You’ve probably seen it advertised.

Most people will sneer their nose up at it.

Why?

Because The Artist is a SILENT film.

Sounds weird, right, to have a silent film in 2012?

But it’s really good.

What’s interesting too is the way the film has been advertised: it’s a perfect example of directly tackling your potential customers’ objections.

You see, chances are if you catch an advert for it on television it’ll be a load of ‘normal’ people saying how good it is and how surprised they are.

And it’s the same for the movie poster: it’s covered in ‘testimonials’ compared to, say, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, which just needs a picture of Tom Cruise looking intense on it to tell you everything you need to know about the film.

So, why this testimonial-based approach?

Well, the advertisers behind The Artist cleverly realise that people will hear that it’s a silent film and be put off.

And they also realise that if people just go to see it without realising it is silent, there’ll be mass walkouts.

It’s an understandable objection and the walkouts wouldn’t be because the film is bad… it’s just that modern audiences aren’t used to sitting in a dark room for an hour and a half and watching a film where no one talks.

However…

Instead of shying away from this obvious objection or skirting over it, the advertisers have tackled it head-on.

In fact, they’ve gone as far as to subvert the objection and actually turn it into a benefit by featuring real-life talking heads expressing how they enjoyed it BECAUSE it was silent.

It’s a clever move that will get people talking about the film and likely get a lot more people in the cinema to see it.

Though it might seem backward to point out potential objections to your customers, by tackling them upfront, you significantly increase your sales in the long-term.

Not only does tackling objections head-on give you the opportunity to turn the negative into a positive…

By doing so, you also communicate a level of honesty in a very natural way: inherently, by being open about the possible objection you’re showing that you have nothing to hide.

Building this trust with your customers is essential to succeeding in any business.

The fact is: whatever niche you’re in and no matter how good your product or service is… customers are bound to raise one or two objections.

Let’s say you’re selling a forex strategy that takes ages to put into practice but is very effective…

You have to spend an hour analysing the markets every day and there are fifteen different factors that you need to consider and tick-off before you can place a trade.

Compared to numerous strategies that can be done in minutes, this might seem like a problem, a definite objection.

Now, when it comes to selling it, you could skirt over the issue of time and focus on the other positive elements. But when you fulfil the product, the customer will discover the objection and soon refund.

In such a case you’ve wasted the customer’s time and you’ve wasted your own time.

But, if you tackle the objection head-on in the sales material… if you’re honest about it taking a while, but at the same time you explain that the very fact that it takes a while is what makes it so effective…

Well, in that case, not only will you reduce the amount of refunds because people who don’t want a time-consuming system will not buy it… by being open and honest about it, you might actually change some customers’ minds… they’ll now think, “oh, if it takes longer but makes more money, that seems reasonable, I’ll give it a go after all,” and they’re also less likely to refund because when the product is fulfilled it will more closely match their expectations.

So, rather than sulking and blaming a lack of sales on such objections, try to tackle the objections head-on in your sales and advertising material…

Think of how you could turn the potential negative into sure- fire positive and tell the customer about it.

Oh, and go see The Artist.

But there’s a little more to it…

And to explain, I’m going to enlist the help of a theoretical physicist!

Huh?!

Believe it or not, successful marketing shares much with a fundamental principle of science.

You see, in his ‘Lectures on Physics’, theoretical physicist Richard P. Feynman says:

“The test of all knowledge is experiment.”

Reading his lectures recently, that quote stuck out. But even more interesting is what Feynman goes on to ask: “…what is the source of knowledge?” And “where do the laws that are to be tested come from?”

Now, on first look that’s a bit much. But the answers lie in a simple 3 stage cycle that you can use to increase the effectiveness of marketing for any type of business.

To explain how, let’s take a subject most of us are familiar with – information publishing – as an example…

The test of all knowledge is experiment

Say you’ve produced a new book on weight-loss for men.

OK, good stuff. Now you need to tell people about it and sell some copies…

So, you write a sales promotion.

Question is, how do you pitch it, and who do you pitch it to?

Naturally your first idea would probably be to pitch it at men… Do you want to lose weight? Yes? Then you want this book!

But hang on, because you could scare men into buying it – if you don’t read this book, you’ll get fatter – or you could use hope – if you read this book you’ll get thinner…

Which is the better angle?

Here we’re back to Feynman’s original line: “The test of all knowledge is experiment.” So, you experiment – you try both angles and see which one works best.

“Experiment, itself,” however, only “helps” us to come to a conclusion “in the sense that it gives us hints.”

Let’s say the fear angle comes out top in the experiment. Men are fearful of not losing weight. This is a hint, a hint at something bigger.

The 3 stage cycle of successful marketing

Feynman goes on to say that what is also needed is:

“…imagination to create from these hints the great generalizations – to guess at the wonderful, simple, but very strange patterns beneath… and then to experiment to check again whether we have made the right guess.”

So we have the hint. Men are fearful of putting on weight. Now we must use our imagination. We must go deeper – why are men fearful of putting on weight?

Could it be because they will think themselves less attractive? Could be. And it follows then that men want to attract women… so a good guess would be that a better way to sell your book on weight loss would be to aim it at helping men to attract women…

And another guess… men are fearful that women will not like them if they are overweight. It’s fair to assume this is not unfounded. So we can guess that women are in interested in the weight of men.

Could there then be women out there who want their men to lose weight? Could we aim the book at those women? Is your man a little loose round the waist? Of course he is, but this book will make him thin!

To check these we experiment again, we ‘test’ our guesses.

For the sake of argument, let’s imagine the result is that we actually find…

‘Books on men’s weight-loss sell best to women.’

This is a brand new ‘generalisation’ – one that, in this example, increases your profitability. Without experiment, imagination and testing, we might never have discovered.

We can look at those three factors as a repeating cycle…

An initial experiment provides fuel for the imagining process, which provides ideas for testing, the results of which may give new reasons for experimentation.

Whatever field of business you may be involved with, to discover the great ‘generalisations’, the ‘marketing laws’ that work best, those that lead to the greatest profit, you should follow this simple 3 stage process…

1. First do your initial experiment. Try it, seen what happens.

2. Then go through the imagining process. What bigger ideas does your initial experiment hint at? Develop them and have a guess at what the bigger ideas could be.

3. Then test those ideas. Check to see if your guess were right…

You’ll be amazed at the new marketing ideas you discover.

Don’t get me wrong…

I’m an arrogant git and blow my trumpet on an almost daily basis.

But I know full-well that if I wasn’t surrounded by intelligent people, I’d be struggling.

You see, I think intelligence and idiocy tend to be contagious…

If you spend your time around people who question things, challenge you and force you to work to the best of your abilities you’ll start to question things yourself, challenge yourself and you will work to the best of your abilities.

But if you spend your time around donkeys… well, you’ll end up walking along Cleethorpes beach with a tourist on your back regretting the day you left the comfort of your field outside Louth to pursue a career in seaside entertainment…

In other words: you’ll turn into a donkey yourself!

I was reminded of the value in surrounding yourself with intelligent people whilst I was in Paris this weekend.

As I’ve been reading a lot about Picasso, Hemingway and the whole 1920s Paris thing recently, I went looking for one particular Paris apartment on the Rue de Fluerus between St-Germain-des-Pres and Montparnasse.

Specifically, I was looking for number 27.

I found it; as you can see from this snap of me below: 

You can’t really see it in the photo there, but the plaque above my head commemorates the fact that once upon a time an American writer called Gertrude Stein lived there.

Now, Gertrude Stein is an interesting character who wouldn’t be out of place in a case study from a Malcolm Gladwell book.

You see, Gerty (as we’ll call her) knew everyone.

If I was stood where I’m stood a century ago, it wouldn’t be unusual for me to bump into Hemingway, Picasso, Apollinaire, Matisse or maybe even Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.

All of whom are incredibly famous and very talented people.

And that’s it you see…

Gerty understood that if she wanted to be considered a genius (which she went to great lengths to prove) her best chance was to surround herself with geniuses.

She would invite all the modern artists and writers of the day to her home to discuss art, literature, philosophy and anything else that was on the agenda…

And it’s from those discussions that some of the best art and literature of the 20th century was born.

You see, in this house intelligent people surrounded themselves with intelligent people and that enabled the vast majority of them to become successful in their own right.

Each would ask questions of the other, challenge one another’s ideas and techniques and force each other to constantly work to the best of their abilities.

Of course, arguments happened. People fell out all the time. And with so much ambition flying around, sometimes things got a bit tense…

But it was worth it.

So, my advice to you today is as simple as the subject line: surround yourself with intelligent people!

Seek out people who are ambitious, experimental and up for a challenge…

It doesn’t matter if they’re not in the same field as you, it doesn’t matter if they don’t do the same job as you and it doesn’t matter if they’re a different age to you…

It’s their brain you’re after… their ideas, their insight and their intuition.

If the people around you are dull, downtrodden and dumb don’t just sit there and complain – take control of your own situation and find the people out there who can inspire you to achieve greater things.

I’ve got to admit; it’s a bit cliche and comes largely from reading a few too many books by Peter Mayle…

But my ultimate goal is to semi-retire and buy a house in the South of France. (I say semi-retire as I know that I’ll always want to doing a bit of work no matter how much money I make.)

As it stands I’m on my way to that goal, but I’m still a fair way off just yet. But that doesn’t concern me.

You see, I take a lot of comfort in the fact that I’m doing small, easily actionable things that will inevitably help me achieve that ultimate goal.

What do I mean?

Well…

I’ve gone back to school.

Huh?

What do you mean, Glenn? You manage a successful newsletter, are a highly sought-after copywriter and help thousands increase their own income…

What the heck are you going back to school for?

Well, the reason is twofold.

First, I’m of the opinion that you should never stop learning EVER. For as long as you can you should learn new skills and disciplines so that you’re constantly moving forward.

But the second reason comes down to that ultimate goal I spoke about. You see, I’m going back to school or rather going to a night class to study French.

I can already speak a bit, but I know that if I want to realise my ambition of living semi-retired in the South of France, I’m going to need to be able to speak the lingo.

So, I’ve enrolled in a night class at the local college.

Why you should always take things one step at a time

Obviously, to achieve my goal, I need to make a lot of money and that’s something I’m constantly working on.

And you might think that spending a few hundred quid on a night class is actually taking away from my ability to earn more money not only the monetary loss, but the loss of time too.

But that’s a very close-minded view the fact of the matter is that by enrolling in the course, I’m directly investing in myself and indirectly investing in my ultimate goal as well.

Whatever your ultimate goal might be, I would recommend looking to see if there’s an evening class that would suit your aims and ambitions.

And don’t think for one moment you’re too old to get back in class…

Walking around the Japanese garden in Holland Park recently, I saw a photography class in progress. There were old and young alike and all taking what I expect would turn out to be very nice pictures…

Pictures that any one of them regardless of their age could go on to sell online to a site like Istockphoto.com and generate a bit of extra cash for themselves.

With Your Own Online Business, it’s my aim to teach you as much as I can about making money online…

But when it comes to your ultimate goal and advancing yourself as far as you can, it might be a good idea to find a further education night class that enables you to focus some of your time and develop your skills in an area, like French or photography, that we dont cover in here.

Have a think about it and don’t be late for class!

To successfully sell something – whatever it is – you’ve got to make your copy engage people on an emotional level.

These days I’m usually the one handing out the criticism, but believe me, in my time I’ve had my copy absolutely ripped apart…

And one of the main criticisms I always received – and the main one I dish out these days – is that the copy just doesn’t strike the reader on an emotional level.

You read the headline and maybe the first few pages and all you can think to say is ‘so what?’

When it comes to reviewing any piece of copy, that’s key question to ask – so what?

Even better: what’s in it for me?

Because whether you like it or not, the only reason someone would spare the time to read about your product or service is that they believe there might be something in it for them.

It’s harsh, maybe. But it’s the way of the world.

And if your copy doesn’t grab someone on an emotional level and make them think ‘hey, this affects me’ then you might as well not bother writing it at all.

You might not like it, but it leaves you thinking

The problem is: tapping into people’s emotions can be a tricky thing. Because when you connect with someone on an emotional level, you raise the bar.

Rather than saying ‘hey, fancy trying this’ you’re confronting your customers’ fears, their desires, their beliefs. And because you can’t please everyone all of the time, you’re bound to ruffle a few feathers.

But if you want to succeed, you must.

I respect a piece of advertising far more if it attempts to attract me on an emotional level and providing they’ve got the product or service to back up what they’re saying – then I’d much rather it be that way than trying to attract me with some wishy-washy headline that leaves me thinking ‘so what?’

Take a recent advertising campaign for Corsodyl Mouthwash.

Did you see these adverts?

There’s a pretty woman with a perfect smile going about her business and then the final reveal is that she’s got a missing tooth due to gum disease and the fact she didn’t look after her gums.

It’s a striking advert and as I’m someone who has had problems with my teeth (I was born with my bottom two missing!) it struck me on quite an emotional level.

And bang, they had me wondering if I shouldn’t be using Corsodyl Mouthwash.

I went as far as to ask my dentist who explained that the product is quite good but can cause some staining, so is best used for short periods.

In the end, I didn’t become a buyer, but I certainly respected the campaign by Corsodyl because it had effectively struck me on such an emotional level - which is exactly what they were out to do.

But of course, touching people on an emotional level will undoubtedly upset some and that was the case here.

When you use emotions, expect the bad with the good

There were a number of complaints about the campaign and one form of the advert was banned by the Advertising Standards Agency.

Interestingly though, it was not the emotional angle of the advert that was banned - it was the reference to an ingredient being used by dentists.

The thing is though, the reason people complained about this advert was not because of the reference to the ingredient - it is because they were moved to do so by the emotionally charged aspect of the campaign.

The upshot is, the ‘uncompliant’ detail of the advert was changed and it was again ‘rolled out’ to the public with great success.

Yes, it upset some people. But it worked. And when you consider the fact that the people behind the product believed it does genuinely help prevent gum disease (essentially confirmed by my dentist), you’ve got to say their campaign was a fair one – it was effective, it got the product to more people.

The emotion is the key – not how clever it is

Now, when it comes to people analysing the Corsodyl advert, they might say that the reason it works is because it’s a clever idea – it defies expectations.

You see this beautiful girl and then realise that she’s missing teeth and suffering from gum disease.

But it is NOT in the clever plotting of the advert that its success real lies.

It’s in the emotion – in this case fear – that it instils in the viewer.

Problem is, when it comes to creating copy, people will think that it is the cleverness of the execution that is key, when really a much cruder advert could have done just as well - providing it tapped into that same emotional hook.

So, whatever you do when you’re writing copy, reviewing a piece that you’ve freelanced out or even reading something that you’re considering purchasing – always make sure it gets you on an emotional level.

Because if it doesn’t, it simply won’t work.

Remember, if after reading the headline and getting the general gist of the advert you’re still thinking ‘so what?’ or ‘what’s in it for me?’, chances are the copy is failing and it’s time to go back to the drawing board.

Specifically, you’re in Gertrude and Leo Stein’s home at 27 Rue de Fleurus.

On the walls surrounding you are hung what will become some of the most important works of art ever to have existed.

But that’s all to come…

Right now, the talk around you concerns two specific artists.

Both have pictures hanging on Gertrude and Leo’s walls…

Both are considered to be geniuses…

And both are pushing the boundaries of art to a whole new level.

But their style and belief in what art should be…

Couldn’t be more different!

And despite having a grudging respect for one another’s work, these two blossoming masters are hugely jealous of each other, incredibly competitive and each is determined to outdo the other.

Which is brilliant!

Why?

Because the rivalry between these two artists, the constant need to ‘beat’ the other and the never ending sense of one-upmanship will result in some of the greatest paintings of the 20th century.

In fact, you could argue that their rivalry changed the very course of art.

You see, I’m talking about Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse and whether you’re into art or not, chances are you’ve heard of these two.

I’ve been reading about Picasso for months now and his life is certainly a fascinating one.

I find that there’s so much you can learn by studying the lives of such interesting characters, but what I wanted to discuss today was this idea of rivalry and how it can help you when it comes to succeeding in your own life.

Be glad of competition – it’ll make you stronger

You see, there are not many areas in business (or in life, for that matter) where there isn’t some form of competition…

There are bound to be one or two rivals in your market – at least – who are going after the same customers with the same kind of product or service.

I mean, I have numerous competitors in the world of information publishing. But does that worry me?

Not at all. I love it.

Why?

Well, a number of reasons actually.

For one, having people in constant competition forces me to raise my game. If I get lazy or complacent then they’ll pick up the slack.

I’ve seen it happen to others. They think they’re ahead. They think they’re the best and then boom, complacency kicks in, their quality starts to drop, their ideas seem stale and rivals move in for the kill.

When you know you’ve got good competition lurking, it motivates you to keep pushing forward.

Just like Picasso…

The paintings of his blue and rose periods started to sell very well to collectors in France and Germany in the early 1900s, but did he get complacent and stop bettering himself…?

No. He pushed on with even more determination, developing a style of painting that had never been seen before (cubism) and would become one of the most lasting modern art movements of the 20th century.

But that fear of being over taken isn’t the only advantage good competition can give you.

And I mean GOOD competition.

The better your competition is; the better effect it can have on you.

You see, you can learn from your competition.

If you hold them at arms-length, fear them and hide from them, you’ll get nowhere. Instead you should talk to them, study them, and try to understand them.

Examine what they do and how their approach differs to yours.

If you see that they’re doing something in a better way, consider how you could improve your own approach. If you see them doing something badly, ensure you aren’t doing the same.

Picasso was considered a master draughtsman, yet he struggled with colour.

Matisse on the other hand was a master at manipulating colour but was found lacking when it came to drawing.

What’s interesting is that the two spoke about this. They shared paintings and worked constantly to improve themselves using techniques they effectively stole from the another – Picasso was influenced by Matisse’s use of colour and Matisse by Picasso’s development of form.

So, don’t shy away from competition…

Don’t consider it a bad thing or use the success of a competitor as an excuse for your own struggles…

Embrace competition, welcome it and use it.

Talk to your competitors. Study them. Work out what makes them strong and adapt it. Work out what makes them weak and avoid it.

Help them. Encourage them. Share ideas with them.

The point is, your competition can be the very factor that pushes you to achieve greater success.

Would Picasso have painted some of his best works if it were not for the competitive influence of Matisse?

And vice versa, would Matisse without Picasso?

Chances are: no. So, don’t be afraid of competition – they could well be the very key to your success.

In fact, they’ve become such a big part of society itself that it often becomes impossible to see them for what they really are.

I’m talking about our trusty old inboxes!

But for most people these days, they’re far from trusty.

They’re downright sinister.

Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if an alien race of brain- controlling inboxes didn’t appear in an episode of Doctor Who one day.

They’re the perfect criminals…

No one would suspect them. No one would think they could cause such disruption. No one would think they could kill!

OK, killer inboxes might be a step too far. But only one step.

You see, the truth is: your inbox is nothing more than an answering machine.

It records messages from people that you can listen to in your own time and respond to should a response be required.

Yet the mistake we all make these days is to think that your inbox is some kind of live chat room where there’s some incredible party going on and if you’re not there, you’re missing out.

With people working from home, a general dislike of speaking on the phone and easy-to-use smart phones, it’s easy to see why. I mean, I personally have a lot of very rapid back and forth conversations with friends and colleagues via email.

But it’s a problem.

Why?

Because it’s easy for the line between ‘conversational’ and ‘non-conversational’ emails to blur.

And when it does, non-conversational emails become a huge distraction.

An example…

You receive an email from Pizza Express offering you two-for- one on dough balls. The offer is available all week, but because you treat your inbox like a constant conversation, you open it immediately.

Do that twenty times a day and you’re losing a lot of time.

You see, a distraction does not just last for the few seconds that your attention is diverted…

A distraction has a knock-on effect – you have to refocus, remember where you where, what you were thinking.

Recently a good friend of mine moved to Australia and it’s an email from him that got me thinking about this.

You see, he was dropping me a line to say hello but in his email he mentioned that he’d not had a single email in the past two hours.

Rather than this instilling a sense of loneliness or isolation – a sense that he was being left out of the imaginary party that we believe is taking place in our inboxes – he was actually over the moon…

Instead of being bombarded with a constant series of distracting emails…

The silence of his inbox gave had given him time to think, time to concentrate, time to get some real work done.

Thinking about this, I realised that we do treat our inboxes with far too much reverence.

As I say, rather than using your inbox as a tool to record messages from people who wish to get in to contact with you…

All too often you act like YOU are the tool designed to help the inbox manage ITS workload!

Before long, back in that episode of Doctor Who, humans will have become nothing more than a slave race, ruled over by an elite army of parasitic inboxes.

The good news is: if you feel under-threat from your inbox, you don’t need to call in an extra-terrestrial Time Lord to solve the problem.

No.

You see, all inboxes have a fundamental weakness built into them; a simple flaw that allows you to defeat them with the least amount of effort.

What is it?

Well, if you direct your cursor to the top right corner of your inbox (or the top left for Macs) there’s a red button – often it’s marked with a telling cross.

Click that cross and magically your inbox closes. It simply disappears from view.

Don’t worry: you haven’t killed it.

Instead you’ve just reset it to its original, default role: as an answering machine.

Closed, it becomes nothing more than a tool that allows people to leave you a message you can pick up later in the day, at a time that suits you, without being constantly distracted.

So, if you ever feel like your inbox is managing you rather than you managing it…

Be brave, dear reader, and close it for an hour or two.

You’ll be amazed by the results.

It was a couple of weekends ago now, but as I’m scanning through, something catches my attention. 

It’s a big purple word search puzzle.

Now, this being the Sunday Telegraph I think, hang on a minute, when did they start running purple, half-page word searches in the Telegraph, surely it can’t be that much of a slow news day!?

Of course, there was something else going on. Something I find very interesting.

As you can hopefully see from the quick photo I took of it – what you’re really looking at here is a piece of direct response copywriting.

And in my opinion, it’s a good one.

Now, don’t get me wrong – despite trying to – I’ve not been able to find out how effective this actually was for the company behind it. But I’m guessing it would have worked well.

Why?

Well, when it comes to good headlines, you’re initially looking to grab peoples’ attention and this word search certainly does that.

It sticks out in the paper as plain as day and is unique enough – how many word search headlines have you seen? – to intrigue the viewer.

Then there’s the urgency element. It claims that you have to complete this word search by midnight tomorrow. It’s a standard technique, but is used quite effectively here.

That’s not what’s great about this though.

The real reason I think this will work well is because it encourages the reader to engage with the advert itself.

Most advertising is essentially a passive experience for the reader.

Normally, the only point at which a reader actively involves themselves in an advert is if and when they decide to purchase the product or service by completing the coupon or payment form.

Here though, the reader is engaged from the start. It’s not just reading through a long argument and then filling in a form or handing over your details, you have to actively complete a challenge before you can receive the product.

Would people really respond to an advert that made them work?

Well, in this case, I reckon they would…

Because for a start, I think a lot of people reading their Sunday paper will be in a mood of reasonable contentment and think, hey, I might as well have a stab at this word search, and then once they complete it think, well, I may as well send it off and get this free gift – I could give it to the wife.

Then there’s the other type of person who would see this as a competition and, thinking they can get something for free, would do the word search and send it off – little knowing that successfully completing the word search is the last thing the company behind this are worried about…

The only thing they want is for you to call them or send off your details so that they can go about converting you into a sale.

All in all it’s a clever little idea and I love the engagement angle this concept rests on.

So, when it comes to grabbing people’s attention with a headline for your product or service, think about how you could adapt this idea to your marketing.

How could you engage the reader of your advert and get them involved beyond just reading the advert itself.

I’ll be doing some tests along these lines myself and I’ll be sure to let you know how I get on.

It’s no good your advisor ‘umming’ and ‘arring’ and suggesting ‘this could happen if that does’ and ‘that might go up if this other thing goes down but I’m not really sure if it will, blah, blah, blah’.

Enough!

You want someone to tell you what they think is DEFINITELY going to happen.

And for me, it doesn’t matter if they end up being wrong.

So long as they can support their view with a sound argument that they believe in, and I can understand and agree with the reasoning behind it, I’m happy to go in with them.

A legendary example is an investment guy – Gary North – who thought the world would end in 2000 and told every one to take action accordingly…

It seems nuts now, but he believed it; I think there’s even a story of him burying a tractor in his garden or something in preparation.

Sure, he ended up being wrong but he still believed he had reasonable findings to think that it could happen and continued to argue he had a point.

People respect him not because of what his opinion was, but because he actually had one and stuck to it no matter what.

Another recent example…

I’ve been looking to invest a chunk of money in gold.

I asked a number of so-called experts about the best way to invest in the yellow stuff and all I seemed to get was wishy-washy answers.

Rather than finding a strong opinion, all I could find was caveat after caveat…

And there’s nothing more frustrating that a caveat!

Even the word is pretentiously annoying.

Eventually I spoke to a chap who had an opinion, believed in that opinion and was able to convince me.

Where possible then, you should try to use strong opinions in your marketing.

Of course, this is not a new concept…

But I was reminded of its truth when I got a strange email from the American edition of an e-letter called The Daily Reckoning.

If you’re not familiar with The Daily Reckoning, it started out as a platform for a chap called Bill Bonner to share his thoughts on the state of the world’s economy.

These days, though Bill still contributes daily, the American version of the email also features a number of other contributors.

The other day though, I received an email signed off by a regular contributor that caught my eye.

For a start, the subject line was ‘BORING!’

I hate one word subject lines, but it was a droll enough idea to pique my interest, so I opened up.

The marketing message was from a contributor essentially stating that unless he was featured in The Daily Reckoning, he didn’t read it.

He went on to say, in fact, that The Daily Reckoning was boring and essentially pointless and that if you’ve got any sense, you’ll ignore it and listen to what he says instead.

He then linked to a promotional video that explained more about his own service.

Now, my initial reaction was to think that whoever had authorised this to be sent out to subscribers had gone insane…

I mean, who would let someone email their subscribers to tell them the email they’re subscribed to was rubbish?

It must have been the glass of Leffe I was enjoying at the time that slowed my realisation, but then it struck me.

You see, what this email does is put the reader into two camps…

- People who believe totally in what’s being said in the DR.

- People who have doubts about what’s being said in the DR.

The people who believe totally in the DR will see this and think, hey mate, you’re a jerk, I am not wasting my time reading the DR.

They’re going to stick with the DR whatever and chances are they won’t buy this guy’s newsletter because they wouldn’t agree with his views – which should run contrary to those in the DR (unless it’s a cynical piece of marketing).

But still, because this guy appears to have such a strong opinion AGAINST the DR and against THIER investment beliefs… they’ve GOT to hear his argument.

So, they click through to the promotion and might even be swayed or grudgingly accept his point and buy – if it’s a good argument.

As for those who had some doubts about the DR…

Well, this guy’s strong opinion against it is going to hit them right between the eyes.

His opinion will resonate with the doubts they already have and they’re going to click through to the promotion – and providing the promotion delivers on the contrary angle, they’re likely to subscribe to his service.

And if the DR loses a subscriber to this guy, well, it’s no great loss as the whole reason they’re leaving is because they don’t believe what the DR has to say.

Sure, it’s a risky play…

But the marketing message works because it is brash, because it doesn’t pull any punches, because it doesn’t make excuses.

As I say, unless it’s a cynical message, this guy has a strong opinion that goes against what people usually write about in the DR – if he had tried to make allowances, explaining that you might not agree with him or something like that…

The marketing message would have been considerably weaker.

So, when it comes to your own marketing, make sure you’ve got an opinion, and make sure you believe in that opinion.

Remember that you can’t PLEASE everyone all of the time, but if you’ve got a strong opinion about something, you just might be able to INTEREST everyone…

And if people are interested in what you’ve got to say, well, you’re on your way to a good business.

Success is all about having a youthful, inquisitive and positive mind.

If you didn’t catch yesterday’s issue, it all started when a guy signed up to receive Shortcut Bulletin, but emailed to say he was too old (just over 70) to be successful.

I said rubbish…

And argued that rather than taking such a cynical approach, you should stay youthful and hopeful by continuously developing your mind.

People of all ages got in touch to say YES!

Writes Doreen:

“I completely agree with your email. I am a little older than the gent who thought he was too old.” – Doreen

Ray chimed in too:

“I just read your thoughts here and thoroughly agree with those sentiments… - Ray

“Aged 69 I gave up playing squash because of an eyesight problem but I’ve played this game for so many years that I’ve relished the challenge and it hasn’t done my physical looks any harm either.”

And Dave here…

Well, Dave’s 85 but he’s racking up multiple streams of income and developing his own products to sell.

Check out what he had to say:

“Too old at 71!!! What is he on about? I am 85, walk 4 miles every day, and I do mean every day. - Dave

“Working on my own method of making a tax-free return of about 15% monthly. With a starting bank of £200 I am building a system that will return an average of £100 a day within a four year period. I consider this a worthwhile ‘hobby’.

“Meanwhile, I would like to be the first 85-year old pensioner, on pension credits to make £100,000 in the next twelve months. What a headline that would make for a sales page!”

A big hand for Dave please.

Seriously. He embodies what I was talking about yesterday and just shows that it really doesn’t matter how old you are…

You could start developing your own online business…

You could learn a new hobby like forex trading or sports betting…

And you could – with a bit of hard work and positive focus – reach a point we’re you are making not just an extra income… your new venture could become your main income!

Great stuff all round and thanks so much to everyone who got in touch.

Feel free to email me your thoughts if you haven’t yet.