I kept glancing left and right. Each time I spotted another bicyclist, my fears were confirmed.
I went for a bike ride today.
It was hot. It was smoggy. I had to compete for roadspace with tons of cars and trucks.
But that’s not what really cooked my liver.
I kept glancing around. I soon realized that, out of all the other bikers I passed, I was the only one wearing a helmet.
Food delivery guys… little kids on oversized mountain bikes… pretty girls in big pantaloons on “classic” bikes…
Nobody had a helmet. I was the only one dorky enough to be concerned with my safety in this way.
This growing realization put me in a state of mild panic. Which is pretty strange. If anything, I should have felt safer and superior wearing my protective pudding padding.
But here’s the thing:
Loneliness, which is a horrible physiological reaction involving tightened blood vessels and gurgling in the gut, has two forms.
One form is the familiar one, when you’re literally alone, in your house, like during lockdown.
The other form is when you’re surrounded by lots of people — but in some significant way, they are all strangers. You’re in a crowd, but you don’t belong.
As you can probably guess, this human instinct can be used to “guide” your prospects in the direction you want.
“I really sucked at the piano and it seemed hopeless…”
That’s the level at which most headlines stop. It works.
But could we do better? John Caples could:
“They laughed when I sat down at the piano…”
In short, the vast majority of people, myself included, want to be consistent with the herd. If you’re lagging in some noticeable way behind the others, you’re liable to start feeling lonely, and to wind up in a state of mild panic.
So when you write your sales copy, remember this:
An easy way to agitate any market’s problem is simply to introduce an audience.
You know how sometimes you feel lonely? Getting an email from me at that point won’t fix that. But it might help, just a tiny bit. So if you want to get a bit of protection against loneliness, and maybe get some lessons about persuasion and marketing in the process, sign up for my daily email newsletter here.