Learn about compulsion marketing: the collection of activities that manipulate psychological drivers, resulting in a compulsion to purchase a specific product or service. Presented by Joe Sinkwitz, CEO of influencer marketing SaaS Intellifluence and Principal of digital marketing/ORM/SEO agency Digital Heretix.

1. Compulsion Marketing:
Making Your Campaign Irresistible
U N G A G G E D L A S V E G A S
2 0 1 6

2. Who am I?
» Involved in search industry
since 1997
» Have managed several
thousand domains and
hundreds of clients
» I’ve been fortunate enough to
play in all facets of online
marketing, providing a broad
perspective
Joe Sinkwitz
CEO, Intellifluence
2

3. What is Compulsion Marketing?
» Based loosely on video game concept of
compulsion loops, which continually entice a
user to keep playing.
» For marketers’ purposes, compulsion marketing
is the collection of activities that manipulate
psychological drivers, resulting in a compulsion
to purchase a specific product or service.
» It is as much a campaign strategy as it is a
tactic.
3

4. How did I Stumble into Compulsion
Marketing?
» I knew from affiliate days the power of
pairing PPC, SEO, and email.
» At CopyPress I became a convert on
using content marketing paired with
native amplification.
» At Intellifluence I saw how the influence
can be magnified using those concepts
from CopyPress and my affiliate days.
» I started to string them all together and
play with ordering.
4

5. Key Psychological Drivers
» Hero worship – aspirational psychological driver
» Appeal to authority – authoritative psychological driver
» Wealth signals – peer psychological driver
» Pack mentality (unity) – repetition psychological driver
5

6. Hero Worship Explained
» We all want to “be like Mike”
» When we can’t be like our heroes, we try to
co-opt what he wears/does/says/eats/drinks
[Air Jordans]
» Aspirational influence is the most pervasive
of the methods; celebrity endorsements
have the capacity to drive awareness and
desire
6

7. Appeal to Authority Explained
» Shoemoney is seen as an authority in the “make money online” space
» If Shoe hits his list to say “I am making so much money w/ prospects on
Intellifluence” then his acolytes likely to follow in his footsteps as they
perceive him to be an expert on the matter
» Authority can be wasted if the influencer is not consistent; reputation takes
only a short period to destroy after a lifetime of building up. For those areas
where one is considered an expert though, it is extremely powerful
7

8. Wealth Signals Explained
» Keeping up with the Joneses
» We want our heroes have, but we absolutely feel a need to have what our
neighbors have
» Peer influence essentially saying “I have this; I use this; as my peer, you should
as well…and if you don’t, you may no longer be my peer”
8

9. Pack Mentality (Unity) Explained
» Cialdini revised “Psychology of
Influence” to now include what he
refers to as ‘Unity’, the sense of
belonging
» Belonging can be manipulated; if
you repetitively see that your
perceived peers are doing
something, you are outside of the
pack and need (not want) to catch
up – did everyone really like
wearing Swatches in the late 80s
and rollerblading in the 90s? This is
where trends are made and killed
9

10. So How Does Compulsion Marketing
Actually Work?
» The compulsion, for our purposes in a
marketing campaign, has the end KPI
of sales
» By taking the psychological triggers
and applying them in order to create a
desire, confirm that the desire is
rational, show that ones’ peers have
made use of it, and then continually
bombard that one is no longer part of
the pack for not acting…the
compulsion is set like a bear trap
10

11. Compulsion Tactical Ordering
» Initiate desire via aspirational influence
» Confirm desire is “justified” via authoritative influence
» Manipulate wealth signalizing via peer influence
» Retarget to an extreme across native ad networks / FB / TW etc to
consistently highlight pack purchasing, pressuring for unity
» Tie back into mega content campaign
» Drip market to prospect list
11

12. Determining Buyer Personas
» If you don’t understand who the buyer is,
the entire campaign is worthless
» Who does the buyer aspire to be? Who is
her hero
» Who influences the buyer on your
product/service subject matter?
» Who are your buyer’s peers?
» Where do those peers spend time online,
reading news or otherwise interacting w/
community?
12

13. Example of Finding Buyer Personas
» Take your last 100 customers (or less — you just need to have “some” data in
order to test).
» Research each customers’ social profiles.
» For each customer, who does this person aspire to be? Who are the heroes being
followed, regardless of subject matter expertise?
» Who influences the customer on your particular subject matter?
» Who are your customers’ peers?
» Iterate. For the large lists of peers you’ve gathered, you’ll now need their social
profiles.
» On the filtered worksheet you probably have a fairly large number of peers that
seem to be influenced by the same celebrities and authority figures. You’ll likely
be able to segment these individuals into rough groups that now represent who
is more inclined to purchase what you’re selling than a random Internet user.
13

14. What about that Mega Content
Campaign?
» Each step of influence and retargeting should have corresponding content
that can be amplified and reinforced – mixed media types covers the most
bases
» Research KW/topical buckets well before kicking off any influence so you can
phrase requests in such a way that they’ll natively cover what you want
covered – one way is to use existing buyer data on queries used to enter the
buying funnel
» Quick example 1: If engaging 5 B-list celebrities to discuss your product,
take each of the video reviews and incorporate them into a blog series that
can be circulated back to your prospects and act as native ad fodder later
» Quick example 2: During the authoritative phase, getting expert testimonials
is great, but spending more to host interviews with the experts on your blog
creates more social proof and authority by co-occurrence of the content
existing on your site
14

15. Start with Aspirational Influence
» Aspirational influence can be acquired, but is not cheap, as celebrities are
rarely free.
» Companies like Mediakix specialize in the area, but expect to pay $20,000 -
$100,000+/month for results
» Go for breadth and reach; think of it as top of funnel, so you need it to be
wide
15

16. Appeal to Authority Time
» Authoritative influence is trickier because it is more difficult to infer perceived
expertise
» Rather than going through an agency, which can carry 20% talent agency
booking fees, approach directly
» Once you’ve identified the authorities, ensure your pitch is tailored to their
egos, but expect to offer a mixture of money, product, and guaranteed
exposure to seal the deal
16

17. Have I No Peers?
» *cough* Intellifluence.com w/
coupon code “UNGAGGED” gets
75% off an annual plan
» Peers tend to be less expensive,
and many will perform review
activities in return for product
alone
» More is better here; due to the
relative expense-to-unique
exposure, overweighting on peer
reviews provides also for more
native / retargeting opportunities
17

18. Caveat: Small budget?
» If you can’t afford celebrities and authorities, the next best thing you can do
is get some absurdity
» Absurdity can lead to ridicule, which can lead to press coverage and lots of
exposure
» Example: Combo product that no one asked for and you don’t really sell?
Sneak it into Reddit. Push; create false accounts and vote up/comment to
make fun of…watch it get shared elsewhere into Facebook Groups and on
Twitter. Next comes light press coverage – play coy and share the light
coverage with bigger outlets via throwaway accounts to ask if the product is
real and just watch what happens
18

19. Reuse and Recycle
» Cherry pick your favorite reviews to
highlight on your website, borrowing
from the earlier example ideas
» If the video reviews aren’t transcribed,
do so just for your blogpost so you can
be the ranking asset
» Try to show different types of reviews
for different funnel stages of the
buying process: awareness, interest,
price shopping, purchasing time
19

20. Retarget Like Crazy
» Not only should you retarget people that
viewed your site via the promotions, which
you should do
» Twitter promote posts of the best reviews
to both the original audiences and
lookalikes to get secondary flows from the
reviews – this can be done repeatedly over
time; also more effective because you’re
promoting an “organic” looking post vs an
ad of yours co-opting the post
» If you have the budget for it, you can also
hire someone like Aimclear to push this
hard for you
» Lazy retargeting also works, which feeds
into native 20

21. Going Native
» Remember the content you created to go hand-in-hand with influence?
Since most native ad networks will only push to content rich pages now
(unless you cloak of course), they make for excellent entry points
» Test out both retargeting lists, lookalikes, and general demographics of your
buyer persona to determine which is giving you best ROAS
» Repetition is key here; since you are looking to manipulate the unity / pack
mentality, you need to keep showing that the prospect is missing out
21

22. Drip, Drip, Drip
» I will assume you have an email list. If you don’t, that’s probably the first thing
you should do before you leave this conference
» Each of those content rich blog posts in different funnel stages is ideal to
send to your list for their different funnel segments. You can use Customer.io
if you have a simple setup, but Getdrip is ideal for the more complex logic
segmentations
» At the end of the drip campaign, give a generous offer on a discount (near
free), asking that the prospect agree to provide an honest review, which
keeps the influence -> content campaign running forever
22

23. Shades of Texas Window Tinting
» I don’t know if this is a competitor or the actual brand, but here we go!
» Specific product chosen: Norman Woodlore composite shutters
23

24. Buyer Persona for Norman Woodlore
Composite Shutter
» Since we don’t have access to a customer
DB, used follower data
» Female, mother, 40+ in age, home owner,
household income > $100,000,
professional, lives in Austin, cares about
design aesthetics
» I am going to keep the specific sample
buyer anonymous; we’ll call her Cheryl
24

25. Aspirational Influencers for Cheryl
» Austin native, mother, very affluent? Sandra Bullock
» Concept comedy video w/ Sandra: “I entrust my privacy as a Texan to Shades
of Texas with the posh and secure Norman Woodlore composite shutters”
while peppering in puns on her movies about defying gravy, protecting the
blind slide, and getting up to Speed while surfing on the Net
» Lesser known and likely less expensive option? Connie Britton of “Friday
Night Lights”
» Concept Instagram series w/ Connie: “After the big game, relaxing at home,
away from the Friday night lights”
25

26. Authoritative influence for Cheryl
» As a member of Austin Chamber of Commerce, structured organizations
hold an authoritative appeal
» Picking from the AACC ambassador list for those closest resembling Cheryl:
Karen B, Amy C, Cindy E, Brenda L (giving them a bit of privacy)
» Concept: Offer a free design consultation and deep discounts in exchange
for sharing their experiences at sequential AACC meetings, fully disclosing
they received a good deal in exchange for their honest review
» Endorsement rights used throughout the main website w/ name, title, and
AACC status for social proof
26

27. Peers for Cheryl
» There are a LOT of Austin professional women in the same demographic as
Cheryl
» As this can get expensive to offer each deep discounts, do a dual brand: CEO
from Shades of Texas picks a day/week and invites groups of the peers to his
home for a wine dinner to talk about design and the importance of shutters
vs basic window treatments, but only indirectly – it is a discussion on the
importance of female business professionals
» Each peer has their picture taken w/ CEO in front of the Norman Woodlore
composite shutter blinds on a series of short interview blog posts, which are
shared out on the main channel and by each of the peers (egobaiting). The
shutters are consistently highlighted in the photo and referenced in the
interview; as a joke question: “Aren’t these shutters lovely? What do you
think?” – peer influence will ensue.
27

28. What if Budget is Limited?
» If celebrities are completely out of budget, get absurd
» Concept 1: CEO claims to have created the first zombie proof Austin area
home (working w/ other contractors) and challenges any local zombies to
smell the brains through the zombie blocking power of the Norman
Woodlore composite shutters he installed
» Concept 2: In a highly visible area, set up a public test shining high
luminescence into the shutters to show how incredibly effective they are;
everyone dressed as mad scientists. A few news trucks will inquire
» Concept 3: Shutterman, local hero decked out in an armor suit made of
Norman Woodlore composite, gives talks to kids about privacy online and
offline.
28

29. Reuse All Influence
» Promote and tag appropriately all the
peer and authoritative blog posts, re-
sharing and liking all the posts made
from the influencers themselves as well
» Take the aspirational media and put it
everywhere; chop videos into Instagram
stories, post them into native formats
on Facebook and Twitter, transcribe
them for the blog, etc
29

30. Retarget Those Shutters for Cheryl
» Obviously retarget in a series of ads for those that visited the site; set up
difference channels. First 10 days, show aspirational ad, then 10-20 days show
authoritative ads, finally w/ 20-30 day mark showing peer ads
» Test and promote the aspirational, authoritative, and peer reviews on Twitter
to both existing and then buyer persona peer audiences (this is a really great
audience too). I expect the AACOC ads to their audiences will be especially
good
» Call Aimclear if you have budget so he can do Marty can do some insane
things
» Since the demographic is fairly large, purchase some email lists on it and use
for retargeting lists initially and later in an attempt to opt-in whitewash for
the drip campaign
30

31. Going Native
» The peer reviews will be great for
targeting over native networks to
publications targeting females over 40 in
the Austin area – lowball bids are ideal
here because you have no way of
knowing if the targets are in a buying
cycle for blinds
» Target a lookalike audience to your
authoritative and peer influencers,
pushing them into the aspirational
content sourced back onto the blog
31

32. Drip Some Shutters
» For new entrants, start out with an email talking about working with Sandra,
Connie, or the absurdity angle – treat it as an awareness w/ loose intent
email
» Next batch of emails highlight a few of the authoritative review blogposts,
pushing conversion more but still playing on the psychology of “those in the
know and know which businesses to trust, trust us”
» Finish off with some peer reviews “people just like you bought Norman
Woodlore composite shutters from us, and you can do. Here’s 20% if you act
now.”
32

33. How did Shades of Texas do?
» Across social, they almost certainly increased the amount of activity
associated with the product and brand – if they aren’t the most well-known
shutter provider in Austin after the influence campaigns, something is wrong
» The native and retargeting to such a strong demographic will result in a
significant amount of traffic, and because of the somewhat disjointed SEO
that exists on the phrase, chances are they now rank across the board and
are pushing people into their drip campaigns
» The drip campaign is gold – dripping the repeat of awareness and desire,
appeal to authority, and forcing wealth signals of unity that was mirrored on
influence and now in email only serves to reinforce and ensure that if the
prospect is on the market for shutters that Shades of Texas will likely be the
choice
33

34. Thank you
If you want to save some money on the peer
influence component of compulsion marketing,
use code: UNGAGGED on Intellifluence to save
75% on the first year of an annual plan – you’ll
never see a less expensive rate in influencer
marketing.
Graphics courtesy of: flaticons.com