(DISCLAIMER: I just wrote this post quickly and wanted to post it quickly before I announced this site to the public. Please excuse any typos or errors! I will fix them later.)
I want to start by telling you a story about Austrian-born violinist Fritz Kreisler (1875–1962).
I want to tell it to you because it’s a story that reveals two important things that I want you to understand:
- The importance of proof in all marketing
- My plan for this website
Fritz Kreisler: One of the Most Famous Classical Musicians in the World
According to Encyclopedia.com, he was one of the most famous classical musicians in the world during the first decade of the twentieth century.
Why was he so famous? Well, besides the fact that he had amazing skill at playing the violin, Encyclodpedia.com reveals this interesting reason…
“Kreisler led a long and colorful life, the substance of which he embellished still further through a consistent habit of exaggeration and storytelling.”
– Encyclopedia.com
I don’t know if this story that I came across below is one of those stories or not, but I think you will like it anyway…
The Day Fritz Kreisler Robbed Himself
One day violist Fritz Kreisler, just an hour before getting ready to set sail to give a concert in London, decided to wander into a music shop.
He didn’t realize it at the time, but he would soon regret that decision. Why?
Because the proprietor of the shop stopped him and asked if he could look at the violin Kreisler was carrying.
After Fritz let him, he quickly vanished and returned with two policemen.
Immediately, one of the policemen told Fritz, “You are under arrest.”
Fritz responded, “What for?”
The officer said, “Because you have Fritz Kreisler’s violin.”
Totally caught off guard, Fritz said, “I am Fritz Kreisler.”
But the policeman didn’t believe him, so he said, “You can’t pull that on us. Come along to the station.”
Fritz didn’t have time for this. His boat was sailing soon! There wasn’t time for drawn-out explanations.
So Fritz quickly came up with a solution.
He asked the officer if he could have his violin for a second and then quickly began playing a piece he was well known for.
He stopped and the looked at the police officers and the shop owner and asked them, “Are you satisfied now?”
They were! The quickly apologized and let him go!
The Reason Our Marketing Is Failing?
You might not realize it, but many of us who are involved in marketing in any way have the same problem that Fritz Kreisler faced that day. People don’t believe us!
An article on The Atlantic.com called, “Trust Is Collapsing in America,” by Uri Friedman, reveals what we’re up against…
“Only a third of Americans now trust their government ‘to do what is right’—a decline of 14 percentage points from last year, according to a new report by the communications marketing firm Edelman. Forty-two percent trust the media, relative to 47 percent a year ago. Trust in business and non-governmental organizations, while somewhat higher than trust in government and the media, decreased by 10 and nine percentage points, respectively. Edelman, which for 18 years has been asking people around the world about their level of trust in various institutions, has never before recorded such steep drops in trust in the United States.”
– Uri Friedman, TheAtlantic.com
Whether we’re creating content marketing or direct marketing, we always have to remember that people don’t trust us – or anyone.
What can we do about this? We have to “overwhelm them.
The Importance of Proof in All Marketing
In all of the marketing we do, we must remember that all of our strategies, ideas, or techniques will fall flat, if we don’t make sure to provide proof.
How much proof? Marketing guru, Dan Kennedy, says this
“The battle for trust in decidedly un-trusting times, to be secured from anxious, skeptical, suspicious, worried and mistrustful prospects, is best waged with overwhelming proof.” – Dan Kennedy in No B.S. Trust-Based Marketing
So before you release your next piece of content or copy, you need to ask yourself, “Have I provided an overwhelming amount of proof?”
How do we provide proof? Let me answer that by showing you what I am going to do on this site…
My Plan for This Website
Because I understand this problem with trust and the need for proof, I know that in order to prove to you that “direct response content marketing” can be a game changer for you or your business, then I am going to need to prove it.
Don’t worry. I plan to do just that.
In order to do that, I am going to use four elements of proof.
- Evidence and Examples– As I did with my “21 Type of Content We Crave” and my book 51 Content Marketing Hacks, I will show you evidence of the existence of direct response content marketing and the use of it throughout history.
- Testimonies – I will quote and interview people who can tell you the powerful results that they experienced when they combined the incredible powers of direct response marketing and content marketing together.
- Demonstration – I will demonstrate direct response content marketing through the things I do on this site itself and through other channels.
- Results – I will present to you results that prove that direct response content marketing works. I will do that through the results I produce for myself and others. (*If you would like for me to use you and/or your company as a future case study, by producing results for you – risk free – then let me know.)
Your Invitation: Prove It Yourself
But I don’t want to attempt to prove all of this alone. I want to invite you to join me in this journey.
Don’t just watch me go on this ride. Jump on with me!
P.S. The first 100 people who become members get a free, PDF copy of my book 51 Content Marketing Hacks. (It doesn’t cost you anything to become a member.)
