Let’s talk about why you might be leaving money on the table

But first, a disclaimer

Here at the Sublime Persuasion Porte, we make no pretense of being a billion-dollar marketing juggernaut. The only reason I’m even qualified to discuss this at all is because I have seen these silly mistakes being made repeatedly (either by myself in the past or by people I’ve worked with).

Below are 3 mistakes I’ve observed.

If you’re doing them, then as the Supreme’s Mowtown classic goes:

Stop! In the name of love!

Cut this crap out before you break your heart and your bank.

Honestly , just by NOT doing these 3 things, you can often resuscitate a dying sales strategy

1. Having a “if we build it , they’ll come” strategy 

I’m not going to pretend that marketing is the be-all and end-all of a business’s success.

You need to have a good product/service and give your customers a satisfying experience.

Marketing a garbage service is a recipe for long-term failure

So, marketing isn’t sufficient.

But it is necessary.

And just because you are good at your job doesn’t mean people will want to buy from you.

If you want to sell, you must first attract.

As the great David Ogilvy admonished: “Don’t bore people into buying your product. You can only interest them in buying it”.

People want the excitement of getting your service or product.

They want the dopamine rush of the flirtation, the chase…

At the risk of sounding like a pocket protector- wearing geek ,If you came over to my house, you’d see a whole lot of vintage comic books.

How did this happen, ?

I went into a old-school comic book store and bought be the Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection: The Goblin’s Last Stand

Read it

Coughed up the dough in the same comic bookstore for X-Men Milestones: Fall of the Mutants

Read it

Then scampered to another comic book store in Bellevue to get Punisher Invades The ‘Nam

Read it

Then ferreted out another comic book store in Seattle asking for Chuck Dixon’s deliciously cruel work on the Savage Sword of Conan series.

The be-speckled, portly, pony-tailed owner looks at me and said, “ Yeah I used to sell those editions and I actually have a copy in the back. But now it’s become quite collectible.”

“Ok”, I roll out my shoulders as I warm up for a round of haggling, “so, your saying its gotten more expensive?”

“No”, Comic Book Guy flatly responds while not quite making eye contact with me , “ I’m saying it’s become…. collectible “

The shriveled, black raisin that is my heart drops

“Oh, balls.”

So then, I look online and see that there is an outright bidding war for these books

A bidding war that only pours gasoline on the flames of my excitement

But, to be honest, the delirium wanes after I “consume” the product

It’s the experience of acquiring it that gives us that dopamine hit

One of the subtle benefits of great marketing is rewarding people’s attention of your company with novelty and entertainment

Do this right, and they’ll keep buying from you to get repeated doses of that sweet, sweet dopamine drip.

2. Not understanding your market 

If you’re going to go through all the trouble of creating compelling marketing content, don’t just frantically disgorge it onto the face of anyone who passes by.

Be focused

Aim it at people who are not particularly price sensitive (cheap clients and broke clients are a nightmare to deal with)

Rather, you should focus on people whose purchasing decisions have to do with things other than price

Know who your ideal customer is

Understand their unmet need

Make sure your product and marketing is focused on fulfilling that unmet need

For example, like a lot of people, I go to the dentist.

But I’m also a big advocate of natural medicine and avoid putting toxic substances in my body like refined sugar, pesticides/herbicides, heavy metals, vacci- [ CENSORED BY THE MOST HOLY INQUISITION]

So, I don’t go to any ol’ dentist but a holistic/intergrative dentist specializing in providing the metal-free, BPA-free, and fluoride-free alternatives I’m looking for.

By the way, these guys are specialized enough that they take cash instead of insurance.

Their specialization gives them an opportunity to charge premium prices.

The upshot: Be like these hippie dentists.

3. Deemphasizing design 

Just to be clear , I’m a copywriter and not an artiste. However, working in the marketing space requires me to have some appreciation for how design and aesthetics contribute to a brand’s overall message.

After all, every advertisement you see on TV and print is a combination of words and some sort of visual design.

Anyway, you’d do well to keep in mind that the importance of design isn’t so much about how purty something is but rather about the kind of response you’re trying to get from the customer.

The response, by the way, isn’t just limited to positive emotions like pleasure .

It could be disgust , fear, curiosity, the list goes on.

It really depends on your business model and the target market it’s trying to serve.

For example my brand image is a reflection of my personality . You’ll notice that my website is quite modern and relatively user-friendly but you’ll also notice that I’ve sprinkled stuff in there that reflects my , ahem, unique personality.

My horrified website designer says it juvenile and weird.

That might be true but it’s unquestionably Wes.

Same goes with the design of my book.

After all, in the spirit of that 1980’s song by Cyndi Lauper, I just want to have some fun, dammit!

P.S. My book shows business owners and entrepreneurs the exact steps for using creativity to make lots of money. It costs around $30 everywhere else, but if you join my daily email list by clicking the link below, you can have a digital copy for free.

Get it here: https∶//powerpersuasion.net/