Lessons From The Joker: How to Steal The Attention Of Potential Customers That Have No Interest In You

Here’s a question. Say you’re a small or medium sized business, and you’re having trouble engaging your customer base. Like, LOTS of trouble. You’re starting to get desperate…

Would you take marketing advice from the Joker?

Yes, I do mean THAT Joker. The Clown Prince of Crime. The Harlequin of Hate.

If he had advice on how to grip the attention of your customers so firmly that they had no choice but to listen to you…

(and if it were at least borderline legal?)

…would you take it?

If the answer’s yes, you’re in the right place.

When it comes to performing customer research, the customer’s dreams and desires are very important.

What might be EQUALLY as important is learning about their greatest fears, things that they’re not willing to admit to others, and what keeps them up at night.

To elaborate, come with me back to 2008, and the movie The Dark Knight.

In the movie, Joker proved he was a great marketer because he showed that he understood his customer base.

At the start of the film, the Joker had a very, very big problem:

No one yet saw him as a threat.

While Batman and Commissioner Gordon were plotting on how to take down the mob, Gordon asked Batman how they should deal with this “Joker guy.” To which Batman responds, “He can wait,” almost ignoring the question.

In other words, “He’s not worth my time or attention.”

No, Batman’s complete attention was focused on the mob…

…so the Joker went after the mob.

Now before we continue, let me ask you another question.

Why was it so believable to us as viewers when the Joker completely took over Gotham?

This guy shows up in his clown makeup, bright red lipstick and scars, all the time laughing to himself, Batman and the police barely know who he is…

Yet little by little, he takes control of Gotham…

…until EVERYONE in the city is absolutely terrified of him.

How did he do it? Well like I said, first he went after the mob.

So remember the scene where Joker walks into a meeting held by the crime lords of Gotham?

He strolls in out of nowhere completely unafraid, and right before our eyes, Joker performs an absolutely perfect advertisement. Think about it.

• First he grabbed their attention - with creepy laughing as he walks in with white makeup and a gaudy purple suit.
• Then he showed he understood their problem - (“I know why you have to have your little therapy sessions indoors…Batman has shown your true colors, unfortunately).
• He proved he could get the job done - (Easily kills a henchman right in front of them by “making a pencil disappear”).
• Finally, he made them an offer - (HALF!)

But before he could do ANY of this…

He had to learn about and understand his customers.

Actually, saying he “understood” his customers is an understatement.

Joker understood the Gotham crime bosses so thoroughly that he knew how they were going to react before they did.

• He knew where they met, WHEN they met, where they kept their money and then STOLE it from them.
• Plus he knew what kept them up at night (Batman) and told them that to their faces!

Joker had such a good read on the crime lords that they felt they had NO CHOICE but to accept his offer.

And once the mob was terrified of him, well, the Gotham citizenry wouldn’t be far behind, would they?

Now, if you have your own customers, I hope you won’t be stealing from them like the Joker did.

At the same time, I want you to do what he did. I want you to understand your customers so well that they feel like they HAVE TO BUY FROM YOU.

But before they can feel like that, you have to do research on your customers.

Lately I've been hearing from marketing experts that many companies decide against doing customer research. Perhaps they can't afford it, they don't have the time for it, or think they know their customers so well that adding research would be redundant.

If you really want to get into the minds of your customers so that they’re salivating to buy your product or service, you have to learn to understand them on a deep, personal level like the Joker did.

In my experience, many businesses merely stop at learning their customers' desires. But in reality…you can go much deeper than merely their desires.

Find out what they fear as well and you can have a product or advertisement that your customers simply can’t ignore.

If you have a question or want to discuss a potential copywriting project with me, simply click “Contact” at the top of my website.