6 Weapons of Influence: My Secret To Writing Killer Campaigns for my Clients! (And How You Can Ethically Copy Them)
Written by Kyle Bergthold on June 24th, 2020
If you understand these 6 psychological triggers of influence you'll understand the human condition and why we do what we do. Use them to start your own religion or to flood your business with a never ending flow of customers... the choice is yours just promise me not to use them for evil!

Let's get started. 

If you've read my menu pricing article then you know how important and interesting human psychology is to me. Knowing "why" people do (or don't do) what they do and how they make choices is so important in business that I'd venture to say you're an irresponsible businessman (or businesswoman) if you haven't at least read an article on the subject.

Lucky for you, I'm here to make you a responsible business person and today I'm going to share with you 6 weapons of Influence that I use on a daily basis to write killer Ad Campaigns, get clients, and get customers for my clients.

For more information on these Weapons of Influence and how they can be used to Market your Restaurant, please read the National Best Seller Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Dr. Robert Cialdini. 

Now, let's learn to influence people and make money!

Contrast Principle
There's a principle in human behavior called the contrast principle, that affects the way we see the difference between two things that are presented one after the other. 

Put simply, if something slightly different is presented to us by comparison we see it as more different than it is.

If we lift a very light object, and then lift a heavier object, the heavier object will be perceived as even heavier than if we'd lifted it without first lifting the lighter object.

This isn't just true of weight. Studies done on the contrast principle at Arizona State and Montana State Universities suggest that we may be less satisfied with the attractiveness of our own lovers due to the numerous examples of unrealistically attractive models that bombard us from the media.

In one study college students were asked to rate a picture of an average-looking member of the opposite sex and they consistently rated them as less attractive if they'd first looked through the ads in a popular magazine.

In another college study, male dorm residents were asked to rate the photo of a potential blind date while watching Charlie's Angels TV series and they consistently rated the potential blind date as less attractive than those who rated the same picture while a different TV program was playing. 

The reason is apparent. The uncommon beauty of the female stars made the potential blind date seem less attractive.

For the men...
The woman above is very beautiful, however in comparison to Mila Kunis who is one of the most attractive females on the planet, the contrast principle becomes apparent.

For the Ladies...
The man above is very handsome however the contrast principle is roaring it's face at you when contrasted to Henry Cavill one of the most attractive men on the planet.

A perfect experiment to demonstrate the contrast principle takes place in psychophysics laboratories in colleges all over the world. Students take turns sitting in front of three pails of water, one cold, one hot and one room temperature. After placing one hand in the cold and one in the hot, the student is asked to place both in the lukewarm water at the same time. 

The look of bewilderment is obvious and tells the whole story. Both hands are in the same pale of water yet the hand that has been in the cold water feels as if it's now in hot water and visa versa. 

The point is that the same thing - in this case, room temperature water- can be made to seem very different depending on the events that precede it. 

This is a very useful strategy in business.

What do a Tailor, a Car sales man, and a Realtor all have in common?

If they're a good salesman (or saleswoman) they use the contrast principle to increase sales.

Someone may laugh at the idea of spending $100 on a sweater but if he's just bought a $550 suit the $100 sweater seems cheap by comparison.

Sell the suit first and the man will almost always pay more for the accessories (shirt, shoes, belt, etc.)

Someone may balk at the idea of paying $200 for a window tint or $150 for an upgraded satellite stereo system but after spending $20,500 on a new vehicle they seem downright reasonable by contrast.

A realtor, let's call him Jeff, kept a couple of undesirable "run-down" houses with an inflated price so that he could take couples to see them when they first started their home search.

These houses weren't intended to be sold to customers but just to be shown to them, so that the genuine properties would seem like much better deals by comparison.

Jeff liked to watch his prospects' eyes light up when he showed them the real house he wanted to sell them because he knew how good it looked after they'd "seen a couple of dumps."
It is much more profitable for salespeople to present the expensive item first, not only because not doing so loses the influence of the contrast principle but more importantly it causes it to work against them. 

Presenting an inexpensive item first and following it with more expensive items will cause the expensive item to seem even more costly as a result. 

This is very useful in your restaurant where you should train your servers (Your sales staff) to upsell at every moment. 

A $1 upgrade to a basket of wedges and .70 cents for a 2oz queso dip seems insignificant in comparison to the $9 meal. However, you've just increased their ticket price by more than 18%.

Do this on every order and you increase your total sales and therefore profit by 18%. 

The problem is that most servers don't view themselves as "sales people" and they don't even ask. They may make recommendations or suggestions but they take the order and put it in the system. 

Upsells can make all the difference in the world but you have to train your staff in the importance of ASKING.

A research study conducted at Eastern Illinois University found that people will eat 85 percent more when asked directly. It's harder to turn down that extra food when you're being asked if you want it by another person. 

By using this method, fast food restaurants know they can easily get you from purchasing a $2 item from the value menu to dishing out $8 for a meal.
McDonald's only makes .18 cents profit if you buy the $2 burger but when they upsell you the fries and a drink they profit $1.32 more than 8 times the profit!

I tell you about the contrast principle to explain a weapon of influence as a concept so you'll understand the human psychology underlying the principle.

You see, humans have evolved over millions of years and we have innate auto-functions that are ingrained in our behavior to help us survive and deal with the many challenges life throws at us.

It's advantageous if we see a bush sway slightly next to a bush sitting still for our brain to perceive the moving bush as moving way more than it actually is.

It's probably just the wind but our brain perceives a possible threat and then, click, and, whirr, our auto-function is to pause and assess the situation for danger. 

These come from deep in our subconscious and are controlled by the limbic system which is known as our lower mammalian brain and is responsible for memory and emotions.

You can view these as an algorithm on a computer that's programmed to start once a certain condition is met. Once this function has been triggered, then click, and, whirr, we automatically respond the way our brains have been programmed by millions of years of evolution.

Just electrical impulses firing across synapses in the brain.

If you learn how to trigger these programs, then click, and, whirr, the auto-response is initiated and you've influenced someone to take a specific action or make a specific decision. (i.e click your link, join your list, read your sales page or buy from you.)

Now, let's get into these 6 Weapons of Influence I use every day as a digital marketer, copy-writer and Facebook Ads Expert to crush it for my clients.

1. Reciprocity
A University professor tried an experiment a few years ago. He sent Christmas cards to a sample of perfect strangers. 

He'd never met them. 

Now, he expected some reaction, but the response he received was amazing - holiday cards addressed to him came pouring in from people all over the country who'd never met him nor heard of him. 

The majority of those who sent a return holiday card didn't even bother to figure out who the unknown professor was. They received his card in the mail and then, click, and, whirr, they automatically sent one back to him. 

This small experiment demonstrates the power of one of the most potent weapons of influence in human existence - the rule of reciprocation.

The rule says we should try to repay what another person has provided for us. If someone does a favor, we owe them a favor in return. If someone buys us a gift, we should buy them a gift in return. If we get invited to a birthday party, we should invite them to our birthday party.

The sense of indebtedness to return favors, gifts and invitations is as strong as it is pervasive in human culture. It's so widespread that sociologists such as Alvin Gouldner report that there's no human society alive today that doesn't subscribe to the rule. 

The archaeologist Richard Leaky ascribes the essence of what makes us human to the reciprocity system: "We are human because our ancestors learned to share their food and their skills in an honored network of obligation."

In fact, this rule of reciprocity is the reason marketing experts like me exist! 

Cultural anthropologists Lionel Tiger and Robin Fox view this "web of indebtedness" as a unique adaptive mechanism of human beings, allowing for the division of labor, the exchange of diverse forms of goods, the exchange of different services (making it possible for experts to develop), and the creation of a cluster of interdependencies that bind individuals together into highly efficient units.
To emphasize the power of this weapon of influence and how it can be exploited, let's look at an experiment performed by Professor Dennis Regan of Cornell University. A subject who participated in the study found himself and another subject rating the quality of some paintings as part of an "art appreciation" experiment. 

The other rater, let's call him Jerry, was only posing as a fellow subject and was actually Dr. Regan's assistant. In some cases, Jerry did a small and unsolicited favor for the true subject. He'd leave the room for a couple of minutes and then he'd come back with 2 bottles of coke, one for himself and one for the subject saying, "I asked him if I could get a Coke, and he said it was okay, so I bought one for you, too."

In the other cases, Jerry provided no such favor he just came back from the two-minute break empty-handed. Later on, after the paintings had been rated, Jerry asked the subject to do him a favor. He said he was selling raffle tickets for a new car and he'd win $50 if he sold the most tickets.

He then asked the subject to buy as many raffle tickets as possible "any would help and the more the better." The major finding showed the rule of reciprocity hard at work. Jerry was more successful in selling raffle tickets at .50 cents a piece to the subjects who'd received his earlier favor.

Feeling that they owed him something, these subjects purchased twice as many tickets as the subjects who'd been given no coke. This is a fairly simple demonstration of how the rule of reciprocation works but it shows several important characteristics to help us understand how the rule can be used profitably in our restaurant.
When I was marketing restaurants I spoke with hundreds of owners and operators. I've found a common theme that most of them are worried or even a little "paranoid" about people getting one over on them. 

We run a campaign giving away a Free Appetizer on us and my clients ask the same questions. "Can we limit how many we give away?" "What if they come back through our Food Funnel and get another one?" "Can you make it to where they have to purchase 2 adult entrees?" "What's to stop them from coming in and ordering a water and getting a Free App on us?"

And on and on and on. The common theme? "How do I stop them from taking advantage of my kindness?" Here's the number one rule of business. Are you ready? Because this is the single most important thing I've ever learned in business. 

Okay. I'll tell you.

Always do what's best for the customer, because what's best for the customer is what's best for you.

There I said it. 

Now let it sink in.

Why do I spend 5+ hours of my day reading through books and articles and abstracts like I'm in college again writing a final paper just to finish one blog post?

Because it provides value to my clients and potential clients.

How come every time a client has a question about how to do something I stop what I'm doing and immediately make a loom video recording my screen to solve their problem?

Because it's what's best for my clients.

How come when I make a chat bot for a client I make a complete diagram with arrows and pictures explaining to the staff what it looks like, how to use it and all SOP's involved with the entire funnel?
Because it's what's best for the customer. 

It makes my client's job easier. Rather than stress over how to explain the technology to their staff they can just post a self-explanatory picture on a bulletin board. A picture's worth a thousand words.

I own real estate.

How come when my 82 year old tenant broke the lid to her automatic trash can lid I bought her another one for $35 and replaced it for free.

Because what's best for my tenant is what's best for me. What's best for my client is whats best for me. 

What's best for your customer is what's best for you.

Provide value. Lot's of it and don't expect anything in return. Help enough people get what they want and you'll get what you want. Help enough other people make money and you'll make money.

This is the law of Reciprocity working in your favor. 

People email me all the time and say thank you for a response I gave in a Facebook group or because they read a blog post or because they watched a training video and learned something valuable to make their business better.

Some of these people fall through my funnel and end up being some of my best clients. They tell me, "I got so much value for free from your blog and videos that I decided to hire you."

So back to my client's concerns.

"Can we limit how many we give away?"

Sure, do you want to limit the number of new and repeat guests you bring through the front door of your restaurant?

"What if they come back through our Food Funnel and get another one?"

Then they come back in again and you make more profit. Best for the customer and best for you.

"Can you make it to where they have to purchase 2 adult entrees?"

Is saying I'll give you a Free App if you come in and spend $20 what's best for the customer? Or is it better for the customer to say here's a Free App on me no strings attached?

"What's to stop them from coming in and ordering a water and getting a Free App on us?"

Then you just helped a customer who was down on their luck. You'd be surprised how many people out there aren't actually trying to scam you and take advantage of you.

Most people are honest and if you provide value to them their feelings of indebtedness will return the favor 10 times over in the long run.

Randy Garutti the CEO of Shake Shack understands the power of the law of reciprocation. 

When describing the companies empowerment philosophy to a group of new employees he said, "Put us out of business because you are so damn generous with what you give the people who walk in this door. If there's a kid crying, who's going to walk over with a free cup of custard? I challenge you to put us out of business with how generous you are. Go do it. Give away free stuff."

Steve Robinson, former Chief Marketing Officer of Chick-Fil-A says in his book Covert Cows every business has 3 constituents.

Customers
Operators (operations)
Ownership (shareholders)

"I believe this priority order is crucial.

If you ever move Operators or ownership ahead of customers, you'll potentially make less than optimal, or even bad, decisions. As long as you keep customers first, the other two will benefit naturally. Operators will win. Ownership will win."

And we know how Chick-Fil-A started their marketing campaign in the malls. 

That's right, giving away free samples. 

S. Truett Cathy himself would stop mall goers with a smile on his face and a platter full of fried chicken with toothpicks in them.

In fact, Chick-Fil-A used to give away a year of free food to the first 100 customers at every new store opening. 

"What? That's impossible! How can they give away so much free food? That must have cost them a fortune!"

I'll tell you the story and you decide. 

Tiffany Holland was one of Chick-Fil-A's marketing associates and she had the bright idea to give away free Chick-fil-A for a year - 52 Be Our Guest cards for combo meals - to the first one hundred customers.

Dan Truett was skeptical but Tiffany explained she'd already gotten some good news coverage through local radio, TV and newspapers including a local radio station partner. Dan liked that.

So there they are on a Wednesday evening, Tiffany and S. Kathy Truett's son Dan standing outside the Chick-Fil-A in Phoenix Arizona that was set to open the next morning when a car pulled up.

The man asked Dan where the line was. Dan explained that there wasn't a line, the restaurant wasn't opened yet and he should come back Thursday morning.

The man explained that he'd heard about the first one hundred customers promotion, and he didn't want to miss it. He'd brought a tent and planned to stay all night.

Dan was excited but concerned about a man sleeping in the parking lot all night. Just then a woman pulled up and got out of her car with a lawn chair and got behind the man in what was now a line.

Nobody had even considered this possibility. 

By night fall there were a dozen more. Dan called the store operator and asked him to stay with the restaurant through the night to make sure everyone was safe and to give the campers access to the bathrooms. 

At sunrise on Thursday morning, a news helicopter was circling overhead and another news anchor was reporting on live television showing the tents, lawn chairs, campers and more than 100 customers waiting in line for the store to open. 
Another local TV reporter arrived and interviewed some of the campers who'd spent the night. "Why would you stay out here all night long?" "How did you find out about Chick-Fil-A? It's new to Phoenix."

The answers were powerful, and did more for their public relations than anyone could have imagined.

After they counted up the coverage they realized they'd received more than six figures' worth of news coverage and publicity on TV, radio, and newspapers, not to mention social media from the campers themselves.

It was such a success that Chick-Fil-A started a "First 100" Campaign which became a brand signature where they gave away a year of free Chick-Fil-A to the first 100 at every new store opening.

Now, let's do the math. If the food cost to Chick-Fil-A is $2 for a Chicken Sandwich, Waffle Fries and a Drink. And they give away 52 of them. To the first 100 people. That's 5,200 free meals. 

Total cost: $10,400

R.O.I: More than 6 figures. 

Still think Tiffany had a bad idea?

I run Giveaway Campaigns for clients and it never seizes to amaze me how scared and reluctant my clients are to give away free food, much less a years worth of it. They just can't see how it could possibly be a smart business move.

I always have to share this story, and explain to them the social media engagement it gets, the free PR boost and the fact that the person who wins free food for a year usually doesn't eat alone and will bring people in with them.

And that's just to convince them to give ONE person a chance to win free food for a year. Free Steak for a year. 6oz sirloin, a side and a salad is $3.20 in food cost. Times 1 person times 52 weeks.

Total cost: $166.40

Would you pay $166.40 to be able to advertise a promotional give away to win FREE STEAK FOR A YEAR?

If you read my blog or watch my videos you will.

So I think I'm beating a dead horse now. Give away food. Give away a year of Free food. Give away deserts. Give away Free Apps. Give away Free samples. And don't expect anything in return for it.

The law of reciprocation will bring it back around 10 times over!

2. Commitment and Consistency
A study done by a couple of Canadian Psychologists proved something very fascinating about bettors at the horse races. After just placing a bet, people are much more confident of their horse's chances of winning than they are immediately prior to laying down that bet.

Of course we know that nothing about the horses chances have changed it's the same horse, same jockey, same track however, the person's mental attitude and beliefs change and in the minds of those bettors, their chosen horse's odds improve significantly once that ticket is purchased. 

This may seem puzzling at first but human psychology explains it and reveals another powerful weapon of social influence. Just like the other weapons of influence, this one lies deep inside of us silently directing our actions and decisions.

Simply put, it's our obsessive desire to to be, appear and remain consistent with what we've already done. Once we've made a choice or decision, we'll encounter personal and interpersonal pressures to behave consistently with that commitment.

These pressures make us respond in ways that justify our previous decision. Using the bettors from the racetrack as an example, 30 seconds prior to placing their bet they'd been unsure if it was a smart wager; 30 seconds after the bet had been placed and they were optimistic and self-assured. 

Once the final decision was made - in this case, buying a ticket - a stand had been taken and the need for consistency pressured these people to to bring their feelings and beliefs into alignment with what they'd already done.

They simply convinced themselves they'd made the right choice, what's done is done and they felt better about it.
Psychologists have long understood the power of the consistency principle to direct human action.
 
Prominent theorists such as Leon Festinger, Fritz Hieder, and Theodore Newcomb have viewed the desire for consistency as a central motivator of our behavior. But is this tendency to remain consistent strong enough to compel us to do something we normally wouldn't do under ordinary circumstances?

There's no question about it.

The drive to be (and look) consistent constitutes a highly potent weapon of social influence, which is so powerful that it can cause us to act in ways that are even contrary to our best interests.

Take an experiment done by psychologist Thomas Moriarty who staged thefts on a New York City beach to test his hypothesis of whether or not ordinary people would risk personal harm to stop the robber.

In the study, an accomplice would place a blanket with a radio and some other personal items about 5 feet from a person chosen at random. The accomplice would then stand up and leave the blanket to stroll down the beach.

A couple minutes later, another accomplice would run up, look both directions, grab the radio and try to make off with it. As you suspected, the majority of people were reluctant to help and only 4 out of 20 people put themselves in harms way to stop the fake thief.

But when this same process was tested again with one slight difference, the results of the experiment changed drastically.

In these tests, the accomplice would simply look at the random person and ask them if they minded "watching my things while I take a walk." The unknowing participants agreed and this time around when the second accomplice came by to swipe the radio these random people turned into Batman (or Catwoman) and became crime stopping vigilantes.

19 out of 20 put themselves in harms way running after and stopping the thief and demanding an explanation, sometimes even restraining the thief physically or snatching the radio back.
Once we realize how powerful consistency is in directing human action, an important practical question arises: How can we trigger it? What can we do to make the click that activates the whirr of the powerful consistency tape?

Social psychologists think the answer is commitment. If you can get someone to make a commitment, that is, to take a stand or go on record then you've set the stage for their automatic and auto-function to remain consistent with that commitment.

We can use this powerful weapon of influence in our business in many ways. 

For example, when I was a bartender I won almost every competition we'd have. We used to play bingo where you had to sell 5 items in a row and you'd win a $10 gift card or no cut work or some other prize.

I used to be a master of getting guests to order whatever I wanted. How did I do it? By gaining a micro commitment first. For example, if the item I needed to sell was a Nacho Burger I'd start off by asking guests if they liked Spicy stuff. If they agreed, I'd earned a micro commitment. 

I'd go in the back and mix a little pico de gallo in some queso and bring it out with a single chip and let them try it. If they liked that, I'd explain that we have a burger that has pico de gallo, queso dip, tortilla chips and fresh jalapeño on it that's my favorite burger and if they like spicy stuff they'd probably love that burger.

9 times out of 10 this strategy worked, and the guest in order to remain consistent with their previous statement of liking spicy stuff would take me up on my suggestion.

For the salesperson, the strategy is to obtain a large purchase by first getting a small one. Any small sale will do because the purpose of the first sale is not to profit but to gain a commitment with the expectation that larger purchases will follow. 

I used to do this with guests who used the "I just want a beer I'm not hungry," line. I'd first get them a beer and wait a few minutes. Then, I'd let them know of a cheap special, for example, "We have a special tonight on Street Tacos, it's 3 tacos for just $4 bucks it's perfect if you're not that hungry but want something small to snack on that's a good deal." 

Once I got this commitment from the guest I'd let them know that the special didn't actually start until after 10pm when the late night happy hour menu appeared in the POS. "The price doesn't actually drop in the computer until after 10pm but I can go have the cooks drop it for you and then I'll add it to your bill after the price drops to save you some money."

This technique worked like a charm for 2 reasons.

First, I used their previous commitment of "not being hungry" against them and offered an option that was "perfect if you're not hungry, and want something to snack on that's delicious and a good deal."

Then, I combined it with the law of reciprocity in that I offered to do the guest "a favor" and use my pull with the kitchen to get them to drop the order without a ticket and not ring it in until after 10pm when the price drops in the computer to "save them some money."

This was super powerful, the Weapon of Influence double whammy and it helped to increase my tip when it came time to pay. 

These techniques helped me be the highest paid bartender at every restaurant I worked at for over 5 years. And I was always #1 or #2 in upsells. Such is the life of a service professional obsessed with human psychology. 

"But Kyle, you're telling us how you used these weapons when you were bartending, the title of the article is how to use them in a Killer Campaign to crush it and bring in customers."

Yes, like the old Visine commercials, "There's a Marketing Campaign for that."
While the Free App campaign works really well to invoke the law of reciprocity, the Day Campaign does a great job at invoking the law of Commitment and Consistency.

I used to run a Day Campaign for clients that consists of having a special on each day of the week.

For example, Tuesday is "Two's"day 2 for 1 on certain Apps. Wednesday is "Wins"day and you can spin or flip for food. Thursday is "Thirst"day and all fountain drinks are free with a meal, etc. 

What having a day campaign like this allows you to do is create consistency and gain a commitment from your guests. 

I'm writing a book called "Because It's What I Did Yesterday," that talks about habit formation and the power of routines and rituals in your success. (shameless plug)

I mention this because the Day Campaigns I run for clients are extremely powerful in creating regulars. 

For example, when we did Wednesday "Wings"day for one of my clients he noted that many of the new faces who came in for the special continued to come in week after week to get half priced wings every Wednesday until it became a habit, part of their weekly ritual and he knew them by name.

This is not by accident, I designed the Day Campaign for that reason, to offer specials to bring guests in week after week until it's become so consistent that they don't even think about it. The question, "Where should I eat and what should I get" doesn't even come up on Wednesday, it's just click, and, whirr let's go get some delicious wings like last week.

Then, when the servers say, "I enjoyed talking to you tonight Chris, see you next Wednesday!" it's very powerful in influencing Chris, your new regular to remain consistent with self image (i.e someone who eats half priced wings at your restaurant on Wednesday) and consistent with his past commitment (i.e to "see you next Wednesday.")

Where do you think I got the idea? I used to work at Buffalo Wild Wings where they do BOGO traditional wings every Tuesday and half priced boneless wings every Thursday. 

I used to drive 45 minutes to Bonefish Grill every Wednesday for their half priced "Bang Bang Shrimp".

The important thing to remember here is that the purpose of selling wings at cost was not to profit but rather to gain a micro commitment. The profit comes later with upsells and future purchases.

Don't underestimate the power of Commitment and Consistency in marketing your business, if you use these weapons of Influence correctly you can build killer Ad Campaigns that crush it just like me.

3. Social Proof
You ever watch Friends? Or Seinfield? How I Met Your Mother? Pretty much any Sitcom ever...

What do they all have in common? A laugh track. Canned Laughter.

In a survey with a small sample size psychologist Robert Cialdini asked what people thought of laugh tracks. Almost unanimous was the hatred of canned laughter.

They called it stupid, phony and obvious. So, if the audience finds the laugh tracks distasteful, stupid and obvious, why do TV executives still use them? What could it be about canned laugh tracks that TV execs find so attractive?

Because they know what the research says. Experiments show that the use of canned laughter causes an audience to laugh longer, and more often when humorous materials is presented and that they'll rate the material as funnier. 

The use of laugh tracks in comic programming will increase the humorous and appreciative responses of an audience. These TV executives know exactly what they're doing.

But then the question becomes, why does it work? If it's so blatantly obvious and we know that they're doing it. There's no fooling canned laugh tracks with the real thing and yet, it works on us. 

To explain this strange phenomenon we need only look at another very powerful weapon of influence in the business world: the principle of Social Proof.

It states that one way humans determine what is correct is to find out what other people think is correct. This is even more so when we evaluate what constitutes correct behavior. We view a behavior as more correct in a given situation to the degree that we see others performing it.

Whether what to do with trash in your hand, how fast to drive on the highway, how to eat chicken wings at a dinner party, the actions of those around you will heavily influence your decisions and behaviors.

This explains the TV executives use of canned laugh tracks then. We've become so used to taking the humorous reactions of others around us as evidence of what deserves laughter that we, too, can be made to respond to the sound and not to the substance of the real thing. 

The Ha-ha sound taken from another source and added to the audio track exploits our preference for shortcuts, our tendency to react automatically with partial evidence. They know that the laugh track will start our auto-function: click, and, whirr. We laugh.

Our tendency to assume that an action is more correct if other are doing it too is exploited in a variety of settings. 

My old bartending accomplice, Holly, used to keep a clear tip jar that she'd start every shift by placing $20 or $30 of her own money inside of. This is known as "salting" the tip jar but it simulates tips left by prior customers and gives the impression that tipping is the proper behavior. "If others are tipping, I should do it too." Click, and, whirr.
This weapon of influence is powerful. It's the reason every sect, cult and religion has been formed and it can be used to do amazing things in the human brain like cure phobias or even social anxiety. 

For instance in an early study of nursery aged children, psychologist Albert Bandura selected a group who were terrified of dogs. 

He had the group watch a little boy playing with a dog having a great time for 20 minutes a day. After 4 days, 2 out of 3 were willing to climb into a play pen with a dog and even stayed content, petting, scratching and playing with the dog while everyone else left the room.

He then took this a step further, and recorded a number of different children interacting with and having a good time with the dog. He noticed it wasn't necessary to provide a live demonstration, but that the film clip had the same effect.

The powerful influence of filmed examples in changing the behavior of children can be used as therapy for various problems. 

Psychologist Robert O'Connor made a film containing eleven different scenes depicting a solitary child playing by himself, watching some ongoing social activity and then actively joining in and being accepted to everyone's enjoyment.

He showed this 23 minute clip to preschool students with social anxiety who were severely withdrawn and suffered from social isolation. The isolates immediately began to interact with their peers. 

This 23 minutes movie, viewed just once was enough to reverse a potentially life long pattern and battle with social anxiety and isolation.

Do not underestimate this weapon of influence it is responsible for many cultural phenomenon including the foods we eat and who we find attractive. In both cases we look to those around us for how we should behave. 

This tendency is so strong that it even causes people to conform in situations where they know they should behave differently. A famous example of this is the Elevator Experiment where a group of experimenters get in an elevator and wait for an unsuspecting subject to enter. 

They all then turn to face the back of the elevator. The results were startling. In almost every case the subject would slowly turn to face the back of the elevator even though they knew this wasn't normal behavior simply because everyone else was doing it.
In fact, so overwhelming is the desire to fit in that even the most basic social norms can be tossed out the window if we see everyone else going against them. This is called groupthink and it's a direct result of the powerful weapon of influence known as Social proof. 

Groupthink is the desire for uniformity within a group of people that results in individuals conforming to decisions they would not normally make. These people often set aside their own personal beliefs to adopt the opinion of the rest of the group. This is done to minimize conflict and avoid being ostracised for being different.

People are highly motivated to do what other people are doing.
Psychologist Leonard Bickman is known for a series of simple street experiments he ran in the sixties among other things.

In 1968, he ran an experiment on a busy street corner in New York City where he asked a single person to stand still and look at a spot in the sky for 60 seconds. Bickman recorded how many people stopped and followed the onlookers gaze.

He then repeated the experiment, this time with 5 people on the street corner, and it quadrupled the number of people who stopped and looked up. With 15 people standing still and staring at a single spot in the sky, 45% more pedestrians stopped to join them.

Not just glanced up and continued walking. Stopped and joined them to stare at the same spot in the sky. Where nothing was happening.

"What is everyone staring at," they wondered? 
This is the power of social proof. We tend to do the same things we observe other people doing.

So how can we use Social Proof in our business to make our restaurant more profitable? In the same way that Amazon uses it. There's a reason Amazon uses star ratings from other people who bought the product to share how satisfied they were with their purchase. It builds social proof.

This is also the reason they show you the bar below your purchase that says, "People who bought this product also bought..." It builds strong social proof and is a strong influencer on your behavior and decision to spend more money.

"Well, if other people bought this too and it clearly compliments what I just bought then I should get it too." Click, and, whirr. Social proof.
Good job Amazon, you discovered a potential crime, I wonder what the Balaclava was for?

Back to Restaurant Marketing. How can Social proof be used to market your restaurant and build killer Ad Campaigns that crush it? Simple. Get Likes and get Reviews. 

I run a Like Campaign for clients that's designed to do nothing but engage users on Facebook and get them to comment on and like your page. It brings them into your restaurant and then follows up with them to encourage them to leave a review of their experience.

Another Campaign I run is called a Foodie Campaign. This is similar. We run a contest having diners submit user images of their food and then have our fan page vote on the best image. This serves 2 very strong functions.

1. It elevates plate presentation. When you explain to your cooks that you're having a contest for best food image and that pictures of their plates will be posted online by the hundreds, they take pride in their work and make sure every plate that's sent out is "menu quality."

2. Your guests are sharing your food, and more importantly their experience in your restaurant with the world! It shows everyone in your city that people are eating in your restaurant and enjoying it enough to check in and post a picture! 

This entire Food Funnel is designed to do one thing and one thing only: Build Social Proof. Use this weapon of Influence in your Restaurant and you'll be on your way to building killer Ad campaigns like me and crushing your competition in your city.

4. Liking
The main work of a trial attorney is to make a jury like his client. - Clarence Darrow

This is a rather obvious weapon of Influence. Of course we're more likely to agree and say yes to the request of someone we know and like. Surprise!

What isn't well understood is how this weapon of influence can be wielded against us in hundreds of ways by total strangers to get us to comply with their requests.

The best example of this is how Tupperware used to sell their products. They'd have a local house wife host a "Tupperware Party" where she would invite all of her friends to her house and serve them drinks and snacks while the Tupperware Salesperson made their presentation. 

Tupperware were masters in using these weapons of influence to persuade people to buy their products.

Reciprocity: To begin, games are played and prizes are won. Anyone who doesn't win a gift gets to reach into a grab bag so that everyone has won a "prize" (bribe) before the buying begins.

Commitment: Each participant is asked to share their experience with Tupperware products and speak aloud and publicly describe the benefits of the Tupperware products she already owns. 

Social Proof: Once the buying starts, every purchase adds to the idea that other similar people want the product, therefore it must be good so I should buy it too.

But the real power lies in the request from a friend. The housewife off to the side serving the snacks and the refreshments, smiling and chatting with her friends is the real secret weapon of influence here. 

She's the party hostess and she asked her friends to come over to her house for a party and "demonstration" that all of them know results in her making a profit from each item sold.

Tupperware ingeniously used the principle of Liking to its benefit and by providing the hostess with a percentage of the take, they arrange for customers to buy from and for a friend rather than an unknown stranger or salesperson.

Because of this, the sales setting is wrapped in the attraction, warmth, security and obligation of friendship.
With such a proven and profitable business model it's no wonder that Tupperware abandoned their retail sales outlets and pushed the "Tupperware Party" model until the point where a Tupperware party was started somewhere every 2.7 seconds.

Professional Salespeople recognize the pressure to say yes to someone we know and like and astute practitioners of these weapons of influence have even noticed that the friend doesn't even have to be present for it to be effective.

Often just the mention of a friends name is enough to get your foot in the door.

In the sales game this is known as "endless chain prospecting," where you ask your satisfied customers for referrals, names and references of people who may also be interested in your product or service.

The people on that list can then be approached with the name of the referral friend and can be asked for a list of their friends and so on and so forth in an endless chain of list building.

I often use this technique to find new clients I can help. When is the best time to ask for a referral? Right after someone says "thank you." The conversation goes something like this.

Happy Client: "Well, what you're doing is definitely working, last night we had so many of those coupon codes come in that my fry guy got backed up. Our sales are up 20% over last month and that's just what we can track, some people aren't even redeeming them. I can't tell you how happy I am with the results, this is exactly what we've been looking for and I can't thank you enough for everything. I can't wait for this month when we launch the new campaign."

Me: "No problem, I'm glad your happy with the results! My only goal is to make you happy and make you money. Hey, do you think you could do me a small favor?"

Happy Client: "Sure. What is it?"

Me: "Could you record a short 2 minute video for me just using your cell phone that says your name, your restaurant, what it's like to work with me and how your business has changed since working with me, and then just finish it with what you'd say to someone who was on the fence about hiring me?

Now this is the genius of the request. I'm invoking the law of reciprocity. My client is happy and thanking me for my service and feels obligated to comply with my request.

If he says yes, then I get what I really want which is a great testimonial and review to boost my social proof. If he says no, then I can back track and make a lesser secondary request using the contrast principle.

For example, if he says: "You know, I'm really shy I don't like speaking on camera but I can write you a review."

I'll say, "Sure that would be great and do you know 2 or 3 people who might also benefit from my services?"

After he just declined my request to record a 2 minute video he feels much more obliged to say yes to this request which seems much smaller by comparison. (Contrast Principle).

Then, I can call these new prospects armed with the name of a friend and happy client.

"Hey John, Jeff the owner of Fantastic Voyage gave me your number and said you might benefit from my services, if you have just 10 minutes I'd like to get together and show you a proven way to grow sales 20 - 40% over the next 6 months and build a list of over 3,000 people who live near your restaurant."

Being able to call and say that Mr. So-and-so, a friend of his, felt he would benefit having a conversation with me and giving me a few minutes of his time is virtually as good as a sale 50% made before I enter.

Meet Joe.
Joe Girard was a man from Detroit who specialized in using this powerful weapon of Influence - Liking - to sell Chevys. He became very rich in the process making over $200,000 a year in the sixties.

He sold 13,001 cars in 15 years from 1963 to 1978 and was awarded by the Guinness Book of World Records the title of "greatest car salesman alive." To put that into perspective, if he worked every day of those 15 years, that's 365 days a year no days off, he'd have averaged 2.3 cars sold per day.

He didn't work every day he took weekends and vacations off and so his actual average was more than 5 cars and trucks sold every day he worked.

So how did he do it?

He offered people just 2 things: a fair price, and someone they liked to buy from.

In Joe Girard's own words his formula was incredibly simple. "Finding the salesman they like, plus the price; put them both together, and you get a deal." "And that's it," he added in an interview.

He makes it sound simple. But how do you get people to like you? 

I've studied Joe and he was a pioneer of database nurturing. This is where you build a list of customers and continue to remarket to them later - a very valuable strategy to copy if you're in the Restaurant business. (Or any business for that matter.)

At first glance it seems costly, and like it would never work but we are talking about the greatest car salesman who every lived.

Every month he sent every one of his more than 13,000 former customers a holiday greeting card containing a personal message. The holiday message (i.e Merry Christmas, Happy Thanksgiving, Happy New Year, etc.) would change but the message printed on the front of the card never changed.

It called them by name and read, "I like you." 

As Joe explained himself, "There's nothin' else on the card. Nothin' but my name. I'm just telling 'em that I like 'em."

"I like you." It came in the mail every year, twelve times a year like clockwork. The same message, sent out to 13,000 other people too. An impersonal statement blanket broadcast to 13,000 people so obviously designed to sell cars couldn't possibly work right?

Joe Girard seemed to think so. And did I mention that Joe Girard was the greatest car salesman who ever lived? 

How do you think I've gotten so good at what I do. Sales, Marketing, Copy-writing, Advertising, Facebook Ads, Chatbot design, Web design, Business Strategy, Business Management, etc. 

By studying the very best. I look at what the most successful in the field do and I copy it.

Joe understood an important fact about human nature that uses the law of liking: We are all, phenomenal suckers for flattery. 

Even though there are limits to our gullibility, especially when we're sure the flatterer wants something and is manipulating us, we tend to, as a rule, believe praise and to like those who provide it more even when it's clearly false.  

How can we use this in our Restaurant Campaigns to crush it and grow sales? This is seriously one of my secret weapons.

In the Food Funnels I build, I use a Chatbot as part of a Customer Relations Manager that saves every interaction your guests have ever had with it. It knows what they order, how often they dine, how much they spend, and how happy they are with their experience. 

It also knows everything about them. From their contact information like Facebook Profile and ID, their phone number, email, address, etc. to more personal data like their religion and politics. (Only if they share it with Facebook.)

We call these guest avatars.
I run a Retargeting Campaign to bring your guests back in and get them to come in more frequently. 

For example, using Geolocation on your guests phone (which they share with Google and Facebook), I sort them by the last time their phone was at your restaurant. 

We know that Kim above, comes in once a month and likes Queso Dip.
When more than a month goes by she'll get a broadcast message that looks like this. 
This is super powerful and works like magic!

The guest receives a personal message with their favorite App and where do you think they're going to go the next time they eat out?

Our goal isn't just to bring in new customers. Our goal is to take Kim from someone we see once a month to someone we see once a week.

This is one of my best kept secrets and one of the best of the many campaigns and strategies I use to grow sales for my clients and their restaurants.

"But Kyle... If it's a secret why are you sharing it with us for free?" 

Because it's what's best for my clients and potential clients!

I'm using the rule of reciprocity. If I provide enough free value and help enough people get what they want then value will come back around to me and I'll get what I want.

Do I know some people will take these ideas and incorporate them into their business without ever talking to me? Of course.

That's great! If I help just one person get one more regular in their restaurant from sharing just one of these Ad Campaign strategies then I've succeeded in creating value for someone out there. 

Whether or not we ever talk or meet, thank you and you're welcome!

Have you ever heard of The Richards Group? They're the advertising agency behind Chick-Fil-A's famous Cow Campaign and their "REMARK"able campaign. 

To earn the Chick-Fil-A account, TRG wrote:

We believe that all our advertising should be endearing. Rewarding. Relevant.
Our aim, when done, is to have the consumer respond:
"I like what you said."
"I like the way you said it." "I like you."
"Let's do business."

Copy the best and most successful and soon you will join them.

Use the rule of liking in your Ad Campaigns and you'll be crushing your competitors into extinction and building top notch campaigns that out-perform the best of the best Global Brands with their $100 million dollar marketing budgets!

5. Authority
Follow an Expert - Virgil

Hopefully that's why you're reading this article. You're looking for some expert advice to follow from an authority on Restaurant Marketing. 

I've read hundreds of books, looked through thousands of blogs and articles, and studied countless scientific experiments and abstracts to learn how to get my Restaurant clients more customers, all... 

So you don't have to. Speaking of scientific experiments...

Ever heard of the Milgram experiments?

Milgram was a psychology professor at Yale who set up an experiment where he told students that he was doing a study on the effect of punishment on learning and memory.

He would strap a subject to an electric shock machine and ask memory questions. Every time the victim got an answer wrong, he would ask participants in the teacher role to deliver an ever increasing voltage of shock for every wrong answer.

Eventually, participants in the teacher role were delivering dangerous levels of electric shocks to a kicking, screeching, and pleading other person.

However, this person was not actually being shocked. The person was an accomplice, an actor and only pretending to writhe in pain. The actual study was to see when it's someones job, how much suffering will an ordinary person be willing to inflict on an entirely innocent other person?

The answer may make you lose a little faith in humanity.

The typical teacher was willing to deliver as much pain as was available to give. Rather than give in to the screaming and pleading person they were torturing, about two thirds of the subjects in Milgram's experiment pulled every one of the thirty shock switches in front of them and even engaged the last switch (450 volts) until the researcher ended the experiment.

Not one of the forty subjects in this study quit his job as Teacher when the victim first began to demand his release; nor later, when he begged for it; nor even later, when his reaction to each shock had become, in Milgram's words, "definitely an agonized scream."

Not until the 300-volt shock had been sent and the victim had "shouted in desperation that he would no longer provide answers to the memory test" did anyone stop - and even then, it was a very small minority who did.
These results surprised everyone even Milgram himself who, before the study, had asked colleagues, graduate students and psychology majors at Yale University to read a copy of the experimental procedures and to estimate how many subjects would continue all the way to the end and deliver the final shock of 450-volts.

The final prediction? 1 - 2 percent.

A separate group of 39 psychiatrists predicted that only one person in a thousand would be willing to continue till the end.

No one was prepared for the behavior pattern that the experiment actually produced.

Was it because the subjects were all male and had aggressive tendencies? Or that the subjects didn't understand the potential harm that such high shock voltages could cause? Or that they were just a freak group of moral psychopaths who enjoyed the chance to inflict pain and misery?

Milgram was sure he knew the answer. It had to do, he said, with the deep-seated sense of duty to authority within us all. The real culprit, according to Milgram, was his subject's inability to defy the wishes of the boss of the study - the lab-coated researcher who urged and, if need be, directed the subjects to perform their duties, despite the emotional and physical pain and trauma they were causing.

The evidence for his explanation is very strong. It's clear that without the researcher in the lab coat directing subjects to continue, the subjects would have ended the experiment much quicker. 

They agonized over their victims pain. They begged the researcher to let them stop. When he refused, they continued, but in the process they trembled, they sweated profusely, they shook and stammered protests, they plead for the victim's freedom. Their nails dug into their own skin and they bit their lip until it bled. They held their hands in their head and some fell into fits of nervous laughter. 

Milgram provided more evidence for his obedience to authority interpretation of his subjects' behavior. 

In a later study, he switched the roles and had the researcher in the lab coat tell the teacher to stop delivering shocks to the victim while the victim insisted bravely he was fine and demanded they continue.

The results were clear as day. Not one single person gave an additional shock when it was the subject who demanded it and the researcher who said to stop.

But the experiment that proves it beyond all reasonable doubt was Milgram's third attempt where he presented the teacher with 2 researchers who issued contradictory orders; one told the teacher to stop the experiment when the victim cried out while the other demanded the experiment continue.

These conflicting instructions caused the subject to confusedly look between both, eyes darting, demanding they pick one, "Wait, you say stop, you say go, which is it!?!?" 

When the researchers refused to pick a side the subject tried desperately to determine which one of them was the bigger boss - in other words, which one had more authority.

Milgram concluded from the results of his study that a single phenomenon emerged repeatedly; "It is the extreme willingness of adults to go to almost any lengths on the command of an authority that constitutes the chief finding of the study."

There are very real and scary implications of the findings of this study mainly, the ability of another powerful authority - the government - to extract frightening levels of obedience from ordinary citizens.

Remember Leonard Bickman from the street experiments in New York City?

He did another experiment where he had an accomplice ask random pedestrians to do something odd, "Pick up that paper bag on the ground," or "Stand on the other side of the bus stop." 

Half the time the requester wore normal clothes, the other half he wore a security guard uniform.

In every case more people obeyed the requester when he was in the guard costume.

He then took it a step further, and had the requester demand money and then leave the scene after he gave the request. "You see that guy over there by the meter? He's over parked but doesn't have any change. Give him a dime!"

He then turned the corner and left so that by the time the random pedestrian reached the meter he was long gone. The power of the uniform remained, however, nearly all the pedestrians (92%) complied when he wore the guard uniform but fewer than half (42%) when he was in normal clothes.
Doctors, Lawyers, Judges, Teachers. All gain authority from their title. White lab coats, badge and gun, suit and tie, all gain authority from their uniform. Expensive Cars and Jewelry, gain authority from their perceived status.

Now you might be wondering, "That's all great Kyle, I understand authority is a weapon of influence but how the heck can I use it to market my restaurant?"

In Restaurant Owners Uncorcked by Wil Brawley, he interviews a number of successful restaurant owners and tries to find the secret of their success. On pg. 254 he interviews Chris Sommers, the owner of Pi Pizzeria. 

Now Chris was a master of using the weapons of influence, as he used to work at Salesforce.com before he quit to open Pi Pizzeria. I quote from the book:

"Pi Pizzeria has been wildly successful in a short amount of time. Chris and his partner, Frank Uible, opened their first location on "Pi Day" March 14 (3.14) 2008, and by that October then-Senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama enjoyed some of their pizza after a St. Louis campaign rally. He loved it, and Pi, which was already very popular, became a sensation. They now have four locations and a mobile pizza truck, and they are opening in Washington, D.C. in 2011. Chris left Salesforce.com to open Pi, after buying a recipe for an insanely good deep dish pizza from a small pizzeria that he frequented in San Francisco. He is extremely smart, has great business instincts and has learned quite a bit in the last few years..."

I quote Chris from page 256, "Opening a pizza place in 2008 was much more destined for success than opening something fine dining. So timing was fortunate, and then in early 2009 getting an endorsement from a guy living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue hasn't hurt. I know you can't buy that kind of publicity, so that put us on a much steeper trajectory and allowed us to expand. And thankfully, at two years and change in, we're at four stores and growing."

The president loved the Pizza so much that he got them top secret clearance and flew them to the white house to cook for his family and staff. The National News and AP covered the story. People flew in from all over the world to try this pizza.

I quote once more from page 259, "We have been very fortunate. There are a lot of people who work very hard in this business and who are very talented that don't get a break like that. We were doing very well and looking to expand to our second store before this happened, but nobody can deny how that launched us onto the national stage and gave us a lot of national press. Whether people agree with his politics or not, they are obsessed with what the first family does. Since the Obama's are considered to have good taste and take their food very seriously, it's that much better for us."

Now look, I know what you're thinking... "Kyle, you're so good at Restaurant Marketing that you can get me an endorsement from the President complete with National News coverage?"

I wish I had that kind of pull... No, I don't run Presidential Endorsement Campaigns, I'm good but I'm not that good! I tell you this story to show you how one person in authority can completely explode a restaurants fame and business. 

If you can get a local authority like the news, a pastor, the mayor, a local celebrity or business man everyone knows - to endorse your restaurant and tell people to eat there, it works wonders for word of mouth advertising. 

Be an authority in your community and use local authority's to influence your customers to explode your restaurants success and sales!

6. Scarcity and Urgency
I have a story that really cements this.

My Uncle John was a baseball card collector. He left thousands of cards to his nephews and I ended up with a shoe box of cards I've kept since I was a child. 

One night I was cleaning my office and decided to look through them. I figured there might actually be some valuable cards since they're from the 70's and 80's.

And then I stumbled on this...
I figured a 1987 Barry Bonds Rookie Card might actually be worth some money... So I did a little research. 

Turns out...
I couldn't find one for less than $350. What was so special about this card? 

In 1987 Topps mis-printed every single one of these cards with a small part of 3 in the 320 missing. 
Not just a few. They printed all of them that way. This small "error" made the entire 1987 batch more valuable. Why were they more valuable?

Because they were different. They were unique. They were rare. They weren't like the others. There was a limited quantity of them.

That brings us to this incredibly powerful weapon of influence, Scarcity. Items and opportunities seem more valuable when their availability is limited. 

There's some irony here I think. Imperfections that would normally make this Barry Bonds 1987 Rookie Card "trash" make it a prized possession due to one thing and one thing only. Scarcity.

The idea of what may be "lost" plays a huge role in human decision making. In fact, most people are more motivated by not losing something than they are by gaining something.

This is a small difference but it's very important when we apply this weapon of influence to marketing our restaurant. Take the following example:

You could save $100 on your energy bill each and every month if you service your HVAC now!

Not getting your HVAC serviced right now is costing you $100 every month!

These are essentially saying the same thing but the first focuses on what can be gained (i.e Save $100) and the second focuses on what you're losing. (i.e Costing you $100)

The second will outperform the first in every instance. 

How can we use this in our Restaurant Marketing Campaigns? By limiting everything. Put artificial shortages on every offer, coupon, discount, beverage, dessert, menu item, etc.

Scarcity is a psychological trigger that uses quantity to compel us to act quickly. It simply means we place a higher value on objects that are scarce or rare.

Compliance professionals will use the scarcity principle in a number of ways usually related to "limited-number" tactics where the customer is informed that a certain product is in short supply and can't be guaranteed to last for very long.

Look at the example of a Free App Campaign I ran for a client below.
Notice anything? There are only 200 Free Apps. And we're only giving them away for THIS WEEK ONLY!

A restaurant giving away free food is already rare and then there's only 200 of them? 

Those Free Apps just became a Scarce resource that everyone wants. The guest thinks, "I better get mine now before everyone else claims them and they run out!"

This is employed repeatedly in a number of situations...

"There are only 5 convertibles on the entire lot with that engine and once they're gone, they're gone because they're not making anymore of them."

"This is one of two unsold corner lots in this entire neighborhood and the other one is 1000 sqft smaller for the same price."

"You might want to consider buying more than just one case today because production is backed up and we don't know when we'll get anymore in."

"That's just the display dress, I have to go check in the back but I think we might only have one of those left in your size."

But my favorite example comes from a small experiment done by a student of Dr. Robert Cialdini, author of Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. 

His student was a meat supplier who spoke with buyers who supplied supermarkets and other retail food outlets every day. He had his sales staff give three different pitches.

The first was the standard sales pitch before being asked for their orders.

The second was the standard sales pitch PLUS information that the supply of beef could be running thin in the coming months.

The third group got the second pitch about the scarce supply of beef too; however, they were also told that the information had come from "Higher Up" CEO's in the company and that the information wasn't generally known. 

The third group got the scarcity double whammy - that the availability of the product was limited; and so too was the news concerning it.

Which do you think performed the best? 

Well, the people who got the second pitch about the supply scarcity bought twice as much beef as the people who got the standard pitch.

But the people who received the "exclusive" information pitch bought 6 times as much. The fact that the scarcity of information was itself scarce made it particularly persuasive.

And this brings us to scarcity's left handed cousin, urgency.

Urgency is a psychological trigger that is rooted deep inside of our brain. It's time-based and gives us a strong reason to act quickly. Urgency answer's the question, why right now?

 It relates to human loss aversion or the Fear-of-Missing-Out (FOMO).

FOMO is a kind of social anxiety related to urgency and social proof. It's what's caused every bubble in the stock market that's ever existed. Remember Bitcoin? I do because it's how I made my first $100,000. It's also how I lost my first $100,000. 

Bitcoin's entire 2017 run was due to one thing and one thing only - FOMO. Every day people saw the price higher than the day before and they thought, "Wow, if I'd bought it yesterday I'd have made this much money." 

Every higher price took away the opportunity to buy it for a lower price and lead to an ever increasing anxiety as they feared missing out on the next day of profits.

When faced with a limited-time offer like a discount or a Free App, (or the chance to buy Bitcoin for under $1000) we start to automatically evaluate if we’re comfortable letting this opportunity get away while everyone else gets it... (or if the fear of missing out is too great).

Let's take another look at my ad again.
Not only do we create scarcity by limiting the Free Apps to 200. But we build a lot of Ugency to give the guest a reason to act now. THIS WEEK ONLY! Limited Time offer. Expires April 15th. 

This Ad is designed to do one thing, and one thing only. Turn your potential customer into an actual customer. Its designed to get them to click the link and take you up on your offer at which time they enter into our database and become a guest avatar just like Kim above. 

The reader who sees this ad knows exactly what they’re getting, how to get it, where to go, when to do it by and why they should get it now before they miss out!

When marketing your restaurant you should use these powerful weapons of influence, Scarcity and Urgency in all of your offers. Limit everything. Limit every coupon, discount, dessert, beverage, menu item, etc. 

Selling Prime Rib? Let the guest know that there's only one loin and once it's gone its gone. Let the guest know that you brought in a special new praline sauce that is world famous and you're using it on your desserts for the next week only. Let the guest know that your new Tropical Hawaiian Punch uses imported rum made with organic cane sugar and it's only on the menu this month. 

Give them a reason to try it now, before it's too late by limiting the quantity and the time it's available.

Conclusion

If you use these 6 powerful weapons of influence in all of your restaurant marketing you'll be building a list and growing sales like crazy, while running circles around your competition.

Just promise me to use them for good, not evil!

Thanks for reading! I hope you appreciate the time, effort and energy that goes into reading, researching and writing a blog post like this one.

I do it for one reason and one reason only. To provide value to you. I hope that it helps you grow your business and if it just helps one person, get one more regular in their restaurant then it's worth the time I spent writing it.

This is what my office looks like after writing a blog post like this.
So I hope you guys appreciate me doing the work for you so you don't have to. 

If you're interested in seeing how these 6 weapons of influence can be used in your Restaurant to build a huge database of regulars and grow sales then reach out to me at kyleb@funnelsforfood.com and schedule a FREE strategy session today!

Otherwise just copy my campaigns and use them in your restaurant. I promise they work like magic, and I promise not to sue you, I'm not litigious!

Thanks for reading guys, I'll see you in the next one. Until then, keep being awesome!

Kyle Bergthold


Kyle Bergthold helps companies dominate online with Facebook Ads. He's an expert at helping businesses get customers using online methods and making things super simple to understand. If you're interested in creatives that grab attention, copywriting that sells, funnels that convert, and Facebook Ads that get a high return, then definitely reach out and request a free strategy session today.
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