Borrowing money is like wetting your bed in the middle of the night.

Borrowing money is like wetting your bed

Wouldn’t it be great if all your marketing was effective in providing a mental hook that would help your members remember the main point and take action?

We should probably strive to emulate Elizabeth Gilbert’s father, who wanted to make a point about debt to his daughter, because he cared about what happened to her in the future:

“Borrowing money is like wetting your bed in the middle of the night.
At first all you feel is warmth and release. But very, very quickly comes the awful, cold discomfort of reality.”
–from CNNMoney.com’s series, The Smartest Advice I Ever Got

His example was a bit homespun perhaps, and perhaps a bit strange to really consider, but it is memorable, and it stuck with Gilbert. She has religiously paid off her credit card each month and stayed debt-free (and dry) all of her adult life.

Gilbert’s father equated one concept she could understand (bedwetting) with another concept (debt) with which she had little previous experience. That simple association permanently locked the idea into her mind.

The key is presenting it in a way that they understand — by connecting it to their world.

Of course, most members are adults, not young kids, and not everybody experiences life the same way. Which means not everyone learns the same way. Because of heredity, environment and upbringing, different people process information differently. Even the “experts” on how people learn can’t agree on the ways people learn. One claims there are three types of learners (visual, auditory, interactive/kinesthetic). Another has four general classifications of learners (concrete, abstract, active, reflective). Yet another claims seven styles of learning (linguistic, logical, spatial, musical, bodily, interpersonal, and intrapersonal)!

But there are common elements and life experiences for your membership if you look. These experiences are usually your best opportunity to communicate what you have to offer your members.

And if you can say it in a unique way, it just may stick with them the rest of their lives.

Kent Dicken
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