How to Create a Cult Movement
Using Propaganda, Bias, and the Hero’s Journey...
In this interview, Lovitch interviews one of his best friends and mentors, Dave Lakhani, before he passed away unexpectedly in 2022.
April 29, 2020
This is a must-listen if you’re ready for your brand to become a cult movement with devoted customers willing to evangelize for you. This session covers the philosophy of creating cult movements…so good we recorded a part 2 that focuses on applying it directly to your business.
To better understand the context of this conversation you should watch Out of Shadows Video. (If you’re not in the right wing ”think bubble”, then this will scare the shit out of you. But MORE IMPORTANTLY…this video uses almost all the techniques discussed above and Dave dissects the video for you while explaining how to use these techniques to grow your brand following.
What You Will Learn:
- Applying Story Selling, The Hero’s Journey and The True Believer Model to Create a Heroic Customer Who is Primed to Become a Brand Evangelist
- Reframing your Personal, Company or Brand Story to Make it Stronger and More Persuasive
- Creating Your Unique Brand Language, Key Phrases and Memes that Drive Your Messaging Deep into the Minds of Your Customers (yes, like a cult leader).
- Using Your Story and Unique Language to Create Effective Funnels, Advertising, and Customer Experiences
- Pre-framing and Building Consumption Models and Strategies into Your Messaging so that Your Customers Know Exactly What to do and When – This is critical in creating repeat buyers.
- Using the Power of Exclusion to Create an “In” Group and an “Out” Group – Remember, only polarized people buy things.
- Layering Persuasion, Behavior Change and Influence into Your Online and Offline Marketing Efforts.
More About Dave...
Dave Lakhani has been our good friend for over ten years now. He also has one of the best stories we have ever heard. Dave was raised in a cult from the time he was six until sixteen years of age. After miraculously escaping, he began to study persuasion. That desire to study and learn persuasion has continued to this day.
Dave also worked for the DEA and infiltrated a satanic cult that was also a drug ring! …what?!
Why does this matter? Because Dave now teaches businesses to leverage psychological and biological responses to increase sales, change behavior, and develop deeper relationships.
His consulting clients include: Bodybuilding.com, GE, P&G, and many more. Dave has also been featured on: The Today Show, The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, CNN, Worth, Business 2.0, Sales and Marketing Management, Inc., and hundreds more.
SOME FUN HISTORY:
In 2006, I (Michael) was recruited to be a marketing partner for the movie, “The Secret”. You know, the movie about the law of attraction that ended with folks like Oprah endorsing it. The one that ended up with James Ray killing a bunch of folks in Sedona, Arizona…
They sent me the DVD, I watched it, then decided I was going to do anything in my power to destroy it and the people behind it…. I failed, but boy did I try.
I saw that Dave (who I didn’t know at the time but had devoured everything he had ever put out) also didn’t like it. So I somehow got through his admin, got on the horn with him and we’ve been buddies ever since.
But the relevant part is that we decided to bring in Blair Warren (another legendary persuasion guy) and run a weekly teleseminar on why The Secret was a dangerous belief system and cult.
I mailed my 400k subscribers, Dave mailed his, and Blair brought his folks in and we deconstructed the belief system, and at our peak would have over 20,000 folks a week on these calls. We agreed to never market to the list, sell anything, etc… just a service and it was not only fun, but I learned more about persuasion during that time period than any time before or after.
So watch the recording, you won’t be disappointed.
Resources Mentioned
Out of Shadows Video (If you’re not in the right wing ”think bubble”, then this will scare the shit out of you. But MORE IMPORTANTLY… this video uses almost all the techniques discussed above and Dave dissects the video for you while explaining how to use these techniques to grow your brand following. You should watch the video in advance if possible to better understand the context of the conversation.
The Harley Davidson Experience Video (The best video Dave’s ever found about how a cult brand forms)