Posted by: Clayton Makepeace
August 18, 2008
Issue #483

Psst … Can You Keep a Secret?

Dear Business-Builder,

The great investor Warren Buffet has a net worth of about $62 billion.  That’s sixty-two thousand million dollars.

If your net worth is $10 million, Warren is 6,200 times richer than you. 

If you’re worth $1 million, he has 62,000 times more money than you do. 

If your net worth is $100,000, Mr. Buffet is 620,000 times richer than you are.

There are people whose businesses grow a hundred, maybe even a thousand times or more faster than yours does.  For every new customer you attract, they attract 100, 1,000, maybe even 10,000 or more.

There are people who look, feel and perform ten, twenty, even thirty years younger than you do …

Who have far greater success in love and relationships (OK – maybe just in sex) than you do …

Who live better for less, have greener lawns, clearer skin, more hair, thinner waists and smaller butts, better-behaved or more successful kids, more friends or are more successful in some other area of life than you are.

Sorry – but you know it’s true.  And no, I’m not trying to depress you – just trying to make a very important point.

So let me ask you:  WHY do you think all those people are doing so much better than you in so many different areas?

Are they all thousands of times smarter than you? 

Do they work thousands of times harder?

Are they thousands of times luckier?

… Or do they have a SECRET?

Ah, secrets … 

Secrets tease, tantalize and torment us.  An offered secret is irresistible – impossible to refuse.  Once our curiosity is engaged, knowledge that someone else knows a secret that we don’t is like having a stone in our shoe.  It gnaws and nags at us.  We can’t willingly rest until we’re in on the secret, too.

Secrets also appeal to our laziness and desire for instant gratification.  They seem to say, “The success you crave is not about anything as mundane as hard work or discipline or patience.  Once you know this secret, everything you desire will flow to you instantly and without effort.”

We hope and dream that a single secret may be the magic key that unlocks the floodgates and unleashes a tidal wave of personal and business success for us.

More importantly, secrets help us make sense of the vast gulf between ourselves and others who have already solved a problem we’ve encountered, overcome an obstacle we struggle with, or achieved a goal we aspire to.

And frankly, it’s comforting to believe that a single secret may be all that holds us back; all that separates us from the fortunate few who seem to be enjoying so much more success and happiness than we are. 

Secrets are also a powerful “secret”
to grabbing huge response for your next promotion

Since offering to reveal a secret appeals to us humans on so many visceral levels, it’s no wonder that many of the most successful direct response promotions of all time have used them to boost attention and readership by an order of magnitude. 

Nor is it any wonder that offering to reveal more secrets in a free report that is delivered along with the product can drive response rates, revenues and profits through the roof.

So how could YOU use secrets to hit one out of the park the next time you’re at bat?

Way I see it, there are actually four kinds of secrets …

1. Simple Secrets:  These are like one-hit wonders of the secrets world.  Want to fly First Class for what others pay for coach?  Enjoy a luxury cruise for free?  Get tickets to a “sold-out” concert?  Lower your blood pressure without costly or dangerous drugs?  Here’s the secret …

   If you haven’t already, buy a product – any product – from Boardroom or Rodale.  Before long, your inbox and mailbox will be stuffed with promotions that tell simple secrets – and that offer to give you thousands more secrets when you buy the book or newsletter they’re promoting.

   Note that these promotions don’t just promise to tell you the secrets when you buy the product; they give you tons of them right in the promotion.  These freebie secrets are proof elements:  They prove that the secrets revealed in the product actually are astonishing and that they actually could work!

2. Forecasts:  If you think about it, predicting a future event in a promotion is kind of like telling your prospect a secret that very few other people know.  If you can provide little-known facts about why your prophecy will inevitably be fulfilled … demonstrate how knowing about this event in advance can bring value to your prospect’s life …

   And then offer to show him, in your product or premium, how to use this “confidential, privileged information” to solve a problem or get what he wants, your readership and response are likely to soar.

3. Mis/Disinformation:  Lies are, by definition, secrets too.  When you show your prospect how “the establishment” or better yet, your competitors are at fault for his situation, you free him from responsibility for it.

   Better yet:  You send the message that once he fully understands how and why he’s being lied to, the problem that plagues him will vanish and/or the object of his desire will miraculously appear before him.

4. Conspiracies:  These are big, fat, irresistible bundles of secrets that amplify and broaden their power by an order of magnitude. 

   Show your prospect why and how the deck is stacked against him:  Why Wall Street is conspiring to rob him … how the government is planning to bankrupt him … why drug companies are conspiring to make (or keep) him sick … why his accountant can’t (or won’t) lower his taxes … why the diet industry fails him … and you create massive credibility for your product by validating his suspicions and by creating an excuse for his current predicament.

So let’s talk – what are you selling now?  How could using secrets in your sales copy, premiums or maybe even in the product itself take your response to the next level?

Let’s see if we can’t come up with a ton of exciting new ways to use these amazingly powerful response boosters!

Yours for Bigger Winners, More Often,

Clayton Makepeace
Publisher & Editor
THE TOTAL PACKAGE

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12 Comments »

1. Comment by Apryl Parcher — August 18, 2008 @ 4:16 pm

   Just the reminder I needed, Clayton, to work a secret into a product promotion I’m working on for a client.  After all, YOUR promise of a secret certainly worked…it had me opening and reading your post without putting it in my "to do" list for later.

   It’s funny how the word "Secret" is a subliminal magnet–and we’re not even concious of the attraction, really. It’s something the subconcious just cannot resist.

   I know my subconcious is going to miss looking for your orange envelopes in the mail. I’ve learned more from Easy Writers than any product–ever–and I’m sorry to see it go, but thanks a million…you and Tony are the best!
   Apryl

2. Comment by Mohawk Gringo — August 18, 2008 @ 5:11 pm

   Personally Clayton, I like big butts. But…

   This was great…I’m starting a promo right now with a working head of The secret language of the successful and popular.

   And my head is allready starting to swell with how I can use your four kinds of secrets…
   1. Simple - Secret Language of popular people2. Forecast - From Wallflower to Butterfly - Secrets of the Social Elite 3. Mis/Dis - Why the Popular crowd doesn’t want you to be popular - and how they use the secret language to keep you out
   4.Conspiracy - Invisible Social Class Language Secrets of the Rich and Powerful

   These aren’t great but I got a workable starting point. Thanks, that’s why I read these things.

   Mohawk Gringo
   http://www.mohawkgringo.com

3. Comment by Lynn Jordan — August 18, 2008 @ 6:54 pm

   Thanks Clayton.  That’s a powerful, yet simple tip that some of us forget while we are struggling to create our latest projects.

   I’m going to put your four types of secrets on a sticky note and stick it on my computer.

4. Comment by Susan Connors — August 18, 2008 @ 7:11 pm

   Secrets..the stuff of magic! Remember the game at school? You tell your best friend a "secret" and before long the "secret" has gone from Jamie, to Madison ..right through the whole class. Soon your "secret" is cool with more benefits than before. Each person added something of their own to the original. Secrets and gossip, promises and predictions! How we love to eat them..

   It’s like this marketing concept. Years ago, well a decade, a secret of success as was the concept "success in a suit". You wear the most ..best brand of tailored clothing and it got you "everything"! The best job, partner, friends, clothes etc and turned you into a millionaire overnight.  The marketers "secret" was the elusive lifestyle and dream "jobs" that many of us in our early twenties aspired to be. Anyways, the "secret" suit and "power suits" of the nineties were a sensational hit.

   To be the best you had to dress a certain way, hang around the "in" crowd, the happening "suits" for the illusion of "success". Yes, the power suits are still around even today in 2008 and with good reason.

   To this day the "secrets" of  well chosen suit or dress, can make a huge difference. You may not have the success or dream job of your choice or even financial freedom.  The "secret’s" to dressing well help with the confidence and what "can" happen..the "wow" factor.
   Buy purchasing a brand or obtaining a certain look.."the secrets to success" are more likely to come "your" way. Still a true "secret" to this day!

   A "secret" to a well made suit ..is that it is well made and looks good on you. How many times have you walked into a store and brought something that made you butt look the size of two shovels? Sold something which you didn’t really want to buy, enticed into the sale by the skinny chick in the well dressed suit? I was a sucker once..not anymore ..gotto laugh at myself sometimes.

   A "power suit" is something that doesn’t impress me anymore. Maybe I have lost the "secret" or maybe become jaded in my old age of 38. A good quality suit.. will now do me just as well as one from the designer down the road selling the same product for a lot more money. Hey, that is the "secret" in action.

   Everyones "secret" is different and this is the great thing about human nature.

   Anyways "secrets" sell and that is a truth well known.

   Enough of me rambling, back to the coffee and work

   Thank you again Clayton..keep up the great work!

   Sue in Aus

5. Comment by John C. Babin — August 18, 2008 @ 8:40 pm

   Clayton,
   Thanks so much for expanding on the concept of "secrets" for marketers.
   I’d been wondering about that for quite some time.  But you hit one out the park with this article.
   I don’t know why but I can’t stand Kevin Truduea.  But one thing I do understand now is why he is so rich.  He uses the "secret" methods in most of his marketing.
   P.S.  What the heck is Tony Flores up to?

6. Comment by David — August 18, 2008 @ 11:11 pm

   Great info as always, but …

   What’s the secret in using the word "secret" without
   moving the needle on the BS meter?

7. Comment by Susan Connors — August 19, 2008 @ 4:18 am

   "What’s the secret in using the word "secret" without
   moving the needle on the BS meter?"

   Some secrets are full of the phony BS stuff.

   Other secrets are bits of truth or semi-proven information.

   I could be wrong, to me it depends on the product/market/theme or concept surrounding a campaign or launch.

8. Comment by Jeremy Reeves — August 19, 2008 @ 9:03 am

   I agree with the statement that a "secret" is something the subconscious just can’t resist.

   I know I fall for it every time! I always want to find out secrets, even if I know for a fact that it’s just a marketing scheme and is probably either

   1) something I already know

   2) some TINY little bit of information that doesn’t even matter anyway or

   3) a lie just so I buy whatever product the person is promoting.

   Oh well…never hurts to buy most things anyway. If it sucks there’s almost always a guarantee

   Jeremy Reeves
   http://www.GetClientsIn20.com

9. Comment by David — August 19, 2008 @ 4:09 pm

   Perhaps I’m too jaded, but how many of you roll your eyes when
   seeing an ad with a secret is for sale?

   I’m sure the masters like Clayton can dress this turkey up - but as
   powerful as a secret is to our emotions - it’s overuse instantly calls up another emotion - our BS meter.

10. Comment by Andrew & Denise Chambers — August 19, 2008 @ 4:53 pm

    Great stuff…Secrets bring people together a piece of information on someone can be a great topic of conversation for the neighbors who like to gossip…lol

    Inside information (secrets) is what makes the world go around and if you are positioned for it and are able to act with skilled precision, it will make you a lot of money and  attract a whole lot of people to you as you go.

    Which in turn builds a momentum of even more inside information  (secrets) which is like a giant people magnet. It’s like you can pluck those secrets out of the air.

    Thanks
    Andrew & Denise Chambers
    http://www.TheRatRaceMovie.com

11. Comment by Susan Connors — August 19, 2008 @ 10:25 pm

    Hi everyone,

    I agree with David, when I roll my eyes at the obvious..blatant adds..that I know are not so true with the results. The BS meter shoots into overdrive and most times I either laugh, move or actually sit there and study the advert.

    There is always something I can learn from someone else and their work.

    All the best

    Sue in Aus

12. Comment by Apryl Parcher — August 20, 2008 @ 10:34 am

    I think part of the "secret" to not ticking up the BS needle when using "secrets" in headlines is the trust factor one should be careful to build with readership.

    When Clayton, Carline, Bob, Gary or Drayton (to name a  few) use it in a blog or e-zine headline once in a while, loyal listeners (like ourselves) have their BS meters turned off…because of their history with us. They don’t overuse it, and haven’t given us cause to feel burned by them in the past, so it’s irrisistable to take a peek.

    To a cold audience, however, one must be careful, since no trust has been developed yet.

    I think you have an advantage when writing to an audience that looks forward to your pearls of wisdom, but you still shouldn’t abuse it. Variety and moderation are keys to success–it always pays to keep things interesting.

    Apryl Parcher
    http://www.aparcher.com