The Spotlight Effect
"People tend to believe that more people take note of their actions and appearance than is actually the case. They believe that the social spotlight shines more brightly on them than it really does."
In 1998, Psychology researchers Gilovich and Medvec proved this in a study.
This was the funniest video of 2021. You'll laugh hysterically too when you watch it, I promise you.
It's a clip from Laura Ingraham‘s Fox News show "The Ingraham Angle".
Ingraham was interviewing Fox contributor Raymond Arroyo. And Arroyo was whining about “woke storylines” in TV shows.
To illustrate what he meant Arroyo brings up an example from an episode of Netflix's thriller "You".
Arroyo says, “I was watching an episode of ’You’, when measles came up.”
Ingraham looked confused. Then she says, “Wait, wait, wait. When did I mention measles?”
Arroyo replies, “I don’t know, it was on ‘You.’ ”
Ingraham looked even more confused. So she asks, “What was on me? What are you talking about?”.
Arroyo says, “The measles and the vaccine episode was on ‘You.’ ”
Then they continue loudly barking at each other back and forth until Arroyo finally clarifies what the hell he was talking about.
Arroyo says: “It’s a show, called ‘You,’ on Netflix.”
Ingraham still didn't get it, “There’s a show called Laura Ingraham on Netflix?”
You see, people tend to believe they're being noticed or judged more often than they are in reality.
In psychology this is a cognitive bias known as the spotlight effect. Dozens of studies in psychology prove it.
This clip also reminded me about another phenomenon that particularly affects CEO's, startup founders and marketers.
It's called client's disease.
The truth is, all clients are madly in love with their brands and products.
Which may be why when they're presented with bold campaigns and creative concepts to promote their products they tend to ruin perfectly good creative work with meaningless Me-centric mambo jambo.
That’s why you see so many websites or ads that say things like:
“We’re better, connected.”
“We empower small businesses.”
“We know what this passion is like.”
If you’re a client and you’re approving copy, always judge it from the consumer’s perspective, not yours.
Bad copy makes your brand the hero. Good copy makes the customer the hero (And one step closer to what they are searching for).
Takeaways for your business:
1. A powerful copywriting lesson: “Nobody wants to read your shit”. (Thanks, Steven Pressfield).
You see, consumers only care about one thing: "What's in it for me?".
Or how can your brand fit with their life. Will it save them time, money, hassle?
The sooner you understand this, the sooner you'll get your brain to focus on what matters. Readers donate their time and attention, so write copy that respects their time.
Before
2. Avoid Me-centric copy.
Make sure your website, ads, newsletters and social media doesn't use Me-centric copy. Because Me-centric copy is egocentric copy, and it just ends alienating your prospects. And egocentric copy kills your conversion rates and sales.
3. Treat copywriting like dating. Make your reader feel important - and do it sincerely.
You'll have an instant competitive advantage over your “Me me me” competitors.
4. People tend to focus on the information in front of them and ignore all the info you don't mention.
This means you can take advantage of the spotlight effect and shape their perception. How? Mention ONE of your product weaknesses, and make it sound like it's your only weakness. But give it a positive spin.
Here’s an example:
Before
After
