The George Costanza School of Therapeutic Marketing

The George Costanza School of Therapeutic Marketing

As I’ve said before, you want your message to stand out. If everyone else is saying ‘black’, consider how to say ‘white’. When everyone offers a spoonful of value, give them a bathtub full.

It’s exactly like the Seinfeld episode where George does the opposite of what his instincts say. After all, his instincts hadn’t helped him. So instead of lying to a beautiful woman, he admits that he’s unemployed and living with his parents. Instead of sucking up to the boss at his next interview, he berates him.

And it works.

Of course it does – most of the battle in life is getting people to pay attention to you. I mean, really pay attention.

That beautiful woman would have to fend off advances all day.

A job interviewer sees dozens, if not hundreds, of seemingly qualified people.

And your clients ignore thousands of marketing messages by lunchtime.

How do you stand out?

By doing the opposite of everyone else.

(This is especially good advice if you’ve tried marketing and it fizzled. If those approaches failed, then I wonder what the opposite would do…? Something to think about.)

So, what’s the opposite of a traditional sales letter?

Well, the traditional approach is to convince someone to hand you money. It’s where the business owner wants something from the customer.

The opposite of asking clients for something is to give your clients something.

But here’s the rub:

If you give away your content – whether you have a product or you’re selling your time – in the sales letter, then

  1. You won’t have anything to sell, and,
  2. People don’t value free things. You’ve cheapened your offer by, well, cheapening it.

The fine line is to offer clients something valuable without offering your content.

The obvious answer, as a hypnotist, is to share a little therapeutic hypnosis.

There are limits to what you can and should do, of course. But I’ve already talked about how marketing and therapy follow the same template. It was true for your homepage and it’s true here.

And if you offer a taste of some content-free therapy, then they’re gonna come back for more.

If you follow good marketing techniques, then you’re already doing this:

You activate the problem in their mind, just enough so their unconscious knows what to work on.

Then you describe their future once they’re free of it.

Weave in natural writing, bold (and believable) claims and a few embedded commands, and you’re there.

The question you have to ask yourself is: do you have the time to learn this?

I recommend taking the time to write like a marketer. It’s one of those skills where, no matter what you do, it comes in handy. If I’m being honest, working with a freelance copywriter robs you of a great learning opportunity.

I took the path of learn-it-don’t-outsource-it. No regrets, and I would do it all again.

Seriously, it’s been fun learning this stuff.

That said, if you reach the point where your time is worth more than your money…

Or you reserve your brainpower for frying bigger fish…

Or you want to save your cash (because the good courses are expensive)…

Well, I’m always around for a chat:

https://battenandking.com/

If not, then you’re about to master something useful.

Trust me, you’ll never look back.


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