12 lessons that took me from amateur marketer

To making $50 million in an (almost illegal) industry:

#1 "Don't sell Mario the Flower, Sell Mario Fire Mario"

What you sell is not the product,

You sell what the potential customer is able to do with it.

benefits > features

#2 Don't tell people how your product is better:

Tell people how your problem solves their problem.

Example:

>faster?
>cheaper?
>less headache?

Examples:
McDonald’s doesn’t sell food, they sell convenience

Tinder doesn’t sell an app, they sell dates

Airbnb doesn’t sell stays, they sell cheaper travel

Know what your product does and market the sh*t out of it

#3 Don't tell people what you do,

Tell them what you can do for them.

No one cares about you,

What can YOU do for them?

#4 Don't make your customer feel dumber than you,

Make them feel understood by you.

Take this quote from David Ogilvy to heart:

"The customer is not a slowpoke. She's your wife"

#5 Don't focus on what your product costs, focus on the ROI your product brings.

After all,

Your product/service brings ROI...

...doesn't it?

#6 If you want to sell a $50 product, don't put it next to a $5 product...

Put it next to a $500 product.

'Anchoring' is a very valuable concept if you're in marketing.

If you're not familiar with anchoring:
"Use of the anchoring effect in marketing takes advantage of a flaw within the human mind which means we do not consider the value of an option based on its intrinsic value.

Rather, we compare different offers against one another."

#7 Don't study marketing tricks,

Study human nature.
#8 Don't just study marketers,

Study persuaders:

>magicians
>doctors
>lawyers
>politicians

Persuasion is everywhere.

If you only learn from other marketers, you'll sound like other marketers...

...and being different is the only way to stand out.

#9 Don't solve many problems for many people:

Solve one specific problem for one specific group of people.

#10 Don't sell the product,

Sell the click, THEN sell the product.

To paraphrase Joe Sugarman:

The goal of the first sentence is to get them to read the second sentence (and so on).

Sell the click before you sell the product.

#11 Don't make your copy look like copy,

Make your copy look like content.

To quote ad legend Howard Gossage:

"Nobody reads ads. People read what interests them, and sometimes it's an ad.”

Your advertising shouldn't look like advertising.

#12 Don't tell what your product does,

Use testimonials to show them what it's done to other people.

Social proof is #1 in sales, *especially* since consumers are more aware of advertising than ever before.

Please don't forget to check out my profile signature for a free gift.

Cheers.