This is a mini series on how to keep people interested in your product or service. In each one I will break it down to our primal instincts.  When pitched something everyones brain is filtering information and deciding should I kill it, eat it, or mate with it.  In this series I will demonstrate how I do this for articles, video marketing, face to face marketing, and landing pages.  When it’s done I will probably put the whole thing into a pdf and try to sell it to you or new readers in a $99 ebook for those who missed the series and don’t know it’s free on my blog.
I was just watching an info product video that I picked up a while back called “how to pitch anything“. Â Honestly I don’t even remember where I got it. It might have been free.
In the beginning the guy starts off talking about the human brain and even though we have evolved we still initially filter everything with these caveman  basic principals:
- Should I eat it.Â
- Should I kill it.
- Should I mate with it.
At first, in the video, the guy comes off a little weird…. and I thought to myself ‘this guy couldn’t sell anything because he comes off so socially awkward’. But he does make some valid points.
The first 2 (eat it or kill it) you’re battling through your pitch whether in person or on your website. Â The latter (should I mate with it) is really the close.
Let’s break it down a little more situationally:
Blogging or articles:
One trick I use to keep readers eating posts and newsletters is to frequently use bold on all the key points of the copy.
It shouldn’t come to you as a surprise but people have a very short attention span.
The wicked cool goal behind this is if someone was to look at the post or newsletter for just a couple seconds they should be able to understand what it is about. Â Then they will decide to kill it or eat it. Â It’s also important to use paragraphs… even when you shouldn’t to space out the bolds if they run too close.
How do you measure this? Â In your newsletter or blog or whatever put your link to your goal (consumption) somewhere in the top, middle, and end of your post. Â Use subids to track it.
Just test this blog post as an example…except without the affiliate links. Â But just refer to some of my other content to see it in action.
Stay tuned for more real life examples from my experience.
*Note – This post is part of a 3 part mini series. You can read part 1 here, part 2 here, and part 3 here.
So…what you’re saying is that isn’t ok to kill something, have sex with it and THEN eat it? Crap I’ve been doing it all wrong this whole time!
I never thought of marketing this way, definitely a new take.
I am totally on board with your idea of paragraphs and/or bullet points it makes things so much easier to read/digest. As interesting as something maybe I just don’t have time to read over each and every sentence all the time.
IS IT OK TO TYPE IN ALL CAPS ALL THE TIME IF I CAN’T FIGURE OUT HOW TO USE BOLD?!?!?!?!?!
You hustler! Always trying to sell free crap. Guess you gotta stay in business somehow.
Great start to the series and great point about people and short attention spans. Another good point, keep your writing simple as most people can’t even read at a high school level.
Yea, we all have the attention span of Dug the dog from ‘Up’. “Hi my name is Dug and I, SQUIRREL!â€
Thanks Jeremy, now I’m both hungry and horny.
So with marketing what is the difference between eating it or killing it? Or is there even a difference?
I dig this philosophy. Looking forward to hearing about how else you utilized this strategy.
I never thought the focus on bold is so high.
Hmm. Interesting take on marketing, Jeremy. Am I right in understanding that the “eat it” is the positive, and the “kill it” is the negative? So one should better create content that’s edible and easily digestible.
Nice principle.
First tip is just using bold. It’s simple, but effective. Waiting for your future post.
Going through this series and enjoying it. Great stuff!
I am going to start using this bold tip! Very helpful!!
Bold is simple and effective – also the use of pictures to emphasis the content is worth doing (pictures speak more than words!)