Warning! Reading This Could Screw Up Your Marketing Efforts!

OK - so if you are what you eat…

…and when we read something we’re consuming it…

…does that mean that the blogs and marketing bumpf that we read (regardless of quality) shape us as a Marketer - whether we want them to or not?

That’s either the deepest or most ridiculous thing i’ve ever pondered, but definitely the most profound thought that ever popped into my head upon waking up from a quick after-work snooze.

I’m not entirely sure what happened; one minute i was listening to Alejandro Reyes being interviewed by Michelle MacPhearson on social marketing, and blam! - I was gone.

Now don’t get me wrong- that’s not a reflection on the interview itself (i’ve listened to it twice since), but i must’ve REALLY needed that sleep! Leave that link for now, come back to it later (it’ll stil be there) but be SURE to check it out.

Anyway, the next thing I knew, I awoke an hour later with that strange notion go my head: If we are what we eat, does what we read shape us?

(Don’t ask me what I dreamt of - it usually eludes me, often with only a fleeting recollection of some wild fantasies including benny hill music and me trying to milk an aggressive, large-breasted raccoon - a scene that made total sense at the time but now seems… not quite right, but still strangely arousing…)

But anyway, it got me thinking… is that true? do the blog posts and materials we read make us into the marketers we are? or wish to be?
Why does a new Frank Kern reader start to use more “dangs” “gosh-darneds” and “y’alls” in their videos and audios? Is this a conscious choice to emulate him or are they subject to some ‘dag-namned super-secret ninja voodoo mind-melding technique’? Kern would quip it was the latter, many would say the former, while others would agree with a third option - it’s all involuntarily subconscious… here’s why, and…

…here’s what the koreans used on the American POWs:

• By choosing to read something we’ve given it a mental ‘page rank’, let’s say.
• We’re holding it above other things we could be reading, and as such giving the content more weight - regardless of it’s real value.
• We’re internally saying: “I’m reading this despite having very little time (don’t we all bemoan a lack of time), therefore it must be important and should be absorbed into my learning, experience and technique”.
• This internal process justifies the time spent reading the whatever it is that we’re reading.
• If we didn’t make that justification, we would have to face the truth - “I’m simply wasting time”
  (note: I’m not saying all the stuff we read is wasting time, but for many, the majority of it IS)

Now here comes the really interesting part, and I’ll use the Korean/American POWs story as explanation…

• The Koreans could not force the POWs round to their way of thinking. That’s what Frank Kern would call an explicit decision, and it would not stick.
• Instead the Koreans would sit their ‘guests’ down and ask them to write something vaguely Anti-American, such as ‘America’s government is not perfect’.
• These lads are forced to sit there until they do this, and after a while, some nice food, shower and even just toilet break seem a massive reward for what now seems like an increasingly tiny request - despite their patriotism. After signing and dating the statement, they are given their rewards, and sent on their way back into the pack.
• At some point all the ‘Anti-American’ statements are read out, and you can bet that the other POWs are less than impressed at their comrade’s ‘defection’.
• At this point the ‘defector’ will justify his statement by saying “But America’s government isn’t perfect, is it?” and at that precise moment, KABLAMMO! a part of his identity has just been changed.
• This is because our minds cannot cope with a difference between our internal identity and our actions, so will realign our subconscious identity with the action controlled by our conscious mind.
• Frank kern calls this an Implicit Decision. The ‘defector’ has made his own decision and will now defend it more strongly than if he had been told to believe it.

This is how the Koreans converted many POWs into communists; “but what does that have to do with me reading blog posts?” I hear you cry…

…Well if we’re denying ourselves of the truth that by reading all these free e-books and blog posts we’re actually procrastinating, then we risk holding the text before us in higher esteem and in order to justify our explanation, we assimilate the info on a deeper level…even the sales messages. Yes, we’re more succeptible to marketing and strong calls to action at this time as well. It’s like hypnosis!

…which is why I’m warning you.

Would you let a stranger influence your thinking? Would you let that stranger’s potentially SHIT marketing idea become a part of your way of thinking? Well, Reading blog posts when you feel that you should be doing something else can have this negative effect on you, so procrastinate at your peril!

In Closing:

• I’m not saying all free e-books and blog possts are bad
• until the author’s credibility is established within you, set aside some time for reading the blogs that you aren’t ready to be influenced by yet.
• Make sure this time is ‘free’ time when you shouldn’t be doing something else.
• Maintain an attitude of scepticism during  this blog-browsing time, not wholly believing and absorbing these ideas til you see some proof and/or become a fan of this person.

OK, now comment below, and then go listen to the interview with Alejandro Reyes and Michelle MacPhearson. I totally respect them both, and they are NOT on my ‘free time reading’ list - they’re on my ‘required reading’ list.

Thanks for reading, those of you who read my post entitled “Are Frank Kern, Eben Pagan & Co Just Drug Pushers?” will know i get these strange notions from time to time, so feel free to add me to your RSS reader.

Oh yeah, and if you’re reading this when you should be doing something else, you really should go get the Free Mini Site Profits Exposed videos by Michael Rasmussen, RIGHT NOW!

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Keep it PHAT!

Tony.