Hey, You might think marketing has gotten quite seedy these days — with fake-it-until-you-make-it types dominating social media. But remember the old adage: there's nothing new under the sun. Today's internet might seem worlds away from France in the 1500s, but some of the same internet marketing trends were around back then too. Faketh until thou maketh. Jean Durat was one such pioneer — an early renaissance poet and playwright who wanted to turn the staid world of literary promotion upside down. Like many of his then-contemporaries, M. Durat would purchase tickets for his plays as soon as they went on sale — seeking to kickstart the early buzz that all of us creatives are weaned to crave. However, unlike his peers, M. Durat had a very specific intent. A Bon Jour For ClaquersInspired by Emperor Nero — which is a hell of a way to begin a sentence — M. Durat decided to seed the audience with friendlies. Pliable audience members whose sole role was to clap at the right moment. The "claquer" was born. Fast forward to Paris in the 1830s and the practice of claquers was fully embedded in the literary establishment. Opera house impresarios didn't need to buy their own tickets anymore and find willing clappers themselves — an entire cottage industry existed by this point where they could bulk-order convincing companies of diverse claquers, strategically placed throughout the crowd. After all, it might look suspicious if all the people applauding so enthusiastically at just the right moments are all yer typical opera bros. You know the type. Instead, any self-respecting company of claquers in 19th century Paris could offer envelope-pushing impresarios an elaborate menu of audience reactions. "Commissaires" knew all the high points of the play — and would be sure to attract their neighbor's attention to the best parts. "Rieurs" laughed heartily at all the funny bits. "Pleureuses" were women ready to weep on command, fresh from a day of professionally crying at funerals (also a thing at the time). And "bisseurs" would, like Vanessa Williams many years later, save the best for last, leading the standing ovations — and the shouts for an encore. Captaining this classical motley crew was the "Chef de Claquers" who handled the business side of things while keeping everyone in line. Such was the growing power of claquers that leading actors began cutting their own side deals — ensuring their soliloquies were well received, their seduction attempts were swooned over, their jokes were uproariously laughed at... or even that a rival's fell flat. But the claquers also became aware of their own power to make or break a play — or an actor — and pretty soon it descended into a farce of protection rackets and retribution; singers, for example, would be threatened by claquers with a solid booing unless they were paid off. I wonder if this is where they got the idea for Tony Soprano… It's kind of funny when you think about it. La Belle Époque – late 1800s Paris — is considered the very peak of Europe's Golden Age, the cultural flowering at the end of the Age of Romanticism, when its global influence peaked. And it's when The Arts were capitalized – placed on such a pedestal that later generations of artists would become misty eyed at the mere mention of this era and decry not being born in such elegant, sophisticated, and enlightened times. But it was just as rife with skullduggery as the internet of today. From Claquers to ClickfarmersWe don't need to hunt so hard for the thread connecting us with these historical schemers — indeed we can view their direct descendant operating in showbusiness today in the form of the canned laughter track typically accompanying a tepid sitcom. Or a presidential debate crowd carefully stacked with supporters. Or clickfarmers hired to do anything from "reading" your book in Kindle Unlimited to gushing about it in a five-star Amazon review. All these claquers and clickfarmers are supplying the same high to willing artists: fake success. The enduring myth throughout is the same. From Emperor Nero and his 5,000 dutifully clapping soldiers, through to the claquers of Renaissance France, right up to the clickfarmers of pre-Apocalypse now… they're all doing the same thing. Or attempting to do it. And failing. For me, this is no different to the shady nightclub owner, instructing his doorman to slow entry so that a line artificially forms outside the club. It's all just another form of manufacturing faux popularity — fake it until you make it! — desperately hoping that the real stuff will somehow rub off on you… if you can wear the mask for long enough, without getting rumbled. It begs a question, one which is perhaps 2,000 years overdue at this point: what are all these hounds barking after? Social proof. The Levers of InfluenceThere was a truly groundbreaking marketing book in the 1980s called Influence. I call it a marketing book but it was written by a psychologist called Robert Cialdini and it spans really delves into behavioral science. However, it has a lot to teach marketers and anyone else looking to sell something or influence anyone — indeed, many of its case studies are drawn from the world of marketing, which he had a fascination with. Presumably because there is no "purer" test of the reasoning behind someone's decision-making when the rubber hits the road — when we put our money where our mouth is. (Please don't actually put money in your mouth — it's very dirty!) Anyway, Cialdini identified six levers of influence which can potentially be deployed when trying to convince someone of your point of view, like when you are trying to sell them something. You'll be familiar with at least some of the other six levers, like Scarcity — grab this deal before it disappears tomorrow! — and Authority — nine out of ten dentists prefer Colgate! Social proof is a little different though. I guess it's a teeny bit fear-based also, like many things that motivate us so efficiently. Because social proof is all about how we look to others when we are unsure what to do. Especially people just like us. This is why Amazon reviews are not such a big factor in a reader's purchasing decision when are already primed to buy (e.g. existing fans of your series purchasing the next installment). But this is exactly why Amazon reviews suddenly become crucial when a reader is on the fence (e.g. a "colder" prospect who lands on Book 1's page from a Facebook Ad, unsure if your book is for them). We are often advised to look at our marketing from the perspective of an Ideal Reader — by newsletters like this one, I suppose. However, sometimes we make the mistake of only viewing things from the perspective of an already converted reader. Someone who is a fan already, someone already primed to buy. It's often much more useful to look at things from the perspective of the target audience member we are yet to win over. How do we convince those guys to take a chance on our work? Bottling Social ProofThis is where we need to reach for one of the levers of influence, and an obvious candidate is to try and layer social proof wherever we can. But it's important to note that social proof is so much more than getting reviews on Amazon (or Likes on Facebook). Social proof is a profound and compelling psychological phenomenon which powers so many of our day-to-day decisions, our spending too. And when you truly understand how it works — when you get just how much it influences our decisions — then you can tap into its power for your own marketing. It makes your ads clickier, your sales copy more enticing, your emails more engaging, and your product pages better at turning browsers into buyers and closing that sale. Real social proof, I mean, not the modern version of claquers — which is only good for scammers looking to make a quick cashgrab before riding off into the sunset… or swapping their duds for an orange jumpsuit. Don't Know Much BiologyI write historical fiction as well as non-fiction — and a bit of SF on the side. Many of you will also know that I have a marketing background, and previously worked in digital advertising for a big tech company. But this stuff really tickles me on another level because my academic background was in philosophy and then I went to grad school to study cognitive science — which is basically the intersection of psychology and neuroscience and linguistics and robotics and anything else which can be roped in to make sense of the mysteries between our ears. This weird grab-bag of personal topics has accidentally coalesced into a fascination of sorts, a holistic view of readers — understanding their motivations and triggers from a number of different perspectives. And I'm developing something for you right now which is going to delve into all this stuff: reader psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, marketing, and the history of sordid shenanigans. I'm creating it very much with an eye on drawing marketing lessons for today. Practical, applicable marketing takeaways. As in actual strategies to sell more books. If these topics interest you as well, then click here to register interest for an upcoming sneak preview of The Reader Lab. Or you can just wait until later this year when I drop something awesome. It's not a book BTW, or a course. It's… something else. You'll see! And you'll see even sooner if you click that there link... Dave P. S. Writing music this week is the mellow vibes of Tom Paxton and The Last Thing On My Mind.
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Friday, March 10, 2023
Laughter tracks have the weirdest history...
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