Photo: dog& beggar by Bianca’s
Picture this: You’re walking down the street and you saw a beggar, squatting at the roadside, selling a painting… for say, $200. Would you buy it? Now, what if that same painting is moved to a posh art gallery, hung at a very prominent position?
Would you not RUSH to get it for that bargain price? That’s framing in action.
As Mark Joyner once puts it, the “frame” is the information around the information, just as the physical frame is around the painting. A good news in the wrong frame can be bad news and vice versa.
Here’s an example: Let’s say you’ve been betrayed by someone you trust before. It hurts so bad that it makes you always suspicious others. Now, in that context (frame), if someone were to say he/she loves you (good news), would you be happy about it?
Or would you just brush it aside as another attempt to manipulate you?
How To Re-Frame To Your Advantage
Recently, I saw a good friend of mine with an attractive lady chatting in a local coffee shop. Now, I know he’s got a girlfriend, and she ain’t her. They looked pretty happy (and close). Not that I was following them or anything (I was waiting for my dentist appointment just across the street), I saw them left together and walked up to his apartment, which is about 2 blocks away from the coffee shop.
What would you think if you were me? Hold that thought.
Now, let’s say I decided to confront them. Let’s say I walked up to his apartment and just before they got anything to happen, I rang the bell. What do you think the guy will say?
He’ll probably say something like, this is my cousin, she’s just visiting town. Or, she’s my real estate agent, we are planning to move. What would you think now?
Whether or not he lied, he just reframed the whole situation. Now, the meeting became an innocent one. Some think that re-framing equals lying. Just like the guy probably did. But it needn’t be so.
Sometimes just changing a word could reframe a situation that works to your advantage. For example,
- Someone’s “hero” might be another’s “terrorist”.
- Used products can also be described as “pre-loved”.
- Old or outmoded can also be called “vintage”.
- Hype can also be called “intensifiers”.
- And the military don’t say “retreat”. They call it a “retrograde operation”.
Another great way to reframe is to compare and contrast. Here’s an example:
Why would someone buy $50 on a meal when they can spend $8 in McDonald’s? In this instance, McDonald’s sounds like the the logical choice . What if compare it this way:
Why spend $8 in McDonald’s, when you can buy a burger for $4 down at the local shop?
In the first instance, McDonald’s appears cheap. In the second, it appears expensive. Can you see how powerful reframing is?
How Does Framing Apply To You?
Well, some say reframing is the most powerful persuasion technique. I don’t know if I agree with them but it is, in my own experience, pretty darn potent.
Now read through any sales copy or in fact, any kind of copy you’ve wrote before and look for words that you can replace that will reframe what you have to say.
Legendary copywriters like the late Gary Halbert, John Carlton, Yanik Silver, Michel Fortin and so on have always claimed that just by changing a word, they can boost response dramatically.
They are talking about the power of reframing. If you want to learn more about the subject, I recommend that you get yourself a copy of Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely and read it cover to cover.
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