After a move to a new state and a new job, I’m back!
I am about to share with you a marketing lesson that you will find really helpful.
The most interesting thing about this lesson?
It was marketing that no one actually used on me.
It just happened naturally. I’ll explain more in a minute.
(*You’re about to learn how marketing taps into natural forces that influence us to make decisions.)
But first, let me explain why things went silent around here for so long…
A New State and a New Job
On July 14th, my family and I left the San Francisco Peninsula for a new adventure in a new land.
The name of the new land? Idaho.
The destination? The Boise area.
But moving to a new state wasn’t the only big change. I also started a new job.
On July 24th, we got the keys to our house and on July 29th, I started working at TSheets (now simply known as Intuit’s Boise site).
I’m really enjoying the company I work for, the area I work, and the people I work with.
(I work with 9 other people on the content promotion team. They’re all really great people who like to laugh and they’re all great at what they do.)
In other words, what I’m saying is that it’s been a great move that I’m really glad we made!
Why Things Went Silent on Here for a Little While
Even though things have been great, with all of that change in my life and my family’s life, things have also been very hectic.
There have been a lot of adjustments. New school for my kids. A new place to live. New neighbors to meet. And on and on!
With all of those things going on, I just didn’t have a chance to update this site or to record any new videos for you (click here).
But I’m back now and starting in September, I’ll continue sharing more of the direct response content marketing lessons with you (click here).
And I’ll be sharing more forgotten secrets of advertising legends, so you will understand more deeply and fully how to create content and copy that sells (click here).
But for today, I want to share some lessons that reveal the “natural marketing forces” that most of us don’t realize even exist or influence us.
The ‘Natural Marketing Forces’ That Caused Us to Buy Our House
I want to share with you some lessons that I relearned during the purchase of our house.
After I got the job at Intuit, we flew up to the Boise area and took five days looking at houses hoping to find one we liked.
We saw several ones that we liked and narrowed it down to two.
But we couldn’t decide.
That was until the natural marketing forces kicked in…
You see, when we went to the house we originally really liked, the “For Sale” sign was gone!
Someone had made an offer and beat us to it!
Our other problem was that this was the only house model currently on the market with the particular floor plan this one had.
(Actually, technically there was another house that was this same model, but it was more expensive and in another city.)
Suddenly, we really wanted that house.
Our realtor made a call to the agent and asked her if we should still make an offer. She said, “Yes! I am not sure the offer is a solid one.”
Long story short, we flew back to CA and a few days later found out that the other people withdrew their offer. WE GOT THE HOUSE!!
As this was all happening to us, I told my wife and our realtor, “I feel marketing has made me want this house more!!”
Now let me explain why I said this…
The Natural Marketing Forces You Might Have Missed
I said that because I realized that some marketing principles that are used frequently by marketers were at play here, but no one was using them on us.
They were just happening naturally!
These are the four marketing principles I’m talking about:
- Unique Selling Proposition: This term was created by television advertising pioneer Rosser Reeves. WHAT DOES IT MEAN? Wikipedia defines it like this… “A unique selling proposition (USP) refers to the unique benefit exhibited by a company, service, product or brand that enables it to stand out from competitors.”
- Scarcity: Influence expert, Dr. Robert Cialdini, lists scarcity is one of his six principles of influence. He says people want more of those things they can have less of.
- Urgency: If we can delay a decision, we usually will. That’s why marketers try frequently try to use urgency to get prospects to make a decision now.
- Takeaway Marketing: I first heard of this principle from Dan Kennedy. Copywriter, Roy Furr, describes this principle by explaining the way top sales professionals use this. He says, “…as the prospect is in through this front door and needing personal attention, the rock star salesperson switches from PULLING the prospect in (using automation) to PUSHING the prospect away.”
Alright, now that you have these principles in mind, let me show you how these marketing principles naturally took place in the situation with us buying our house.
Here’s how these four marketing principles naturally happened in the process of us buying our house:
- Unique Selling Proposition: The house we wanted had a unique floor plan that was not like any of the other houses in the neighborhood we liked.
- Scarcity: This house wasn’t available at this price anywhere else.
- Urgency: We couldn’t delay and debate whether we wanted this house or not since someone had already made an offer on it. We had to decide right then and there.
- Takeaway: This house was literally taken away from us by the other people putting an offer on it.
Do you see now why I said that there were natural marketing forces at play?
Marketing is Based on Natural Forces of Influence
Many people misunderstand marketing.
They think it’s manipulation. They think it’s unnatural. They think it’s all about making people do what they don’t want to do. That’s whey they think marketing is bad or evil.
But marketing is none of those things (when used properly, correctly, and honorably).
Marketing is really just tapping into the natural forces that already influence us all the time and using them to encourage people to purchase our products and services.
In fact, sometimes marketing happens on its own with no one pulling the strings.
That’s what happened when we bought our house.
When this happened, I relearned the important lesson of the natural origin of marketing.
And I’ve been waiting all this time to get the chance to share this with you.
I hope it has been helpful for you and I hope it helps you to market more effectively.
P.S. We really love our house and our neighborhood! You see? Marketing isn’t so evil or bad after all. 🙂
