Is it ever right to scare customers? Interesting question, isn’t it?

A friend of mine who was a more conventional marketer used to say to believe copywriters engaged in fear tactics and it was unethical, etc. etc.

But I want to ask you this question…

If your child was about to touch a hot plate in your kitchen, would you scare them from doing it?

Would you tell them it was going to hurt?

You bet you would.

What about if your teenager started to take drugs?

If you were a smart parent, you would pull out all of these statistics about what drugs cause… including stories from some of the people they look up to (rock stars and the like) who have had their lives ruined by drugs.

Fear tactics, right?

And most people would use them all the time with their kids to convince them not to harm themselves.

Well, if you care about your customers, you should use these same fear tactics in your copy.

Not only will it get you a better result, but you’ll force your customers to think about the consequences of not acting.

For instance, if you sell tyres…

You should be scaring the living s**t out of your customers as to what can happen if they don’t get their tyres fixed.

Why? Because it could just change their life.

If you are a financial planner, you should walk your prospects through the fact most people end up in retirement dead broke, living with their kids, unable to travel or enjoy the fruits of their
labour after all of those hard years.

Explain the fact there will be no pension and the economics of the ageing population.

If you sell to business owners, walk them through the fact that 95% of businesses fail… and the majority of small business owners earn less than many employees despite all of their hard work, stress and struggles, simply because they don’t have the right education and knowledge.

Then present your solution, whatever it is.

For instance, my solution for small business owners is to learn how to write killer ads, sales letters and web sites which make the phone ring by checking out http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/cashflow

Yours may be a complimentary financial planning session. Or a tyre check…

or whatever.

You get my point.

But don’t be afraid of scaring your customers, because the reality is, as humans we are more motivated by avoiding pain than making a gain…

… and when it comes to your customers wellbeing and safety, sometimes a bit of fear will help them more than all the positive talk in the world ever could.