Kids Playing with Needles, Tiananmen Square & Raging Capitalism
Ever see the famous 1989 picture of the student in China standing off against four tanks? That’s Beijing’s Tiananmen square. We went there yesterday. It’s vast, big enough for literally a million people.
The 1989 incident is just one of many reasons for the “Great Firewall of China,” the massive content filter manned by the Chinese government.
Subscriber Liz Parrish posted this on my blog the other day:
“I was in Guilin for 3 days in the fall of 1989. Tiananmen Square happened in June, I was in Guilin in October.
“In the gift shop of the hotel, they had said booklet telling the “real” story of what happened at Tiananmen Square, how the outsiders had incited the peaceful students to protest, etc. I nearly bought it but couldn’t quite bring myself to hand money to the Chinese government after what had happened.”
Hey baby, that ain’t nothin’ compared to the worship of Chairman Mao. His statues are everywhere and his face is on the money. Despite the fact that this guy was, uh, one bad hombre.
To a person, people here have admiration for Chairman Mao. They wear Mao hats and t-shirts and speak of him with reverence.
Who can appreciate the power of . . . persuasion . . . more than marketers?
Special offer, inspired by my China trip: I’m doing a one-time only seminar in Macao, Asia’s Gambling Capital. This seminar is called “Marketing Secrets of Chairman Mao.” It’s $49,000.00. Non-refundable. It will be staffed by a special “compliance crew” who will physically demonstrate these marketing secrets to you, until you accept their truth. Please email propaganda@perrymarshall.com if you’d like to receive pre-registration materials. ***Comes with special bonus: My new book “Josef Stalin, friend of children and puppy dogs.”
Lest you think today’s message is a bash China session, though, I’d like to show you the other side of the coin. I’ve been quite impressed with China this week.
First of all, yes, China is officially a “Communist country” but make no mistake, it’s the world capital of capitalism. It’s no welfare state, let me tell ya. It’s the most Darwinian place on earth. If it makes money, somebody’s doing it in China.
I was in China in ’04 and several things have dramatically changed since then:
1) We visited the “Drum Tower” in Beijing the other day. Looked over the city. I suddenly noticed the absence of . . . SMOKESTACKS. The last time I was in China, I would have seen twelve of ‘em. If not 20. All belching filth into the sky. In every city you can think of. This time in Beijing, I saw one from the Drum Tower. Just one.
Wow.
Why is that?
It’s the Olympics in 2008. Man did they clean that place up to get ready for it. It might have bankrupted the Greeks but it left China much cleaner. Oh, and yesterday, the day we left Beijing, the sky was as clear as it is in Chicago. Well, almost. It wasn’t smoggy like the day we arrived.
Years ago my buddy Tom Hoobyar predicted: “The Chinese will perfect environmental remediation and then sell it to the world.” Wouldn’t be surprised if he turns out to be right.
2) I visited a lake, near the “Hutong” historic neighborhood. It didn’t stink! It was lovely. In the past, when you walked past a lake or river, it smelled foul. No more.
3) No litter. In 2004 litter was everywhere. Now it’s gone. Streets are clean.
4) No plastic bags. China used to have these paper thin plastic bags that would blow around and get stuck in everything. Awful. The government banned them. Now you don’t see ‘em anymore.
5) They’re cracking down on piracy. No more pirated CD’s on every street corner.
6) Last time I was in China, EVERYONE smoked, especially the men. Cigarette butts everywhere. Not this time. Not many people smoking and hardly any butts.
I cannot imagine the US doing a 180 on that many fundamental issues in 7 years. It’s probably impossible in a democracy. But when the Chinese government decides to change direction, baby, they lay down the law.
I had a friend whose grandmother lived in Pittsburgh in the 50′s and when he would visit, the place was filthy from steel mills. If you hung white sheets on a clothesline in the back yard, they’d be gray when you brought them in. That was from the soot.
Pittsburgh cleaned up; I hope you know it’s not like that anymore.
China is cleaning up too.
China is growing like crazy. Growing countries have growing pains. You can’t go anywhere without seeing a huge construction crane in the distance. Or maybe 5 of them. They have a rapidly growing middle class. They have way more cars than before, and they’re nicer cars.
So anyway, yeah – we went to Tiananmen square where my boys played hackeysack. Saw a Kung Foo show, which was absolutely amazing. And got rickshaw rides in the Hutong with a really great tour guide who spoke great English. My 11 year old “The Artist” pummeled him with questions about Chinese characters.
You can see some of Laura’s pics at
http://compassionmama.blogspot.com/2011/11/beijing-day-3-hutong-and-tiananmen.html
Yesterday we flew from Beijing to Kunming to Lijiang. That’s sort of like flying from Philadelphia to Denver to Aspen Colorado. But our flight was delayed a few hours and we only had 45 minutes to make a connection.
This wouldn’t have been a problem except that they couldn’t check our bags through so we had to go pick up our bags and re-check them.
A super-helpful woman from the airline took pity on us and moved us to the front of every line. We made it with 3 minutes to spare.
It’s hard to describe how much China has changed in the last 11 years, since the first time I was here. Back then, white people were something of an anomaly. When Bryan first moved here in ’00, people would yell at him as he walked down the street:
HELLO HELLO MARIAH CARY MICHAEL JORDAN! HELLO HELLO!
When I visited, most of the cars were these pitiful little tin cans, or else trucks that looked like tractors, or these big blue diesel monstrosities.
Now you see Toyotas and Buicks and an occasional Mercedes.
Prices here have doubled or tripled in the last 10 years. What used to be a smash buy is now merely a nice bargain. And expensive stuff is the same here as it is in the US. At top rated hotels, a cup of coffee costs 5 bucks – it used to cost 50 cents.
It still costs 50 cents or a buck at the cafe down the street. But the difference is peoples’ willingness and ability to pay. The distance between top and bottom here is huge. The top goes up and up. As Jay Abraham likes to say, “How high is up?”
OK, one last tidbit before I go – and I promise to post some awesome pictures in the next day or two.
Where I am right now in Yunnan, there’s this bizarre fad, which is giving kids IV’s. As in, feeding kids intravenously just for the fun of it. Once in awhile you actually see someone walking down the street next to their kid with an IV. Today I saw an IV store, they sell the supplies. Just like a pharmacy.
It’s not cuz the kids need it. It’s because they think it’s good for ‘em. Sort of like vitamins or something.
Hideous but true.
I wonder what WE do that THEY think is totally insane?
More to come soon-
Perry
Learn How Google +1 Affects AdWords with John Lee
Google has been making strides in social; and so far there’s only one of these changes that has affected ads – the +1 button.
This button has many marketers confused about who can see a +1 button next to their ads, if they can remove the button, how it will affect CTR and Quality Score, etc.
There’s an answer to all these questions: the next Marketing Nirvana show.
My guest will be John Lee, the Director of Client Services at Clix Marketing who has really dug into this button and how it will affect you.
You can also follow John on Twitter at @John_A_Lee.
In the show we will discuss:
- What is the +1 Button
- What does it do
- If you can opt out
- Quality Score & CTR impacts
- And much more…
The next show will air on November 7th at 12 EST / 9 PST on WebmasterRadio.FM.
You can also subscribe to the show at iTunes or listed to the archives at Webmaster Radio’s Marketing Nirvana Page.
If you missed either of the last two few shows, you should check them out at iTunes or Webmaster Radio.
- Search Query Data with Chad Summerhill
- Devising Killer Facebook Ads with Marty Weintraub
- Quality Score in High Resolution with Craig Danuloff
- And of course, many others…
I hope you enjoy the show.
Learn How Google +1 Affects AdWords with John Lee is a post from: Certified Knowledge
Willpower for Marketers
I was listening to a scientific review of all the psychological research
on willpower today and learned a few reasonably surprising things I
think we marketers should take note of:
1) It’s not a yes/no thing, but more like “gas in the tank”
2) Willpower is 100% proportional to your blood sugar.
If you spike and dip, you not only lose willpower regarding
food, but regarding everything else you’re working on. It
doesn’t matter how determined or “strong willed” you
try to force yourself to be… if you let your blood sugar
dip too low, all bets are off. (This was the biggest and
most consistent finding)
3) Mental work depletes the gas in the tank… especially
the work of making difficult mental decisions.
4) You can improve your ability to retain willpower longer
(your “fuel efficiency” if you will) by working on odd habits.
For example, teaching yourself to always eat with your left
hand (if you’re a righty) improves your willpower for workouts,
financial discipline, food, etc.
5) Choose ONE major willpower goal at a time. For example,
never try to lose weight while you’re also trying to totally
revamp your work or sleep habits. Studies show this actually
results in regression.
6) Thinking of lofty concepts like God, the meaning of life,
and who you want to be in the world seriously increases willpower,
whereas focussing on the mundane seriously decreases it.
(E.g. focus on WHY rather than HOW)
7) Women struggle with willpower during PMS because they
let their blood sugar drop. Their reproductive needs require
an extra 120 calories a day at that time of month, but they
rarely let themselves have it, so they get really moody instead.
(I wish I knew this 20 years ago!)
Name of the book is “Willpower Rediscovered” and the author
is Roy Baumeister. It’s written in the same style as Cialdini’s
“Influence” book (thorough research review followed by summary
of principles discovered)
IMPLICATIONS FOR MARKETERS
a) Decide on your single most important marketing goal and singlemindedly
focus on it to the exclusion of everything else. Of course you can have other
goals in the background, but don’t focus too much energy on them.
(In retrospect, EVERYTHING of significance I’ve ever accomplished
was during a period of single minded focus like this)
b) Find some easy to change, totally unrelated habit to integrate.
Maybe doing 3 pushups as soon as you roll out of bed. Or brushing
your hair before bed. Or brushing your teeth with the opposite hand.
(ANYTHING – as long as it’s ultra easy and signals a consistent change
in controlled behavior)
c) Snack on healthy protein throughout the day. (Raw seeds, lean
animal protein, etc). Don’t let your blood sugar spike or dip… your
BANK ACCOUNT depends on it at least as much as your health does.
d) When you’ve got a long day of particularly difficult problems and
decisions to make, emphasize #3 even more. Otherwise, you’ll wind
up leaning towards overly safe status-quo type of decisions which
don’t produce progress.
e) When you set a single minded marketing goal, take the time to think
about WHY you’re setting it. Don’t be content with “features” like
money, fame, etc. Think about loftier BENEFITS such as THE
PERSON you will be when it is achieved… how will it change your
contribution to the world? Your family? Community?
Food for thought…
G 
www.HyperResponsiveMarketingSecrets.com
PS – The only thing I took issue with was their understanding
of the 12 step programs. They reviewed research which showed
they were equally effective to all other forms of treatment, and
concluded that means they should be taken seriously. But they
neglected to mention that NO treatment for addiction works
much better than doing NOTHING at all, and some make
the problem worse.
Proof Hiding Disease
Do you or a loved one suffer from Proof Hiding Disease?
Proof Hiding Disease (PHD) is a tragic illness which spreads from marketer to marketer faster than a stud rooster in a chicken coup…
You know what I mean…
PHD is that disease which makes you say “I think I’ll bury my accomplishments on my About page, because that’s where nice, proper people with good breeding put them. We can’t be bothering the prospect with good reasons they should trust me… it’s just not polite”
(As opposed to plastering it all over the page and near every claim… like I do on www.HyperResponsiveMarketingSecrets.com for example )
PHD is that creepy feeling that makes you forget to screenshot your Facebook or Twitter account when someone says something cool about you or your product…
It’s that sick feeling in your gut which prevents you from organizing your publicity mentions…
Or talking about your successes…
Or implementing a testimonial gathering system…
Or shooting that product demonstration…
Or holding a free seminar just so you can get people raving about your product or service ON VIDEO.
Yes, Proof Hiding Disease is very real indeed, and it’s costing our economy millions.
Go. YES YOU. Right now!…
Dig through your site for hidden proof and move it front and center to back up your claims. It’s probably the #1 thing you can do to bump your conversion this month…
And if you’re like most marketers I’ve met, I’ll bet my left testicle you’ve got some powerful proof, sitting buried somewhere polite people wouldn’t think to look.
Come back here and tell me what you did OK?
Dr. G
PS – One of the things which drove my success more than any other was gathering any and all proof about ME over the years, even if it seemed irrelevant and I had NO idea how I was going to use it.
For example, I did a lot of surveys back in the late 80s and early 90s about weird and diverse topics like “Who calls 900#s?”, “Are fat people happier?”, “Do smokers have trouble eating cheese?”, “what’s your money personality?”, etc. Whenever I’d get any press (sometimes they were feature stories, but lots of times they were just one liners), I’d xerox it for my files and add “his work has been covered in ____” to my CV. Before I knew it I looked like a giant, and I could say so on any project I was working on. And people stopped asking for references on the large projects… all because I got me cured of that pesky proof hiding disease.
GO! YOU! Now! :-)
Attend the Top 11 AdWords Mistakes Webinar Next Tuesday
Updated: Doh! It’s on Tuesday, 9/13/11
Next Wednesday, 9/14/11, I will be conducting a free webinar on the top 11 AdWords Mistakes as part of my Market Motive PPC class.
What I find top mistakes lists are useful for are learning what you don’t know so that you can focus on the areas where you can improve your PPC campaigns.
I often talk to advanced marketers who are unaware of modified broad match or aren’t using the display network properly. The webinar will be geared to all experience levels.
This workshop will cover the top 11 mistakes in about half an hour; and then we’ll leave plenty of time open for Q&A afterwards.
You can register for the webinar here.
I hope to see you there.
Attend the Top 11 AdWords Mistakes Webinar Next Tuesday is a post from: Certified Knowledge
Elephant Dreams, Cockroach Problems, and Marketing Success
Elephants, marketing projects, and small business successes have a LOT more in common than you might think… First and foremost, ELEPHANTS LOOK A LOT SMALLER FROM A DISTANCE:
When you look at an elephant way off yonder you get a fuzzy, warm feeling in your heart, your mind starts imagining how nice it might be to own one as a pet, you start dreaming about how different your life would be with that warm hearted, brilliant mammal gracing your days, and you become literally delighted about how easy it’s going to be to get him on board, feed him, and keep him happy…
You figure any and all problems associated with your beloved new fantasy “elephant in the distance” can’t possibly be bigger than cockroaches, and surely you’ll crush them with a single step (or rely on your new pet to do it for you).
But the problem is, when you actually adopt an elephant, and get to see what he looks like up close you realize…
That sucker is gigantic, mean, and hungry!
(And get ready to MOVE OVER in your bed and have plenty of sleepless nights, because you know where a 5,000 pound elephant sleeps? Anywhere he wants to!)
It’s the same thing with marketing projects and small businesses in general.
There’s something about the entrepreneurial nature which draws us to them, thinking they’re these ultra cuddly, playful, easy to manage bundles of small little joy which are going to enrich our lives…
When in reality if you REALLY want to raise and keep any worthwhile elephant, it’s probably going to overtake your life for a year or two until you’ve got it tamed (and then it can be wonderful).
In fact, all the successful entrepreneurs and marketers I know seem to embrace and accept this fact.
Sure, in every market there are probably only six real things you need to know in order to stand out from the crowd with a point of difference benefit. That makes it sound EASY… But which six are they? How much research is it going to take to not only figure that out, but to MAKE THOSE SIX POINTS A PART OF WHO YOU ARE… so that you naturally and effortlessly convey them in everything you say and do, and infuse them with passion in all your marketing materials.
Sure, all you really need to do to dominate a market is get in the game and stay in the game until you win it, continually testing and tracking and tweaking your way up the “beat my control” ladder to success…
But it’s EASY to talk about testing…
It’s HARD to do it!
Because testing requires traffic, and traffic requires either time or money. So in reality every single market test you do consumes resources. And once you ARE profitable in the market, every time you divert a percentage of your traffic to a NEW, untested approach, you’re risking that profit at minimum for the duration of the test. (Every marketer is familiar with the phenomenon of getting steady increases with tests early in the game, then reaching a point of diminishing returns where 9 out of 10 tests don’t beat the control… those tests are expensive… WORTH IT, if you manage them correctly, of course, but expensive nonetheless)
Moreover, just like you’ve gotta do research to figure out the six main ideas in every market, you’ve also got to do research to find HIGH LIKELIHOOD PROFITABLE TESTING INPUTS. (As an aside, most people think they’re testing different inputs when in reality they’re just testing versions of the same approach… you’ve got to test radically different and distinct inputs to maximize your testing gains)
OK, I think you get the idea.
What’s the solution?
First of all, remember the premise… most elephants worth raising are big and mean, even though they look small and cuddly in the distance.
That’s the bad news.
The good news is, they look that way to your competitors too… but now you know it and they don’t.
So you can spend the requisite amount of time choosing the RIGHT elephant to adopt, and allocate the right amount of time and resources when you do…
If you do this, you’ll not only be disproportionately less likely than your competition to quit or run out of resources, but you’ll be disproportionately more even keeled and ready to handle the size of the problems and adversity likely to face you when tackling any truly worthwhile project.
On a more practical level, knowing the rule of distant elephants means you’re more careful about choosing your market, and researching it carefully once you have before you start spending money on marketing.
There’s nothing wrong with adopting an elephant if you know what you’re getting yourself into. And the truth is, I can’t think of anything worthwhile in my life I’ve ever accomplished which didn’t have a few elephants involved.
Onwards and Upwards,
Dr. G
Choose Profitable Markets | Research Them Carefully
PS – This post inspired by a blog article by Uri Geller.
My Deepest, Darkest Secret
I really shouldn’t tell you this…
Every fiber in my being tells me it’s wrong…
It shouldn’t be like this…
I shouldn’t behave like this as a professional marketer, psychologist, and family man…
And I know many of you will drop me down several levels of respect when I reveal it…
Because there are some things we shouldn’t do as marketers (human beings!) no matter what the rewards…
But I’ve got ONE deep, dark secret which I’ve been holding way too long and it’s killing me…
So I weighed the options, considered the consequences, and have decided I’m ready to reveal the truth.
And the truth is (I totally can’t believe I’m going to say this)…
I LIKE “SOUTH PARK”
There.
It’s out.
The shameful truth… I’m so embarrassed.
It started about 10 years ago when I had an 11 year old patient who started talking about the show, and I needed to tune into what he was saying. (At the time, I had to watch LOTS of adolescent shows and listen to adolescent music to stay “hip” and able to connect with the kids)
And, what can I say, it got me…
I would feel a sense of inner disgust (even if you love it, you’ve gotta admit, it’s totally gross and “wrong”), but was simultaneously glued to the screen, then finally laughing my a__ off… all by myself while my wife left the room.
I knew I was hooked when I kept watching even after I had retired from my psychology practice. ”Just one more show” I’d say to myself.
So there you have it.
Someone you might think is perfectly respectable, a pillar of the community, known to rock a room with a suit and tie and a highly intellectual marketing speech, secretly and maniacally laughing at an adolescent TV show any chance he can get.
Why am I telling you this?
Because if I were in your target market and you didn’t know my deepest, darkest secret, you’d be missing out on a whole set of metaphors and stories to use to connect with me.
And you know what?
MOST marketers do NOT know their market’s deepest, darkest secrets. Most marketers barely know their market’s demographics (and are stumped when I ask them the difference between the demographics of their prospects and the demographics of their buying audience)
Getting at the market’s deepest, darkest secrets is at the core of effective emotional marketing.
To do it, you’ve gotta know how to interview people in a group to get them sharing, and make it socially acceptable to share things which they think are evil.
OH… and you’ve got to be comfortable with your OWN deepest, darkest secrets as well, or else you’ll prevent your audience from sharing theirs with you!
In a few weeks I’m going to be launching a very low end monthly webinar all about emotional marketing… I hope you’ll watch for it and join us. (I’m going to price it at a no-brainer level at first, maybe even as low as $17/mo, because in assessing what people really still need who’ve been through my systems, it’s this kind of personal experience in critiquing sites from an emotional perspective, finding emotional hot buttons, and translating them into the right consumer language and imagery to drive purchase)
Keep your eyes out.
Dr. G
PS – “OMG, they killed Kenny!”
Hyper Responsive Club | Total Conversion Code | Emotional Interviewing Service | Coaching | Hourly Consults
Chasing the Internet Dream
Listen, we’re all chasing the same dream … “escape the dollars for hours trap by moving some electrons around the internet using auto-piloted systems while our bankers scratch their butts and look at us curiously wondering how it all works”
Am I right?
Now there are a lot of people out there telling you it’s easy. In fact, some are telling you it’s VERY easy.
Which leads a lot of people to have broken hearts, shattered dreams, and to dig very large holes of debt for themselves.
And worse yet, it prevents people from following through with focus and determination … which in my estimation is the ONLY way to conquer a market (even WITH my particular skills, background, and research methods)
Let me ask you this … HOW COULD IT POSSIBLY BE EASY?
According to the latest stats I’ve seen, 88% of searchers NEVER go beyond page one of the search results, and the vast, vast majority of those click on one of the first five links (both paid and organic).
Which means there’s room for only about 10 players in any given market. Which means you’ve got to figure out how to be amongst the TOP TEN VENDORS IN THE WORLD for your market to get ANY significant traction.
So let me ask you, is there ANY other endeavor where people would so easily believe it is EASY to become one of the top ten in the world?
When you put it like that, all the internet hype kind of melts away, doesn’t it!
Now, before I leave you too depressed, the counter-claim to all this is that there are tens of thousands of markets … and the vast majority of marketers have NO idea how to …
- Focus on relationship building with prospects
- Do their research appropriately
- Understand the “keyword conversation” behind each search phrase
- Gather free competitive intelligence
- Fully optimize their sites for organic traffic
- Please the Adwords Quality Score Monster
- Use audio, video, and graphic design effectively
- Emotionally connect with their prospects and customers
- Relentlessly build value with back end products and continuity
- Test, track, and continually beat their conversion rate
- Write compelling copy
- Actually talk to their customers and prospects
- Estimate the necessary resources to deliver value better than their competitors
- Determine which competitors to copy and which to avoid
- Identify market gaps, etc.
Which is WHY I say it IS entirely possible, but it takes SERIOUS focus and determination, usually over a period of at least 4 to 6 months for a new market, and sometimes more than a year if it’s very competitive.
POSSIBLE … 100% DOABLE … but NOT 100% DEFINITE or EASY.
My intention was to paint a picture of reality for you in hopes you’d be able to be kinder to yourself when assessing exactly how far you’ve come, what you know, what you don’t, and what lies ahead.
How’d I do?
Perry Marshall
with Glenn Livingston
YouTube SEO Best Practices (MP3)
Most marketers know that YouTube now has more viewers than CBS, NBC, and ABC TV combined. Yet they still struggle immensely to figure out how to integrate YouTube into their marketing mix.
Enclosed (below) is an MP3 with our resident YouTube expert, Andrew Frain. Best practices reviewed… some unusual tips you probably haven’t heard elsewhere.
Listen now while you’re thinking about it, and you just might find that extra traffic you’re looking for.
Enjoy,
Dr G
Humpty Dumpty Marketing Insights
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again
Most recently attributed to Lewis Carrol (Through the Looking Glass), the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme actually contains several important insights of value to marketers.
First and foremost, Humpty Dumpty’s position high up on the wall might be interpreted as the distance so many of us try to keep from our markets. I see this again and again in the students who become obsessed with my “abstraction tools and methods” (quantifying things in spreadsheets, building statistical models, and predicting consumer behavior… much of which is covered in Glenn Club)
Abstraction is a vital tool for marketers… and the absolute best marketers I know are all fans of spreadsheets and segmented response rates.
True enough.
But it’s all too easy to fall in love with abstraction, and in doing so, to lose touch with the market.
Of course, the lesson Humpty Dumpty taught us was that to do so is to set oneself up for a BIG fall… to suddenly find yourself overwhelmed by competitors, or with customers leaving you in droves when the market takes a dramatic shift without your awareness.
More importantly though,”all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again”…
There are some falls from which you can’t recover, no matter how smart you are, no matter who you surround yourself with, and no matter how many resources are at your disposal.
I learned that lesson personally from a treasured mentor when I was a very young psychologist (thankfully before I started working with suicidal people!)
One of my first patients was a young, inner city woman with who came to the clinic where I was an intern in order to get help in leaving a life of prostitution. She was depressed and anxious, but genuinely interested in making a change… against the interest of several people in her circles (I leave that part to your imagination).
So here’s what happened. (Changing several details to protect her identity, but not the essence of the story)
I made a genuine connection with her in the first few sessions. I helped her talk about her plans, got her connected with a social worker, helped her get involved with the relevant community resources, and finally to begin opening up to me about how she got into the life in the first place.
And then I broke the egg.
It was a simple, uncaring moment…
I had to excuse myself to use the lavoratory…
And before I went, I reached into my suit jacket (hanging on the chair), and grabbed my wallet to take with me.
She blurted out “I ain’t no thief!” (she was right), and wasn’t there when I returned.
When I went to talk to my supervisor about the incident, I was SURE he would tell me what to say, and how/when to say it to get her back. I imagined he was experienced enough to know how to solve any situations.
But he simply told me “Glenn, you can’t unbreak an egg”
Ouch!
A painfull lesson which stayed with me always.
I wasn’t in Kansas anymore, and we were playing at the big boy’s table. People’s lives were on the line.
Now, the same thing happens to most marketers at some point in their career.
For example, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve spoken with people who have a VERY successful product they’ve been selling almost entirely by Joint Venture, and they’re SURE they’ll be able to sell it to a cold audience via PPC. Many have developed years worth of support materials, follow ups, etc., and are sure these will be of great help in porting the success to the paid traffic arena.
To no avail though… because that egg’s REALLY hard to unbreak.
One of the quintessential marketing lessons in the last decade (especially as the internet evolves and people expect increasingly more specialization) is “You can market to the audience you’ve researched and built your foundation on… period”
Or maybe you chose a price point much too high for your market out of the gate, but you sold a few hundred units anyway. Sorry… almost impossible to go backwards once you do that. (You can always go up, it’s very hard to go down without really pissing off your customers)
Or maybe you spent a year building a product in the absence of research and a specific audience to sell it to, and now you’re knocking your head against the wall trying to make progress.
I rarely see those projects work.
There ARE indeed some eggs which all the king’s horses and all the king’s men can’t put back together again!
As a thought experiment, perhaps you can look back on your own marketing projects (or heaven forbid, one you’re working on right now), and ask yourself if you’re trying to unbreak an egg? Much better to know sooner than later.
Food for thought,
Dr. G
PS – Although the painful lesson never left me, I actually DID unbreak the egg with that patient. She eventually came in for another session, at which point I immediately handed her my wallet and asked her to hold it while I went to the bathroom. She smiled knowingly, sat down, and handed it back to me with every dollar intact. Pivotal moment for her (and myself)
