face while you’re trying to absorb information that interests you.

Funny thing is, those things actually work. You’ll definitely build your email list faster, although — ironically — the quality of your list will ultimately suffer, and you’ll make less money.

Is there another way?

Absolutely. We’ve done it, and we want to teach it to you.

Webinar: How to Build a Massive Email List (Without Being Annoying)

Copyblogger Media COO Tony Clark and I will take you behind the scenes of the recent Copyblogger redesign, the addition of MyCopyblogger, and the launch of Authority – with a main focus on how the design strategy and free member area have increased daily email signups by over 400%.

You’ll get the inside story on:

• Why we’ve emphasized MyCopyblogger over our products on the site
• How design architecture smartly guides traffic flow on your site
• Why offering “access” beats the old school email newsletter
• The wonderful power of registration over “opt in”
• The secret to a 400% increase in email subscribers
• How to repurpose existing content into high value access enticements
• When to sell to your subscribers, and how to do it right
• Who is a good email lead, who isn’t, and how to tell the difference

Now, there are two ways to get the goods …

You like options, and we’ve got them for you. You can choose to:

1. Buy this webinar:

Sign up for How to Build a Massive Email List (Without Being Annoying). This live webinar will be held on June 21, 2013 at 3 pm Eastern time. You’ll be able to ask questions during the Q&A session of the webinar, and barring unforeseen technical difficulties, get the recording of the webinar plus the optimized transcript.

2. Join Authority:

Join Authority, our content marketing training and networking community designed to accelerate your skills and success. Get How to Build a Massive Email List (Without Being Annoying), all the other education we release in June and in the next 12 months, instant access to over 60 hours of online marketing training, participate in our interactive networking forum, and much more.

One way or another, I’m looking forward to seeing you this Friday, June 21, 2013 at 3 pm Eastern time, and helping you grow your email list and your sales.

About the Author: Brian Clark is founder of Copyblogger and CEO of Copyblogger Media. Get more from Brian on Google+.

Content Marketing is a hot topic, no doubt.

What you may not know, however, is that it’s been around for a long time, and that it’s finding itself in the midst of yet another “Golden Age” with the rise of the Internet.

This is very good news if you’re a content creator. It’s even better news if you’re building authority online.

But, are you actually getting the job done?

Whether you have no idea what I’m talking about, or you do, and you’d like to take your content marketing skills much further online, we’ve got your back.

We’ve built an incredible training resource called MyCopyblogger, and when you register (at no charge) you’ll get instant access to nearly 100,000 words of proven marketing training in thirteen ebooks, (and our completely revamped 20-part Internet marketing course) …

• Copywriting 101: How to Craft Compelling Copy
• How to Write Magnetic Headlines
• How to Create Compelling Content that Ranks Well in Search Engines
• Content Marketing: How to Build an Audience that Builds Your Business
• The Business Case for Agile Content Marketing
• A Content Marketing Strategy that Works
• How to Create Content that Converts
• How to Effectively Promote Your Content
• Content Marketing Research: The Crucial First Step
• How to Build Authority through Content and Google Authorship
• Email Marketing: How to Push Send and Grow Your Business
• Keyword Research for Web Writers and Content Producers
• Landing Pages: How to Turn Traffic into Money

Inside these ebooks you’ll find the very same tactics, strategies, and processes that allowed us to build Copyblogger Media from a simple blog into a content-fueled software and training company with 100,000+ customers.

Don’t ignore one of the most powerful forms of marketing of the last 100 years, sign up for MyCopyblogger today, and take advantage of months of valuable free marketing education.

About the Author: Brian Clark is founder of Copyblogger and CEO of Copyblogger Media. Get more from Brian on Google+.

This week on The Lede …

• How a 40,000 Word PDF Earned a Massive Audience
• The Overwhelming Force of “Gradual”
• How to Write a Good Blog Post, Fast
• On Finding Real Pleasure in Our Work
• Twitter’s First Bona Fide Star

Want to grab even more useful links, beyond those that make The Lede, plus additional obscure references to The Six Million Dollar Man, adjusted for inflation?

You only have to follow @copyblogger on Twitter.

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How a 40,000 Word Guide Earned 361,494 Site Visitors and 8421 Email Opt-ins
Mr. Patel is a master of taking action on real data. Through this dedication, he discovers, then delivers, what his audience wants. In this short case study he lightly analyzes the release of a recent PDF guide that ended up earning him the attention (and permission) of a wide new audience. But it wasn’t easy, and he didn’t get it right the first time …

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The Overwhelming Force of “Gradual”
The home run. The hail mary. The half-court, last-second, game-winning bucket. The winning lottery ticket. We praise and immortalize these events, in my culture they are what you’d call a scene from the The American Dream. The Big Win. But nature doesn’t work that way. The natural order of things — generally — is a very slow, step-by-step process of growth and movement. If you saw a tree jump from sapling to 50 feet tall in one day, you’d wonder what the hell was going on in the world. So why are we obsessed with seeking the unnatural, sugar-coated growth of our work? Is there another way?

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How to Write a Good Blog Post (Fast)
Ms. Duistermaat introduces us to her “Breadmaker Technique” of content creation, a process that cuts much of the angst out of getting started, and getting to a workable draft of your article. I find this, along with a little advice from Mr. Clark, to be very useful tools for getting good content done.

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On Finding Real Pleasure in Our Work
It’s not often that a philosopher has the chops to not only teach, but make you laugh. Maybe it’s merely a 21st century sensibility, but Mr. de Botton delivers the goods in this smart, useful, and funny talk about the nature of work and success. Makes me think how much further Mr. Nietschze or Mr. Kant could have spread their messages, had they more finely tuned their respective senses of humor.

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Twitter’s First Bona Fide Star
It’s well known that Copyblogger thinks digital sharecropping is a dumb move, but that’s never meant that we’re against the contextually smart use of social networking sites. This is one such case. Though Ms. Oxford’s story will certainly not be replicated (often, at least), the results of her producing the right content, in the right place, at the right time can’t be denied. You may never end up on Jimmy Kimmel Live, but do you really need to end up there in order to achieve your business goals?

Miss anything on Copyblogger recently?

• 21 Things You Need to Know About Self-Publishing 2.0
• Case Study: How Two Artists Used Online Content to Build their Face to Face Business
• How Good Copywriting Can Benefit You, Even if You’re Not a Writer
• 21 Reasons You Must Become an Expert
• Here’s How Sonia Simone Writes
• The Power of the Double-Whammy Headline: How to Increase the Chances of Your Content Being Read
• The Surprising Conversion Power of Priming and Conformity
• What a Notorious 16th-Century Philosopher Can Teach You About Content Marketing Today

About the Author: Robert Bruce is VP of Marketing for Copyblogger Media. In his off hours, he files unusually short stories to the Internet.

What does it take to get people to pay attention to your content?

I think we’ve all read a great piece of writing and thought to ourselves, “Why isn’t this more popular?”

(And hey, maybe you even feel that way about your own work!)

I obviously can’t answer the entirety of that question in a single blog post, but I will tell you that there is a trait that many popular works of writing seem to share: they are controversial.

It’s easy to see why controversy spawns from strife between two (or more) groups of thought. It leads to debate, debate leads to recognition, and more and more people trip over themselves to share their thoughts.

You can see the powerful effects of controversy in action when you examine the work of Niccolo Machiavelli, the notorious political scholar whose magnum opus, The Prince, is still hotly debated to this day.

But one has to ask: Why is such a distinguished thinker only recognizable to the average Joe from a single book?

What about The Prince makes it so memorable? How is it able to stay relevant and widely discussed hundreds of years later? More important, how can you apply these lessons to your own content?

How to avoid being forgotten

Honestly, when you think about Machiavelli … does anything other than The Prince readily come to mind?

For most people, that answer is No, even though he was a prolific political scholar with many published works. If that’s the case for you, don’t feel bad, there’s a simple reason why The Prince is so easily recognized and the rest of Machiavelli’s work is not, and that reason is controversy.

While the teachings from The Prince still stir debate even to this day (the sure sign of a truly controversial topic), you may not know that the book caused quite an uproar back when it was initially published.

It was outright banned by the Catholic church, after being officially added to the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, and many scholars panned the book’s premise: how dare Machiavelli contrast the teachings of Plato and Aristotle!

Sounds like the book should have never found an audience with such a harsh backlash, right? And yet, the influence of the work on many notable figures throughout history is undeniable.

Not to equate the works of Machiavelli to your typical blog post, but I can’t help but notice that many aspects surrounding the book’s success seem to relate back to gaining attention online:

1. The ideas in the book are not unique, but they are incredibly different from what was being published at the time (the debate over republicanism vs. monarchy wasn’t new, but it had never been addressed like this before)
2. The passion of the subject matter, the pure focus on creating something that his audience needed (more on that later), the use of writing as refined thinking: all things that you’ve heard before from other notable authors.
3. Despite the fact that it is a piece on political theory, the book is far from boring. Most readers who aren’t even interested in the subject become fascinated with Machiavelli’s thoughts.

And here’s a fun fact about Machiavelli that you probably didn’t know …

A majority of modern-day academics now consider The Prince to be a work of satire.

(Notice I said a “majority”, as the debate has become something of, yes, a controversy.)

This is because there is ample evidence that the intended goal of The Prince was to inform the public of the insidious nature of dictators, and give a candid look at the tactics that they would use to control the populace.

Many scholars argue that those in power would have already known this stuff anyway.

So, why would Machiavelli write The Prince in this way?

To me, there are two clear answers:

1. In order to continue advocating the republican government he supported, he had to write The Prince in this ‘disguised’ style to avoid upsetting those in power.
2. He wanted to be remembered.

Machiavelli was in danger of being forgotten, because many of those who pulled the strings were unwilling to allow something like his Discourses on Livy to see the light of day.

You, however, have a different problem: With the benefit of being able to write whatever you want, your concern is being forgotten and buried in a sea of less worthy content.

Fortunately, you can use controversy to avoid this dreadful fate and capture the attention you need to build a thriving audience online … and you can do it without making people hate you.

Here’s how …

How to cause an intelligent uproar

One of the main reasons that The Prince is so controversial (and thus so memorable) is that it creates division among two different groups of thought.

The debate over whether or not ‘The ends justify the means’ is one that has raged long after Machiavelli’s death, and that will continue to divide people for years to come (despite the fact that Machiavelli never actually said it in The Prince).

There are a few reasons why this is important for creating controversy:

1. Division gets people invested
2. Division triggers high-arousal emotions
3. Division can be used in low-controversy situations (this is how you avoid making people hate you)

Let’s break this down, shall we?

1. Using division to get people invested

What’s a proven way to get people more invested in a cause, argument, or belief?

Give them an enemy.

According to the fascinating study on Social Categorization and Inter-group Behavior, the quickest way to get people to form groups is to give them another group to compete against.

The lead researcher Henri Tajfel found that when people were divided by even the most trivial of choices, they were still willing to hand out real rewards to their ‘in-group,’ and would readily discriminate the other ‘outsiders.’

As a behavioral psychology geek, this study fascinates me because it’s a proven example of why people can become so heated over arguments that seem pointless to a third party. Often, it’s the division between groups as much as the argument itself that creates the controversy.

Machiavelli’s work in The Prince created a clear divide that subsequently built two groups of thought that vehemently disagreed with one another, an essential ingredient for creating controversy.

2. Using division to trigger high-arousal emotions

As we’ve seen, division works because it turns a casual discussion into a heated debate by pitting people against each other.

But it works best when it’s able to trigger ‘high-arousal emotions’ from those who are partaking in the debate.

Recent academic research from Wharton on What Makes Online Content Go Viral shows that the content that is most likely to go viral is any work that evokes a strong emotional reaction from the reader.

Specifically, the emotions of Awe, Anger, Anxiety/Fear, Joy, Lust, and Surprise were most effective.

Content that inspires low-energy emotions like sadness is less likely to be shared, where content that inspires high-energy emotions like awe, anger, and anxiety is far more likely to be shared.

You might see an emotion like ‘Anxiety’ and think, “I’ll never write something like that! I don’t want to cause my readers anxiety!”

You’re over-thinking the execution of this strategy.

If you’ve read Copyblogger’s great guide on Magnetic Headlines, you will recognize headlines like ’7 Warning Signs that …,’ which create anxiety in the reader but still deliver solid value.

Now you know you need to plant your flag in an argument, you know your writing needs to trigger a strong emotion … but how can you keep people from hating you for it?

(Psst … pay attention, this next part is where most people get stuck!)

3. Using division to take advantage of ‘low-controversy’ topics

Most businesses stay away from controversial content because they are too scared that it may reflect badly on their brand.

It will … if you do it the wrong way.

The wrong way is picking a random fight or trying to be ‘shocking’ in order to stir up controversy.

The right way is being the voice of reason for a topic of ‘low’ controversy, and planting your flag on the side that you can argue the best.

But why would you want to pick a topic of low controversy? That defeats the purpose, right?

Actually, it doesn’t.

According to academic research on When, Why, and How Controversy Causes Conversation, if you want to get people talking online, it’s best to avoid topics of ‘high’ controversy on your business blog.

(‘High’ controversy means things like politics, religion, and tragedies.)

Why? According to the researchers:

[Data] shows that controversy increases likelihood of discussion at low levels, but beyond a moderate level of controversy, additional controversy actually decreases likelihood of discussion.

In other words, people don’t like to discuss highly controversial topics (especially outside of the news) because it can make them look bad for bringing it up.

There are a few other things to consider …

1. Your business blog is not the news. While the news is generally bulletproof in terms of what they can discuss, you are not.
2. Highly controversial topics aren’t going to end up helping you create content that truly converts, so why bother? You need sales and loyal readers, not pointless page-views.
3. Just because something is taboo or shocking does not always mean it will be heavily discussed.

In a recent podcast with Derek Halpern and professor Jonah Berger, Jonah mentions how even toilet paper can be remarkable, and Derek offers up this example as a case study for how seemingly silly arguments can go viral online.

The topic of toilet paper orientation (yes, that is a 6,000 word Wikipedia article on the subject) is hotly debated online, despite the fact that no one could possibly be offended by it.

As the research and this silly example prove, you don’t need to be highly controversial or hurt people’s feelings to create something that divides people and stirs up debate.

From Machiavelli to toilet paper and back again

Machiavelli has shown us that it often takes a bit of controversy to be remembered, and that the best way to stir up such a debate is to create division … but do we really have to start arguments about silly topics like toilet paper?

Absolutely not.

Consider these following examples of articles that took off because of the combination of division and controversy:

1. The Biggest Threat to Your Online Marketing Efforts: Why you should never allow places like Facebook to be your main ‘base’ for building an audience.
2. Why Steve Jobs Never Listened to His Customers: The importance of customer feedback, even amongst teams who are building unique products.
3. Gay Sex vs. Straight Sex: Data from OKCupid on the patterns and dating habits of homosexual and heterosexual users.

All of these topics were incredibly important within their tribe, and serious discussions formed in the comments of all three articles.

The point being, you don’t provoke mindless arguments to effectively use this strategy, you simply have to challenge a certain group’s 3B’s (behavior, beliefs, belonging), stay relevant, and you’ll be on your way to creating something the whole industry is talking about.

What say you?

Now I want to hear from you. What’s your favorite piece of controversial content that you’ve read recently? What sort of division did it create? Let us know in the comments.

And to get more research-backed content on marketing, feel free to download my free guide on 10 Ways to Convert More Customers (Using Psychology).

About the Author: Gregory Ciotti is the content strategist for Help Scout, the invisible help desk software for startups and small-businesses. Get more data-driven content from Greg by visiting our blog.

Imagine it’s late Wednesday afternoon.

The sun is setting. You are pulling on some sweats after a long day at work when you hear a knock at the front door. Your child — who doesn’t open it — yells up to you that there is a strange man on the porch.

And he’s got something in his hands.

You slip on some socks (because you are self-conscious about your toes), and jog down the steps. You open the door and see me standing on your porch. I’m smiling. In my arms is a clipboard.

“Hi, I’m with Gallup Research. Can I ask you a quick question?”

“Sure,” you say.

“Close to eighty percent of your neighbors plan on voting tomorrow. Do you?”

Hmm. You totally forgot tomorrow was Election Day. You’ll need to ask off work, but your boss will understand. Still, the voting booth is way out of your way, and you are certain there will be a line … but you don’t want to look like an unpatriotic oaf.

“Um, yeah, I plan on voting.”

I note this down on my clipboard, wave, and rush off to the next house.

Without you even knowing it, I influenced your behavior in two critical ways. Did you see what they were?

Let me show you …

What is the “mere-measurement effect”?

When it comes to the world of content marketing, you can influence the behavior of your readers, subscribers, and customers … and you can do it without them even noticing.

For example, in the story above, because I asked you the day before voting whether you are going to vote — and you said “yes” — you are more likely to vote than if I had not shown up.

This is called the “mere-measurement effect,” and it refers to the phenomenon where people are asked what they intend to do in a certain situation … and because of their public profession of what they intend to do, they become more likely to act in accordance with that answer.

Now, people and institutions who take surveys aren’t trying to influence behavior … instead, they just want to catalogue behavior. Yet, social scientists are the ones who began to take note of the mere-measurement effect … and seeing its similarity to consistency and commitment.

What is priming?

Now when consistency and commitment are used to influence behavior, it is called priming.

You’ll find this in just about any context. Voting increases as much as 25% and the purchase of new cars (when people are asked if they intend to buy a new car in six months) increases by as much as 35%.

Why does priming work so well?

People who make commitments don’t want to be viewed as unreliable or inconsistent. They’ll consider the cost of looking like a flake higher than the cost of inconvenience. We are a people prone to saving face.

Here’s how priming works online

Let’s say I’m about to launch a new email newsletter. Here’s how I would prime my audience:

• A month or two out I would publish a post that says, “Hey, I’m thinking about creating a new email newsletter on a new goat-milk diet. Who’s interested?” Naturally, if I get enough interest, I’ll go for it. But I’ve also primed the audience.
• Two weeks before launch: “Hey, just as a reminder, we are going to launch that goat-milk email newsletter two weeks from now. Let me know if you plan on signing up.”
• And then finally, on the day before the launch: “I’m curious. Who intends to sign up for the new email newsletter? Let me know in the comments.”.

To some people this smacks of manipulation. Well, it can be.

Here’s why priming is not manipulation

If you truly believe that people’s lives will be changed by your goat-milk diet, then you can help them make the right decisions with priming.

For instance, people have used priming to help people make healthy decisions involving exercising, quitting smoking, protesting ignorant behavior, saving their marriage, or eating right.

Furthermore, you can accentuate priming by asking people when and how they plan to respond:

• Do you plan on exercising this week? Which days and what will you do?
• Do you plan on joining the demonstration this week? Which days and what are you going to do (bring a sign, bullhorn, or nothing — you’re going nude)?
• Do you plan on working on your marriage this week? What are you going to do and when (stop work early and spend time with my spouse every other day)?

Priming works because it’s a matter of giving people simple (and seemingly irrelevant) clues in areas of their lives in which they need help. And the more desperate they are for that help, the easier they are to prime.

How conformity influences behavior

The other thing that was going on in the opening illustration was conformity. I did this by mentioning the percentage of your neighbors who were voting. As long as that number is accurate, and high, it suggests to you where popular opinion stands.

It also suggests what you should do, too.

See, our tendency is to fall in line. We tend to do what others do. So when you heard that the majority of your neighbors are voting, you will likely vote, too. It’s a sublime example of social proof.

Priming and conformity working together

Now let’s combine priming and conformity in the email newsletter example.

After one of your informal polls, use that data on the day before the launch.

Hey, I’m curious. Seven out of ten of my readers plan on signing up for the new membership class. Do you intend to sign up, too? If so, when? Let me know in the comments.

Finally, let’s turn the tables.

If you ever feel like you are being unethically primed, simply say you changed your mind.

Yes, I did plan on buying a car in six months. But my circumstances have changed and I’ve changed my mind.

You have every right to change your mind, so don’t ever allow someone to guilt-trip you into thinking you are a flake if you do.

Have you ever observed priming and conformity actually influence behavior? Share your thoughts in the comments.

About the Author: Demian Farnworth is Chief Copywriter for Copyblogger Media. Follow him on Twitter or Google+. Then visit his blog to read his Education of a Writer series.

Laurel and Hardy. Batman and Robin. Superman.

Which of these doesn’t quite fit?

Yup, it’s the guy who can’t handle Kryptonite. If Superman is in trouble, there’s almost no one to rescue him. But Hardy or Batman can get into all kinds of crazy trouble, and they’ll always have a nice partner there, ready to back them up.

The same applies to what I call the “Double-Whammy Headline.” It’s just like the usual compelling headline that draws in your reader … but it’s got backup.

Let me explain …

What’s a Double-Whammy headline?

A double whammy headline is a headline with a sidekick. And, like most partnerships, one partner takes on a slightly bigger role.

Let’s jump right in with a few examples:

Why Every Small Business Needs a Sales Analysis — And How to Complete it in 20 Minutes

Why Quarterly Analysis can Increase Business by 50%: The Three Key Steps

The Rumiddha Method: 4 Steps to Achieving a Thriving (and Profitable) Online Forum

The Keyboard Wheel (And How it Helps You Decide the Right Colour for Your Website)

Why Small Businesses Don’t Grow — And How to Use Autoresponders to Increase Your Business by 27% Every Year

The first part of a few of these headlines could almost stand alone …

Why Every Small Business Needs a Sales Analysis

Why Small Businesses Don’t Grow

Some of them actually work quite well by themselves.

Technically, that’s the goal. To write one part so well that the first part is already a complete headline. Yes, all by itself. It could steal the show without having the add-on.

How does the double-whammy headline work?

In the examples above, the “Rummidha Method” and “Keyboard Wheel” tell you nothing. But they pull you in.

Their job is not to be a complete headline. It’s to pull you in, while the second half of the headline knocks you out!

It uses double the power to get your attention. And once it’s gotten your attention, you can’t help but want to click to read the rest of the article.

And of course, you can use colons, question marks, parentheses, or the em dash — or a host of other punctuation marks — to create the bridge that builds these powerful headlines.

Should you use double-whammy headlines all the time?

Should you take your umbrella out all the time? Of course, not.

You can write a headline like this:

Why the Most Attractive Headlines May Not Bring the Greatest Conversion

And that headline, despite not being a double-whammy, works well. But from time to time you want to mix up your headlines with a bit of power and surprise as well.

That’s the context in which double-whammy headlines can really work.

Don’t overdo it …

You can try so hard to stuff your headline with terms that it may be impossible to work out what you’re saying. So yes, double-whammy headlines can be too whammy, and end up being clammy.

Here’s a good example of what to avoid:

Why Focusing on Advanced Placement Guarantees Career Failure (and How to Avoid that Fate, While Still Getting Great Grades)

You may scrunch your eyebrows in confusion, but it’s common to see writers eagerly overdoing the double-whammy headline, to the point where it becomes hard to understand.

Keeping your double-whammy headline simple is critical to getting your idea across effectively.

In summary: Two headlines can sometimes be much better than one

The principles of headline writing that actually works are known.

I’m suggesting that — every once in awhile — you should mix it up, and see how those principles work for you at double-strength. You’ll really grab the attention of your audience, and like I said at the beginning of this post, it’s always nice to have a backup when you need it.

Just like TweedleDee and Tweedledum!

Do you have any examples of your own double-whammys, or ones you’ve seen out in the wild? Drop them in the comments below …

About the Author: Sean D'Souza offers a great free report on 'Why Headlines Fail' when you subscribe to his Psychotactics Newsletter. Be sure to check out his blog, too.

Kids are out of school, flip-flops have taken their place in the hallway, summertime is just around the corner. And as is our tradition at Copyblogger, we’ll be easing up the post schedule just a bit.

We spend a lot of time teaching people how to build smart, sustainable businesses with content. The kind of businesses that give us enough free time to have some decent work-life balance.

After all, working your own schedule, to suit your own life, is one of the biggest benefits of running a business, right?

So tomorrow, we start our official summer schedule.

We’ll post three articles a week: Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and wrap up Thursday with some well-chosen links for you. Then from Friday through Sunday, enjoy a long summer weekend.

Go for a bike ride, have lunch with friends, go to the zoo with your kids, maybe throw in a picnic or two.

Yes, continue to work on and grow your business. And balance that out with all the other great stuff in your life.

In other words, have a terrific summer — we only get so many of them.

(Special note for our readers in Australia, where it is currently winter. Er, sorry. Maybe go for some relaxing sleigh rides on the beach?)

Before you take off…

Already pining for your Copyblogger fix? Feed your addiction by subscribing to the all new, updated MyCopyblogger marketing series. You’ll get instant access to a comprehensive content marketing library, as well as weekly lessons about smarter online marketing, delivered hot and fresh to your email in-box. Even if you live in Australia.

About the Author: Sonia Simone is co-founder and CMO of Copyblogger Media. Get more from Sonia on Twitter and Google+.

All great writing starts with a few well-chosen words, a unique voice, and — according to my guest and colleague — a love for your audience.

Sonia Simone is a true original, a prolific author, educator, and speaker who has written countless well-chosen words for Copyblogger (I consulted a team of experts, and we literally couldn’t count them all).

As Senior Editor and Publisher of Copyblogger.com, Chief Marketing Officer of Copyblogger Media, and Head Educatrix over at Authority — a program designed to teach every aspect of creating an online presence that works for your business goals — she is a true authority on copywriting and producing the kind of content that builds a business.

When Seth Godin appeared in The Writer Files, he listed Sonia as one of his favorite authors. When I asked him to comment on Sonia’s appearance in this series, he asked me to quote him:

[Sonia Simone] doesn’t need a blurb, she’s got her writing!

Writing that connects with an audience speaks for itself.

In this installment of The Writer Files, Sonia shares with us the art of “non-writing,” her opinion of timers and deadlines, and a well-kept secret about writer’s block.

Join me as we flip through the file of Sonia Simone, writer …

About the writer …

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Sonia Simone and I delete email for a living. OK, I stole that joke from John Jantsch. Because we’re a small and fast-growing company, roles tend to evolve pretty quickly. At the moment I publish the Copyblogger blog (you’re reading it) and I do a lot of teaching on how to use content to build a stronger business.

What is your area of expertise as a writer or online publisher?

The thing I’ve found I’m best at is writing or recording content that builds a tighter relationship between a business and its customers. The tag line for my first copywriting business was “Remarkable customer relationships begin with remarkable communication,” and I still find that to hold true.

Where can we find your writing?

I’ve written a heck of a lot for Copyblogger, and I’m also creating a lot of educational content for MyCopyblogger (which is free) and Authority (which is a premium resource for content marketing pros). If you’re really gung ho, you can go check out my personal blog, Remarkable Communication. I don’t update it any more, but there’s some good stuff there.

The writer’s productivity …

How much time, per day, do you spend reading or doing research?

Three to four hours is fairly typical.

Before you begin to write, do you have any pre-game rituals or practices?

I like to spend as many hours as possible not-writing first. That’s a joke. Sort of. I do have my special Writing Tea, and I’d be lost without my timer. I also find I need to spend a lot of time walking or the words don’t get into my head properly.

What’s your best advice for overcoming procrastination?

Have deadlines you can’t miss.

What time of day is most productive for your writing?

I’m not one of nature’s early risers, but mid-morning is good. I also get a second wind in the evenings after dinner.

Do you generally adhere to a rigid or flexible writing system?

Everything about the way I write is constantly in flux.

How many hours a day do you spend actually writing (excluding email, social media etc.)?

About two hours.

Do you write every day?

I usually get a solid five days a week in.

The writer’s creativity …

Define creativity.

Just making something. It might be something crummy or awkward or not ready for prime time.

If you make something, you are creative.

Who are your favorite authors, online or off?

I’d like to be Malcolm Gladwell if I ever grow up. I’m very influenced by Seth Godin, which I know is a cliché but so what. Right now I’m reading a lot of fiction — Fred Vargas is incredible and I wish I had twenty more books of hers to read. I re-read Dorothy Sayers a lot. And I’m a closet Brandon Sanderson fan. Well, maybe not so closeted any more.

Popular writers who think carefully about language might be the common thread there.

Can you share a best-loved quote?

You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want. ~Zig Ziglar

I tell this to my child about five times a day, especially when I am trying to get him to finish his dinner.

Do you prefer a particular type of music (or silence) when you write?

I don’t do well with music, but ever since I read Lisa Barone’s Writer Files interview, I’ve been digging the rain sounds she linked to there.

How would you personally like to grow creatively as a writer?

I like to learn about new stuff and then teach it to someone else. Thus the Malcolm Gladwell aspiration.

Do you believe in “writer’s block”? If so, how do you avoid it?

Most of the best writers I know are semi-blocked most of the time. You avoid it by not being able to avoid it. When you have to work, the work gets done.

Who or what is your “Muse” at the moment (i.e. specific creative inspirations)?

Our community over at Authority. I spend a lot of time thinking about what they need and want — what would make them stupidly successful.

Would you consider yourself someone who likes to “take risks?”

Absolutely not. I hate taking risks. I’m a worrier. But I do believe that taking small, managed risks outweighs the much greater risk of closing your eyes and hoping things work out the way they’re going.

What makes a writer great?

Tremendous love for the audience and the topic. What I call G.A.S. — giving a shit. You have to care a lot — about language, about your readers, and about what you write about.

The writer’s workflow …

What hardware or typewriter model are you presently using?

My trusty 13″ MacBook Air. This thing is the most perfect device for writers ever created. I love everything about it and will be very cranky if I ever have to switch to something else.

What software are you using for writing and general workflow?

I don’t really believe in software for writers. A simple text editor is useful — TextWrangler is a good one. Lacking that, a physical notebook and pen make a dandy substitute.

My workflow isn’t anything anyone would want to emulate, but I do find Evernote handy for keeping all of my miscellany corralled.

Do you have any tricks for staying focused?

A timer and a deadline work very nicely together.

Have you run into any serious challenges or obstacles to getting words onto the page?

My brain is the main one.

How do you stay organized (methods, systems, or “mad science”)?

Er, next question.

How do you relax at the end of a hard day?

I’m very passionate about my family. Spending time with my Big Guy and my Little Guy is very relaxing for me. I also like to lift heavy things to relax, but that works better at the beginning of the day.

A few questions just for the fun of it …

Who (or what) has been your greatest teacher?

The drive to support my family has given me reserves that I didn’t really think I had.

What’s your biggest aggravation or pet peeve at the moment (writing related or otherwise)?

The grossly misnamed “smart phone,” which has turned millions of reasonably intelligent people into zombies. This is why zombie fiction is so popular now, I think. The Walking Dead is basically a depiction of mobile-addicted idiots wandering around the grocery store.

Choose one author, living or dead, that you would like to have dinner with.

I find most writers aren’t terribly good company. I’d try for someone kind and wise with a killer ability to turn a phrase. Probably Mark Twain.

Do you have a motto, credo or general slogan that you live by?

Show up, pay attention, don’t lie.

What do you see as your greatest success in life?

My child.

If you could take a vacation anywhere in the world tomorrow, where would you go (cost or responsibilities are no object)?

Hm, I’m writing this from an apartment in Rome. How about one of those perfectly blissful little private villas in Bali?

What would you like to do more of in the coming year?

Teach. Fortunately, we’ve got a lot of that lined up, so I’m a lucky person.

Can you offer any advice to writers and content producers that you might offer yourself, if you could go back in time and “do it all over?”

Honestly, about 75% of what I write is exactly that — it’s my “Bill and Ted” advice to myself at a previous point in time. I don’t think I’d want to cross my own timeline, though — I like how things have worked out, and as tough as some of it was, I wouldn’t want to change where it all took me.

Please tell our readers where they can connect with you online.

Please come say hello on Google+ so I can be a better G+ citizen. I’m trying to make it a more regular habit, it just hasn’t quite stuck yet.

Is there anything else you’d like our readers to know?

You are amazing and you have something to say that the world needs to hear. Go work on that now.

And finally, the writer’s desk …

The revolution will be written, and written quite astutely, by an army of dedicated online publishers who “give a shit.”

In the words of Sonia herself:

Great content solves real problems and becomes a trusted resource.

Ms. Simone, thank you for the snapshot of your mysterious hideout!

And we have noted your David Ogilvy mug full of that (ahem) “Writing Tea.”

And thank you for reading The Writer Files …

We have more Q&As on the way from writers who inspire us, and if you want to catch up on our past profiles, you can dig into the entire archive right here.

If you’ve already subscribed to Copyblogger via email or RSS, the next installment will be delivered to you just like the rest of our daily content.

If not, go ahead and subscribe right now so you don’t miss a thing.

Now swig some of that “Writing Tea” and get back to work! Seriously.

About the Author: Kelton Reid is Director of Multimedia Production for Copyblogger Media, and an independent screenwriter, and novelist. Get more from Kelton on Twitter and Google+.