Things That Just Piss Me Off

I received this article in my email and found it after I finally got rid of all the emails wanting to help me make various organs larger and those who want to help me make money in the stock market and the other ones where I’ve won all of the lotteries that I never entered.

The Modern Marketing Reality

First, I always love it when someone starts out by saying that THEY have the reality of things down pat. This article is about marketing. This guy already started out marketing with the title of the article. He wants you to believe whatever he is about to write is fact, before you even read it. It’s good marketing.

Remember back in the good old days when TV commercials showed blind-folded people tasting different colas or washing dirty laundry, only to discover that one product was better than the other?

Marketers still do this.

Remember when such blatant product claims met with acceptance from the viewing audience? Remember when we actually believed the claims made through advertisements? Well, those days are long gone.

No they aren’t. The marketers and advertisers are still doing it because people are still dumb enough to believe what they see on tv or read in a magazine or newspaper.

The proof is that people still respond to the nigerian scam emails and phishing attempts that ask them to log in to their bank account on a website that does not belong to their bank.

People still order nothing down real estate books. They still believe that there are millionaires out there that are selling programs for $500 that can make them rich and that these millionaires are just doing it out of the good in their hearts.

There are even people that believe George Bush is telling the truth when he says something. he has marketers working for him too.

Over the past few decades, advertising had increased steadily to the point where the average person sees literally thousands of marketing messages each day. And that’s had an effect. Today, the average consumer no longer believes the claims communicated through marketing and have grown suspicious and skeptical of marketing in general. The average consumer has been fooled too many times to let another scam pull the wool over their eyes.

Again, not true. People are still clicking popup ads that say they are going to get rid of unwanted spyware on their computer while in reality these programs ARE spyware. Many people even believe that pharmaceutical companies run those drug ads on tv because they want to help us.

There are actually a few specific reasons why this evolution has taken place and we’ve already mentioned the first one. The fact is that there’s simply too much marketing out there. Between TV ads, radio ads, magazine ads, billboards, product placements, celebrity endorsements and the internet, our world has simply become over-saturated with marketing messages.

I agree with him here.

The second thing is that modern advertising has become deceptive.

Modern day advertising? Adverttising has ALWAYS been deceptive all the way back to the medicine man shows that traveled through the old west. Then the cure-all drugs throughout the thirties, etc. etc.

It’s long since been known that the easiest way to lie is to use statistics. There are so many different ways to interpret data that someone could probably convince you of just about anything and have detailed statistics backing up their argument. Marketers have taken advantage of this reality and made incredible claims that appear to be verified by legitimate research. Once the consumer discovers the figures were correct but misleading, the trust level disintegrates. That’s what’s happened these past few years. Consumers no longer believe what the research marketers present.

No, they just go on to believing the next marketer with similar claims because people want to believe there is an easy way to achieve anything. That is why the pill that claimed to help you lose weight while you sleep sold so much.

The third thing that’s happened is simply that the marketing messages no longer get noticed. Consumers have become desensitized to marketing messages so most go unnoticed by consumers. Now, the reality remains that the subconscious mind continues to be affected by these messages even if the conscious mind isn’t engaged but the impact of a marketing message on the conscious mind of a consumer has diminished significantly.

The marketers who will succeed in the new era are those who give consumers a sample of the product before a purchase decision is required. This phenomenon started with the increasingly unconditional return policies of retailers. Before long, it crossed the purchase threshold such that potential customers could actually sample the product before they made a purchase decision.

This is no different than the sampling stands you find in Costco. People are hired to prepare products and give shoppers free samples so they can make an informed decision. In fact, in more and more product categories, consumers are demanding samples first; value first; benefits first. And if the product meets their expectations, they can consider a purchase thereafter.

The downside is that marketing has become more expensive. Companies have to provide more value before revenue can be expected. But the upside is that customer loyalty is alive and well. You just have to earn that trust directly. If you can do that, the rest of the selling proposition becomes much easier.

I agree with the writer of the article that marketers who are honest will win customer loyalty in the long run. But don’t expect the other type of marketing to go away. The old saying, “There’s a sucker born every minute” is still true and consumers will always buy anything that promises miracles and the easy way out.

People are lazy and don’t want to believe it takes hard work to succeed so they will always buy get rich quick schemes. People don’t want to exercize and eat right to lose weight so they will always buy anything that promises to help them lose weight without much effort.

About the Author: Tactical Execution with Patrick Schwerdtfeger is a strategic company focused on growth marketing and program implementation across business markets. Visit the website for more specific tips to start generating revenue today.

See, some of you were about to click that link even though the author says, “Visit the website for more specific tips to start generating revenue today.”

Do you really think that if you click that link and go to his website, you will start generating revenue today? If so, you prove everything I wrote in response to this article.

Stumble it!