Marketing Secrets with Russell Brunson - The Psychology of “Propaganda” Influence That Every Marketer Needs to Know | #Marketing - Ep. 46

Episode Date: June 23, 2025

Most entrepreneurs try to sell products. Edward Bernays taught us to sell identity. In this episode of The Russell Brunson Show, I break down the hidden playbook behind influence, persuasion, and mass movement creation. After reading Bernays’ book Propaganda, the first of its kind on psychological marketing, I realized we’ve all been influenced by people we’ve never met, often without even knowing it. You’ll hear how these principles apply to modern marketing, from webinars to branding to stage presentations. This is the kind of episode that will shift how you sell, how you communicate, and how you think. Key Highlights: The true story of Edward Bernays, Freud’s nephew and the father of PR How the concept of propaganda turned into public relations and why it matters The simple identity hack that helped us grow ClickFunnels into a movement Why emotional stories sell better than logic and how to craft them How I reframed negative perceptions to flip them into buying beliefs Real examples from politics, religion, and parenting where reframing changes everything When you understand how identity, emotion, and subconscious desires drive decisions, you stop guessing what will sell. You start influencing at a deeper level. Whether you’re running ads, speaking on stage, or building your brand, this episode will change the way you think about marketing forever. Get Russell's book notes here: ⁠http://russellbrunson.com/notes ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sellingonline.com/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://clickfunnels.com/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Special thanks to our sponsors: NordVPN: EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://nordvpn.com/secrets⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! Northwest Registered Agent: Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠northwestregisteredagent.com/russell⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to start your business with Northwest Registered Agent. LinkedIn Marketing Solutions: Get a $100 credit on your next campaign at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn.com/CLICKS⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Rocket Money: Cancel unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠RocketMoney.com/RUSSELL⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Indeed: Get a $75 sponsored job credit to boost your job’s visibility at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Indeed.com/clicks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Russell Brunson Show. This is a first edition copy of the book called Propaganda by Edward Bernays. I spent $12,500 for this copy because it's a first edition and it's got the original slip cover which dramatically increases the value. And it's the first book ever written on like mass persuasion for marketers and for sales people and it is amazing. I bought this one because there's a documentary on Netflix called Propaganda telling the story about Edward Bernays and then there's also another documentary on Netflix called Century of Self and

I watched both of those and I was so fascinated about the story of the author and then what he actually did how he developed propaganda and how he used it to sway wars, he used it to like shift and move markets. It's just, I wanted to learn from the guy who actually did. And obviously you can go buy the book on Amazon for probably 10 bucks, but I don't know, something different when you spend a lot of money for a book, you value it differently and you're more likely to read it, at least for me. The story behind this book and why it's still relevant today, if you go back in time, it

was actually, a lot of you guys know who Sigmund Freud is. And Sigmund Freud was the psychologist who discovered our subconscious mind, or you call it unconscious mind, and he was the one who first was like, using these concepts in psychology to help people and to change their lives, right? No one ever thought to use this stuff

for business or for marketing, and then his nephew, his name's Edward Bernays, Edward's sitting there and he's listening to Freud talk about all this stuff, and Freud's using it for, like, his psychology, here's how you help patients, and you know, how to fix their, the things that are holding them back in life, and he was like to Freud talk about all this stuff and Freud using it from like a psychologist. Here's how you help patients and you know how to fix their the things that are holding them back in life. And he was like, I could use these things

to create mass movements, to get people in mass to move and to change everything. So he took all of Freud's concepts he was teaching and then he came to America and he started using them. And it's funny because Freud was actually super mad about it. Like he's like, you shouldn't be using these things for marketing and sales, but Bernays, like he saw the vision. And so the first campaign he actually used was World War One. Nobody wanted to be in the war. And normally people, when they would sell concept, they would sell like, here's the features and the benefits, right? Here's the features of the war. Like it's going to be really good. We're going to win this. You know, like logically,

they try to sell things and Bernays like, no, people don't choose things logically to do emotionally. And so he started creating stories to emotionally get people to buy into the war. And within a year or so he had, like America as a whole was like bought into war. They believed in it. And it was all because he influenced their feelings prior to this, especially like in America back, you know, a long time ago when they would buy products, people bought what they needed, right?

I need to go get a new shovel. My toilet broke, I'm gonna buy that thing. And what he came in and say, no, if we play off people's desires, we can create wants and then get people to buy what they actually want. Putting these desires in people's hearts, they wanted something and then he could get them to move to buy things or to whatever thing might be. And so it's super applicable today because if you look at like when I'm selling from stage or at a webinar or during a challenge, I am not going off of what people need.

Like they don't need a funnel. They don't need whatever, right? And I create that desire and then that desire is the thing that actually sells them, right? It's tapping into their subconscious beliefs and desires and that's how you get people to move. Like we have a whole event, the whole premise of the event is called subconscious selling. It's all based on the same principles that Bernays figured out and how to use them. Again, Freud used them for clinical psychology. Bernays used them for mass control to get people to move and we're using now for challenges, events, webinars, video sales letters, all the stuff we do in online marketing today.

One of the principles that Bernays teaches in this book talks about people are normally trying to sell products. He's like people don't necessarily going to buy products, they buy identity. You take a product over here and then you're going to attach it to identity and that's the key. So a practical example, when we built ClickFunnels, ClickFunnels is a product, right? It's software. People aren't passionate about software typically, right? And so I was like, okay, I can't just sell a product. I need to attach it to an identity. So I was like, what's the identity of the person who will be using this software, right? So start thinking about that. So

for us, it was like, okay, we're going to create an identity called the funnel hacker. And this is what funnel hackers do and what they believe and how they show up and how they serve. And these aren't people who are trying to get rich quickly. These people are trying to change the world, right? And we created this identity and then we attached the identity to the product. Right? Bernays has a really cool case study propaganda where he did the same thing in the smoking industry. He said that it was after the war happened and then I can't remember who it was.

Whatever the smoking company at the time was, they hired him to like, we saw what you did getting everyone excited about World War I. Can you do that for smoking? And he said, right now men smoke, but women do not smoke. It's not a thing that they do. And so he went back to Freud, like, hey, what would Freud do over here? And he developed a campaign. And what he did is he took the product of cigarette, right? And he had to create a new identity. And so he figured for the female audience who weren't smoking, now what's the identity? What does that look like? And he craft this whole campaign for women. And then he organized

like this dramatic demonstration where news cameras and TV and everything happening. And he craft this whole campaign for women. And then he organized like this dramatic demonstration where news cameras and TV and everything happening. And he had all these beautiful women come out, all smoking cigarettes. They said it was like this torch of for women to show like they were independent and all this kind of thing. And it used the identity of that is what got people to move, not the cigarette, right? Because they couldn't get women to smoke. They tried changing the colors. They tried everything. They couldn't get them. And then when they, he created an identity that other women would want and he attached it to the smoking, then people moved in the masses. Attaching identity product is just one,

like such a simple, such a powerful concept. It's been huge for us at ClickFunnels World. And that initial concept came from Bernays. I had a chance to speak at Grant Cardone's 10X event. And there were 9,000 people in the room. Most of them never heard of me before. Like I was not the famous guy in the room. I was the guy coming in to sell.

And so I got on stage. First 10 minutes of my presentation. I was like, I have to create an identity. I have to create something that. And so I did this whole thing at the very beginning. In fact, we handed out to everybody in the audience, all 9,000 people, we had this packet in the audience and it had a big sticker that said, don't open till Russell Brunson comes on stage. So I came on stage and I grabbed the packet, opened it up and they pulled out and there was a pen and an order form and some notes and stuff like that. But there was a sticker that said funnel hacker on it.

And I explained to everyone what a funnel hacker was. I'm like this is what funnel hackers is how it works. I basically told them what it was. I was like how many guys that sound like you sound like you and they're all like, yes, yes, yes. I'm like, hey, you guys are all officially now funnel hackers. Welcome to our community. We're so glad to have you.

We have this like literally like a sticker they can put on their laptop or on their iPhone case or whatever that show that they were funnel hackers. There's the speaker on the stage and there's the rest of the audience, right? And you're trying to build rapport very, very quickly. But not only am I trying to build rapport, I'm trying to create an identity they can attach to very, very quickly.

And so I did it by showing case studies of other funnel hackers who they related to, who they wanted to be, they saw those people themselves. And then I'm like, okay, how many of you guys wanna be a funnel hacker? Here's like the identity, here's the sticker. If you look at what we've done in the ClickFunnels community, when somebody comes in, we give them a funnel hacker T-shirt.

Man, we've been giving out T-shirts for 10 years to say funnel hacker. I've seen them all around the world, people wearing them. I remember showing this to Kaylen Pollan, and she did the same thing for the Lady Boss movement. She gave people shirts to say, I'm a lady boss. But what's fascinating, she said, when people put it on, she's like, it's like putting on their superhero cape.

And when they said that, I was like, oh my gosh, it's like taking this identity of like, I'm a lady boss, or I'm a funnel hacker. And they're putting on this, the superhero cape, where all of a sudden, like they become something different. They have a new identity. They're no longer Russell Brunson, like the guy on the side of the street. Like I'm Russell Brunson, I'm a funnel hacker.

Like they identify with this thing, which brings them together. And so that's just like one simple way to do that from a stage presentation, but also as you were building a movement of people, is like giving them an identity and literally having them wear their new identity on their shirt like a superhero cape. The more you start studying these different principles, the more you start using them. Like for me, I initially would use them, you know,

again in an audience, but then they become part of your language and you start using it all parts of your life. Another principle that Bernays talks about, it's fascinating because he wrote a book called Propaganda, but then over time, like just that name Propaganda started getting a bad rep because everyone's like, you know, this is propaganda, it became negative. And so he's like, how do I change this? I don't want this to be a negative thing. So he literally changed the concept of what he was doing and

like what he was creating changed it from propaganda to public relations. Like he created, he literally invented PR. And all PR is, is just propaganda. Like it's literally the same playbook. And so it's funny because like you took something that's, that's by one name and then just changed the name and all of a sudden it's like, it's a different thing. You know, like I remember there's a, I can't remember if it was a cartoon or a joke about something like, can you pick up these, these dandelions? Like they're so ugly out of the yard.

And it's like, if you just gave it a pretty name instead of dandelion, like people would actually like it, right? All these grass flowers are beautiful. Or if you had a different name, it would change things. Right. And so for me, a lot of times I look at stuff like that where if I can reframe the message, like somebody is saying something that's negative. It's like, okay, how do we, I hate saying spin it because that's what someone would do in propaganda. That's what it is. Right. How do you spin that thing to be a benefit versus like a negative thing? Right. Joe Sugarman in his

book Triggers talked about this. He got hired by this advertising company and they were selling these an air filter on top of the air filter had this really ugly like gray furry thing. And everyone's like, Oh, that gray furry thing's ugly. So everyone tried to hide it and they couldn't sell it because people would buy it and they'd refund it and it just wasn't working. And what Sugarman did, he's like, I have to change, I got changed perception. So he changed the headline for the ad to like get the air filter thing with I can't remember the headline was, but something about the fuzzy thing on top of it. And he changed it from this thing that everyone's like, oh, this is horrible. It's like that became the benefit. People are like, you just change

the name of it all. Some people like, oh, check it out. And this great thing, this is the thing that makes the whole thing work. And it, it shifted the conversation by making it a benefit versus letting people take the message the way it was. Right. Here we're propaganda. Most people have a negative connotation when you hear that word initially and just like, oh, well, it's just called public relations. Now it's beautiful. So in advertising, it's looking at that. Like what are the negative things people are saying about you, your business, your brand,

whatever, and how do you spend that? How do you change it? You see this a lot in cancel culture. Someone gets canceled and it's like really quickly, okay, well, how do we reframe this message? How do we shift it in a way where it looks different? I mean, over the last four or five years, you look at the people who've got canceled and those who've come back from it.

The ones that have are the ones that are masters at reframing the message and shifting. The ones that haven't don't understand this principle. There's so many ways you can use this. I use with my kids sometimes where we want them to eat healthy food, but healthy food, you call it healthy food, guess what? They will not eat it, right?

So when you come back instead, like we try to reframe the message, like these are the blah, blah, blahs that actually give you six pack abs. Like what? Like yeah, you eat that, you get six pack abs. Because they don't want healthy food, but they want abs, right? They want the, like that's the thing that they want.

And so it's like how to reframe this message so that you're delivering what people need, but you're doing it in a way that gives them what they actually want. I had one quote I wanted to read. All right, so Brene said chapter one, like the second paragraph, he says, we are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes are formed, our ideas are suggested largely by men we have never heard of." Which is interesting. So a lot of us think like, oh yeah, I have my own ideas. I have my own, like I believe these things.

Like, you know, like everyone thinks that they are their own person. But the reality, like you said here, is that our minds are molded, our tastes are formed, our ideas are suggested largely by men we have never heard of. These are people who are on the back who are creating these propaganda or these PR campaigns, whatever you want to call them, right? So you look at that, it's like, if you look at any area of your life, like this stuff is happening, right? Propaganda, again, was brand new in the early 1900s when this book was first written, but it's the same Bible that people are using today. You look at political movements, right? Like recently,

we had an election and you look at this, like both sides, left and right, are using this at deep, deep, deep psychological levels. They're not just like hoping they're going to win. Like they are looking at this playbook and they're figuring out all the different things, like all of the different principles that Bernays was influencing and doing. The things he learned from Freud initially, they're using them in politics for positive or for negative. They're using them on not just politics as a whole, but every single policy. You'll get any policy that's heated, that there's a charge behind it. The reason why is because there are people on both sides fighting back and forth using propaganda. Whenever you see something that's charged or heated, it's because both sides taking the same

issue and they're using propaganda against it. And you see this religiously a lot, right? You think the base of religion is all about love, right? Like almost every religion, like that is the key foundational thing yet there's so much fighting and wars between it and why? It's because people have these things that they believe in, right? These ideologies, these whatever, and then they use internal propaganda to try to prove that they're right and that someone else is wrong. They say that the word war, W-A-R, stands for we are right. It's like two people fighting over both thinking that they're right and they're both coming in, they're using propaganda, they're using these same principles to try to persuade people to their side of the table. And so it's important to understand

because number one is you are being persuaded literally every day. And most people don't think they are. Like you look at the paragraph two of the propaganda book, like your life is being dictated, your mind, just like all these things are happening by men you're not even aware of, right? There are people behind the scenes who are creating the advertisements, the YouTube videos, they are creating like music, the culture, like all these kind of things are being like we think that they're just like, oh, this is just how the world is. It's like, these things are very much thought through. People are engineering and they're puppet mastering this. And so it's becoming aware of it on your first on your side so you can protect yourself. So you can actually make good decisions.

But number two is after you understand it, like this is how you influence people, right? If you want to have influence on people, if you want to change people's lives, you want to help people get from one spot to the other, especially when maybe they don't, they don't want to like, you have to learn how to do these things because this is how you're able to move people, change their lives, and when you really understand all of the principles behind mastering propaganda or PR. Okay, so I'm going to switch to Pitch Russell for a second now. If you want, I have all my notes and outlines from all the stuff I pull from propaganda.

I even have a full doodle of kind of framework that I built that I can use over and over again as I'm kind of going through these campaigns with the marketing and advertising I'm doing. If you want to that, I'll have a link in the description and get a free copy of it. And number two is during the election, I actually made a really cool video showing the two different sides, their funnels, what they were doing, what worked, what didn't work. This is before the election results happened. So you get my kind of my opinion based on their marketing, who was going to win. If you want to watch that video, there's a link right here to check it out. Other than that, I hope you enjoyed this video on propaganda.

Again, this is one of the most powerful things you can learn and master if you want to persuade people, move them and change their lives.