Why does hokey marketing work better than ever?

Continuing my conversation from yesterday on the great Dan
Kennedy event I attended (free info at www.DanKennedyRocks.com)...

... hokey marketing is kicking BUTT over "professional"
marketing.

Big time booty.

And, no, it doesn't matter what type of business you are in.

I have been reflecting back on the big themes I noticed at
the event and one that stands out more than any other...

...being non-professional and to the point of being hokey -
that is what is making millionaires these days.

Create a theme for every single marketing piece you send out.. give solid reasons WHY you are sending out promotions and asking for their money.

They (your clients and prospects) are getting hammered for requests for money... so your pitch to them had better be good - real good.

Some examples of hokey style marketing that is making people small fortunes:

1) One company tried desperately hard to get their mail and promotions delivered to the CEO of Fortune 500 companies - nothing. The Gate keeper made sure nothing got through... until....

... they bought a full sized garbage can - hired a big Mafia looking guy in black suit, black glasses... handcuffed him to the garbage can and sent HIM to the CEO's office.  His instructions were to deliver this package to the man himself.  He was un-handcuffed and went his merry way - on the inside of the garbage can = a very well written personal letter.

Worked EVERY time.  So get over the ego problem - hokey can work - big time.

2) Trying to fill a high priced seminar was going much slower than expected for one guy.  His solution - a letter titles "Have you ever seen a grown man cry?" and a picture of him on the verge of tears... the letter explaining why he was so upset and what he is willing to do.  (Honestly - how many "professional" ad agencies would do this? None. They would give you the lame excuses - brand yourself, be more creative, give it time, more exposures.... blah blah blah. The Point is: he took immediate action wrote a letter from the heart and filled the room in 2 weeks)

3) Another online marketer was having a tough time filling her high priced bootcamp (major theme here - seminars are getting harder than ever to fill using the traditional methods).  She sent out Guatemalan worry dolls with a letter to go with it - room filled.

4) Or a mens ware store sending out fake wallets with fake cash inside - major 18:1 return on their money.

5) or a chiropractor sending out a letter on paper ripped out of a coil binder (with rips on edge included) - with fake wallet - estimated 98:1 return on money

The key is to think dramatically different than anyone else in your industry - or for any other industry for that matter. Get the ego and others opinions out of the way and try some very bizarre, bordering on hokey type marketing campaigns.

They work! 

98:1 return on your money is... flipping amazing... wouldn't you like that?  Who wouldn't!  Try some bizarre marketing techniques - I promise you that you WILL stand out from the crowd - and that is JOB #1 in marketing a business.

PS - I have been told to write more... I agree.

David S. Rachford from www.cpamarketingcenter.com/blog
(CPA's and Accountants marketing systems and tools) wrote me
yesterday wishing I would write more often - so I will do my
best... BUT... I would like to ask for more participation
from YOU.

• Give me your questions about marketing and advertising.
• Give me your problems.
• Give me your biggest cash flow challenge you are faced with.

I want YOU to tell ME what you want to read more about...
and I will gladly concede.

A simple comment back on subjects you would like to see
covered will go a longgggggg way.  Thanks.

Comments

[Jeff Brooks]

I've spent most of my career in direct-response fundraising, and hokey almost always beats sophisticated. Yet the whole industry seems hell-bent on creating non-hokey packages. Why?

[Shaune Clarke]

Hey Troy,

Sounds like the event was spectacular. You did an excellent job of showing that in your newsletter.

This is a very interesting article. Isn't it really a matter of letting down our preconceived notions of what works and thinking creatively about... what gets attention?

Sounds like it to me.

Love the garbage can idea!

[Dave Rachford]

Thanks for the plug and the link - In the effort of prompting the conversation - Here's a problem I'm facing -

I have a payroll service - talk about a boring business (paychex is $15.5 Billion boring) - but I'm the "Local Guy" going up against ADP & Paychex in my market.

I've got 3 problems with marketing it:

1) Developing Referral partners - like Banks (banks are always poaching each others commercial banking customers, and when they bring in new accounts, that's the best time to be introduced) Banks generally have beurocratic environment that can be a challenge to navigate.

2) How to Automate Lead Generation - Current Yellow pages, & PPC working ok, but due to smaller metro area, not enough inquries.

3) With a limited budget, outmaneuvering the billion dollar behemoths with their "armies" of sales reps on the ground - sometimes they beat me to the sale.

Generally, those subjects are pretty broad, getting through gatekeepers & automating lead generation will apply to any business - Thanks again - Dave

[Troy]

I think that most of the problem feel that the "hokey" style of marketing is non-professional (whatever that means). To some people a hokey email shows that there is true personality there - to others it is nothing they would ever use.

People honestly think that you have to be very professional to win over clients. Investing tens... even hundreds of thousands of dollars in their 'branding'. $10 per brochure - hundred thousand dollar web site - business cards worth $1 per piece... all the time thinking that is the key to winning peoples business.

To me - it is about showing you have a real personality behind the business - showing them that you stand behind your promises - showing them that many others have experienced your goods and services with great results - and being DIFFERENT than everyone else.

So, if you are trying to be "the professional" in your marketplace - chances are good you will be doing the EXACT same thing as everyone else in your business... absolutely nothing unique about that.

Having a thriving business is MUCH more important to me than having my peers like me, or offending people along the way. The ones that "get it" will buy time and time again from you.

It's a fact... one I would be willing to wager on anytime against someone who claims "being a professional brand" is the way to thrive in business.

Troy

[Marc]

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