Power Up Your Sales With the Identity Morphing Psych Principle
By: Iva Levelhood
Tags: Copywriting, Online Marketing, Digital Nomads, Sales, Advertising

When you see those Victoria’s Secret angels with their perfect bodies, long silky hair, piercing eyes, and a confident as fuck walk that leaves you questioning your sexual identity — you’re not craving a lacy bra. You’re craving to be that angel.

If you saw any average person wearing the same outfit as the models, would you crave it as much? Would you really be as enchanted, mesmerised, uplifted… swaying in your seat whenever the angel sways her hair? Yeah. You wouldn’t. Because nothing compares to the Victoria Secret show and their models. Which is why they’re called Angels. (*another Identity Morph)

We humans are impressionable creatures. Our wild imagination is to blame. Someone tells us a story and we’re imagining it with aaaall the details. Someone tries to persuade us to drop the diet and enjoy that creamy, chocolatey, nougaty Nutella spread on a doughnut, covered with vanilla sprinkles, all with a perfect blend of sweet and sour cherry filling… Mmmmm. Darn the diet! I only live once!

The fact is, you have your ego (your sense of who you are, what you identify with), to blame for most of your purchases and wish-list items. Not that it’s a bad thing. It’s just a fact.

This subject of Identity Morphing and the Vanity Appeal was covered by Pratkanis and Aronson in the “Age of Propaganda” in 1991, where they said:

“By purchasing the ‘right stuff’, we enhance our own egos and rationalize away our inadequacies.”

We actually buy things that we believe will portray us as the person we are, or the person we want to be.

If what you sell is ethical, and provides a true solution or assistance to someone, you should be proud that you’re assisting your clients psychological development and life transformation! (And may I add the transformation of the world, due to the compound effect)

In reality, this Principle of Identity Morphing allows you to create a certain image, or identity, around your service in order to appeal to that Ideal Client, who would love nothing more than to be identified with your service or become the person you can help them become. That’s why they’re called the ‘Ideal’ Client.

The goal of your campaigns and content (ads, videos, posts, articles, podcasts) is to clearly communicate this new identity your brand and service help instil.

You want to help the audience transport themselves into the image you are painting so vividly that they start associating with your brand image. You want to “morph” their identity. You want to present a carefully chosen set of images and personalities for them to imagine being the best version of themselves before they even are. Or being a confident, successful, sexy Angel before they are.

Do you notice that this is also how visualisation works? This Principle harnesses that same power we use to visualise ourselves having our goals achieved before they are. Ain’t that great?!

Persuading your Ideal Client in this manner is not difficult. You don’t have to work hard to persuade someone to want to be a better version of themselves, or have financial freedom, or be more powerful, self-confident, and sexually appealing. These desires are a part of human nature, hardwired into our very being. And damn hard to resist.

The best thing is — that the majority of prospects for your service already believe they posses the values associated with it, OR they have a desire to develop them (otherwise they wouldn’t be true prospects). So what you’re doing is nothing more than tapping into this hardwire.

So can you see that you’re just selling the shortcut to fulfilling what they already desire? As for those who already have it — your brand is giving them a way to express their identity to the outside world.

Action to take

Think about your service. Does using it or being influenced by it suggest qualities that people want to flaunt?

It’s not about the weight loss, it’s about the sexy confident person you become. It’s not about the business profit, it’s about the financially free, powerful, confident decision maker and leader you become. It’s not about the sexy dress, it’s about being perceived as the sexy, classy woman that you know you are inside.

So get to understand what identity shift you bring and start flaunting that. The right people will be attracted, and the wrong ones will fade away. Just like they’re supposed to.

Pro Examples

1. Schweppes.

Yes. That drink most people use only for making a killer gin tonic.

Their new set of ads are NAILING this principle!

Take a look at their fun and short ad and then I’ll explain more

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZJdQnHmCpI

So as you probably know, Schweppes’s drinks are bitter. They are not for everyone. And instead of trying to appeal to everyone, Schweppes is taking a powerful approach that is not only getting them more sales, but instilling pride in those who already love it, strengthening their brand and changing it’s positioning in the market.

For those who do love Schweppes, this commercial validates their identity as someone who has a strong character. Because drinking a bitter drink like theirs requires Strong Character.

So if I drink Schweppes, because of how this commercial has positioned it in the eyes of the audience, I am not just some weird person who likes Schweppes — a drink no one really likes. I am now a mature person, who has sophisticated taste that the average folk cannot comprehend. Nor should they. They are average. I am special.

See what they did there? It’s brilliant!!!

2. Any luxury product or service.

Let’s compare BMW, Mercedes and Audi. How different are they? Not much really. But, each of them has their own personality that you attach to yourself as a driver. Mercedes is like the cool composed person. BMW is for the ultimate driver (they do call themselves the Ultimate Driving Machines), and Audi, well… in many countries in Europe they’re the brand of the Mafia and politicians. (Coincidence?)

And that’s another point — the culture plays a role in this Identity Morphing. What Audi stands for in one country can be different in another.

Conclusion

EVERYTHING you communicate to the outside world has an effect on it. And your communication inevitably attaches an image in the perceivers’ minds regarding your brand.

It’s up to you to either be deliberate with your message and be the architect of your success, or be careless and swept away by time, competition, evolution, noise, or any other of the 1000 things that cause businesses to fail.

Remember — Success is not a guess.