Gap Marketing Secrets

Condition 1:  NO GAP – Forces Are In Equilibrium

If GAPs cause equal and opposite reactions, then your materials with no GAPs are in balance…a situation where the prospect’s emotions and intellect have no differential.  The GAP can best be illustrated as a seesaw in balance.  Experts say that a sale is really 90% emotion and only 10% intellect.  This being the case, what we want to measure with GAP, is the amount of emotional imbalance.

When a person is in balance relative to a specific issue, there is No GAP; therefore, there is no reactive force.  With No GAP producing a reactive force, you will not generate any response from your prospects.

When looking at sales copy, we consciously think of the size of the emotional differential or GAP that is being created.  No GAP…No Sale.   Since Headlines are 85% of the reason why someone will decide to read or reject your copy, creating a large GAP in the headline, is absolutely critical.

Condition 2:  A Small GAP – An Acceptable Differential

A small GAP is a condition where the GAP is disturbing only to the point where the prospect feels that he can safely ignore the problem.  The prospect will typically cope with the problem, or initiate a quick fix that allows them to wait until later for a permanent fix.

Condition 3:  A Large GAP – An Absolutely Un-acceptable Differential

When the internal GAP of a prospect reaches a point where his current conditions are absolutely unacceptable, then there will be a sale.  The prospective patient comes to this point by comparing his situation to the size of the GAP you created in his mind.  The emotional GAP must also be so unacceptable that action is required to bring back a condition of equilibrium. 

For marketers, three different kinds of GAPs exist and each should be addressed in their sales copy.

The first: An Existing GAP is where the prospect already has a self-acknowledged GAP.  The larger it is, the more you can see it in their actions.  An existing GAP is the reason why direct response lists for a particular product work much better than a compiled list.  A compiled list has many prospects with no GAP, some with a small GAP, and fewer with a large GAP.  This is the reason why most compiled lists have such low response rates.

The second:  An Expanded GAP. After your sales copy deals with emotionally building, a large GAP, your job is to immediately expand the GAP to the highest-level possible so that an unusually large, unacceptable GAP is the end result.  Maximum response in direct marketing is directly related to the size of the GAP your copy develops in a prospect.  Dan Kennedy, a Phoenix based entrepreneur, does this will with his “offers”.  As one of our subscribers said, “He bonuses you to death, so you just have to accept his offer.”  What happens is that as Dan continues to pile on more bonuses, each additional free bonus increases the emotional GAP.