“You might be an idiot if…”
Remember the old Jeff Foxworthy sketch, “You might be a redneck, if…”?
As a comedy album, it peaked at number 38 on the billboard chart.
And it was quite the schtick. He made fun of people for being rednecks, while also smiling and nodding because he knew he was telling stories from his own life.
It was comedic genius.
Well, I don’t know if what I’m about to write is comedic genius or not, but hopefully it will at least give you a valuable marketing lesson.
You might be an idiot if you’re a marketer, signing up for marketing email lists, and you unsubscribe because you get marketed to…
I mean…
So, mere moments ago, I signed for a package from the UPS guy.
It was my new laptop.
The one I told you I needed last week — and that I used as an excuse to run a 24-hour sale.
Clearly, that sale accomplished the goal.
Once I hit the threshold to cover my cost of getting the laptop, I clicked “Buy Now” on Amazon. (Unfortunately the one I got didn’t qualify for Prime overnight!)
That should be an object lesson.
Don’t just pay attention to what I say, and the content of my articles.
Pay attention to what I do.
When I run a sale, EVEN IF YOU DON’T BUY, that’s a lesson.
Watch what I do. Watch what messages you get.
They may or may not all be golden (sometimes I swing and miss).
But they pretty much always come from a place of experience in what generates response.
And yet…
I got an unsubscribe notice. And the comment said…
“You just sent too many emails in quick succession…”
Yes, you got 2 emails per day for 2 days.
One of those was primarily content.
Another was about half-content, half-pitch.
The last two were pretty much straight pitches.
So yeah, it’s a little more pitch-heavy than most of my emails.
BUT…
That’s because Breakthrough Marketing Secrets is primarily a BUSINESS, that is able to provide this free content because it serves as marketing for paid products.
Yes, I try to offer the most valuable content in the space.
And I frequently get feedback confirming that’s how my readers see it, too.
So I understand if you might forget that I am also an advertiser.
But let’s be real…
MARKETING is in the name.
So you should expect that from time to time, I’m going to straight up market to you.
And if you’re in the business of marketing, this is something to EMBRACE!
If you can’t embrace marketing, you’ve got some head trash to clear out…
Frankly, much of our culture has a bias against sales and persuasion, in all its forms.
Including direct response marketing — the kind of marketing that’s measured by sales results generated.
And so we’re taught that marketing and selling is bad.
Just look at who the default villain is in pretty much any movie: it’s the capitalist, the business person. In fact, one of the major marks of a villain in western media is that they want money.
That fills our minds with head trash.
Even those of us who’ve chosen a career in marketing, sales, or persuasion.
Often times, it’s not obvious. And, in fact, it’s encouraged by many people around us.
(Notably, those people often struggle to make a good living and build wealth for most of their life — even if they’re really good people.)
Here’s the thing…
Money — and its acquisition — is ethically neutral.
It’s often a magnifier.
Bad people are able to do bigger, badder things with more money.
AND…
Good people are able to do bigger, gooder (I know…) things with more money.
It’s not the money that’s good or bad.
It’s how you earn it.
Capitalism isn’t bad. Capitalism is the willing exchange of capital for resources. And success in capitalism requires you to raise the value of resources in order to get more capital for selling than it cost you to buy.
There’s a lot of ways to cheat. And a lot of fraud and deception masquerading as capitalism — or operating inside a mostly capitalist economy.
But capitalism at its core is about investing in stuff, making that stuff better, and selling the better stuff for a profit, in a voluntary transaction.
And that profit is a measure of how much additional value you added.
If you’re adding value, it’s your ethical responsibility to make offers…
If I have something I can offer you that I believe you will find valuable, because you fit a certain prospect profile, I MUST make offers to you.
Think about it this way…
I have something that I believe is worth more than what I’m charging, to the right buyer.
That right buyer is sitting there with the money in their bank account, not being put to its fullest use.
If they were to purchase my product, that money would be put to a higher use, because the product they get is worth more to them than the money.
(E.g. — If the content of a piece of training, applied, could make you $10,000, then buying that training and applying what you learn increases the value of any money you spend on it up to that amount.)
In this situation, it’s my ethical duty and obligation to make an offer.
They still have the voluntary choice to buy or not buy (or unsubscribe from my emails).
They’re free to make their own good or bad decision.
But I have to make offers in order to serve them at their highest level.
It’s also important to be BOLD!
Your offers can’t be limp.
If you make an offer with a whisper, it won’t be heard.
The prospect won’t see it.
And they won’t benefit from it.
So you have to be bold and direct. You have to email a few extra times, so they’ll catch it and be able to make an informed decision.
You have to give them a deadline and a sense of urgency, so they’ll actually take action.
These things may come across as pushy.
But if I’m pushing you to upgrade the amount of value you have in your life, for your own good, isn’t it GOOD that I’m encouraging you?
You shouldn’t want any less.
And so that’s what I do.
I make offers.
And sometimes, I make them more boldly than the subtle pitches I throw in as links buried in content.
When I do, it’s because it would be good for you to respond (it’s always good for you to respond).
When I do, it’s because I believe I have something that can increase the value you get in your life.
If you can’t handle that a marketer makes offers, you might be a…
Well, let’s just say that you won’t be a very good marketer.
But if you’re willing to embrace offers — the ones you send and the ones you get (whether or not you respond to them — you might just experience a breakthrough.
Yours for bigger breakthroughs,
Roy Furr
