Mike Lewitz.com…

Positioning…

You either…

• Do what everyone else does
• Be like everyone else
• Get the same ‘average’ results as everyone else

OR… you stand out as the exception.

The better choice.

=========================

Mike Lewitz is an innovative marketer who truly ‘gets’ the mental and emotional buying process of consumers. He’s shown thousands of global business owners proven, cutting-edge marketing methods that bring abundant results.  Mike is formerly a Google Certified Advertising Professional and holds two Bachelor’s degrees (business & marketing) and an M.B.A. in Management.

You may freely distribute, copy & share this article with acknowledgment/referring link.

When your life is over, it will either server as a warning or an example.

=========================

Mike Lewitz is an innovative marketer who truly ‘gets’ the mental and emotional buying process of consumers. He’s shown thousands of global business owners proven, cutting-edge marketing methods that bring abundant results.  Mike is formerly a Google Certified Advertising Professional and holds two Bachelor’s degrees (business & marketing) and an M.B.A. in Management.

You may freely distribute, copy & share this article with acknowledgment/referring link.

Are you dependent on the “good opinions” of others?

Do you feel bad if someone has a poor opinion of you, or says something negative or hurtful to or about you?

Are you attached to the outcome of your intentions or your expectations?

Will you be disappointed if you fail?

Will you think negative thoughts about yourself?

Will you be (or are you) dependent on whether those thoughts are positive and encouraging or negative and debilitating?

To be successful at anything in your life, you must be emotionally independent of the outcome of your goal.

Have you ever been so emotionally drawn to someone and you were paralyzed by the idea of being rejected by him or her? Ever had someone too emotionally clingy and it pushed you away…fully knowing that if that person became emotionally detached you’d be much more attracted to them?

Consider how these ideas are connected in the same way.

Here’s the Secret to Success:

Focus on the results you want, and pursue them with every drop of your passion and vigor…but be emotionally detached from their outcome. Don’t be afraid to cut your losses at a moment’s notice…still in pursuit of your goal, but considering another path. The path that failed you did so for a good reason.

There’s nothing wrong with letting fear drive you, but let it drive you to achieve…don’t let it paralyze you from achieving.

Don’t allow people to enter into your sphere who don’t speak positive of you. Yes, critical feedback is vital (feedback is the breakfast of champions), and the line between the two can be fine, but negative criticism and critical feedback are distinctly different. Surround yourself with those who genuinely support and respect you for you and YOUR desired outcomes. If that means you must be alone for a while, then so be it. If you surround yourself with people who ‘like’ you but can’t (or won’t) support you in your life objectives, this ensures you will never achieve them.

Each one of us is an infinitely powerful creator. Speak to yourself only in empowering language to remember your Infinite power. Endless studies have proven the mind does not know the difference between fiction and reality…it merely accepts what it is told repeatedly.

Speak to yourself from the space of the reality you wish to create…repeatedly…your mind will eventually accept and believe it, and then create it. This is the Law of Manifestation. It may take some time for your mind to make the shift. Allow this time, but do not alter your course. After all, you may have spent years (decades?) shaping your mind with false, self-defeating thoughts.

There’s no shortcut to success. You’ve got to do the ‘inner work.’

And remember that none of it is about you. Oh, the irony of it all.

=========================

Mike Lewitz is an innovative marketer who truly ‘gets’ the mental and emotional buying process of consumers. He’s shown thousands of global business owners proven, cutting-edge marketing methods that bring abundant results.  Mike is formerly a Google Certified Advertising Professional and holds two Bachelor’s degrees (business & marketing) and an M.B.A. in Management.

You may freely distribute, copy & share this article with acknowledgment/referring link.

Tags: law of manifestation, life's lessons, short to success, success

Achieving success in every area of your life all comes down to energy…and consciously managing that energy.

You may have heard that money is simply the flow of energy in and out of your life…and you’ve got to keep your energy flow in proper balance to be sustainable.

You can’t have an excess flowing out with little flowing in. As well, you can’t have an excess flowing in with little flowing out.

 

Let’s think about calories, for example. A calorie is a unit of energy.

If you intake too many calories but don’t expend a balanced amount, you’ll eventually become fat and unhealthy. Likewise, if you have a calorie deficit your body will eventually lack what it needs to sustain.

Another example is personal relationships.

If you’re in a relationship that gives a lot of excess to you, yet you contribute very little, eventually you will not value it and want to move on. We’ve all been in these situations. Likewise, if you give a lot more into a relationship than you’re getting, eventually you’ll get fed up and move on. There needs to be a balance to sustain.

The same goes for money.

If more money is flowing out of your life than in, you’ll soon be broke. Likewise, if much more money is flowing into your life than out, you will become heavily unbalanced and unhappy. Yes, I’m sure many people reading this wish they had this problem, but that’s only because they’re on the side of not enough flowing in. This is scarcity thinking.  (Have you ever known anyone who was very financially wealthy yet unhappy? I have.)

There is no difference between the examples of money and calories…an unbalanced flow is unsustainable regardless of which side is unbalanced.

Think about this…would you really want to be in a relationship where the person you’re with loves you a TON but you just ‘kinda’ like them? No, of course not. It’s unbalanced energy. I can extend the scarcity notion even further…if a person is very insecure (a form of scarcity) and desires to be loved by someone just so he or she can feel loved, this is not a healthy relationship and it will not last.

So it is the exact same with money.

Money is simply the flow of energy in and out of your life.

Look at your energy flow in each of your life areas…money, relationships, health, etc. The places where you find an imbalance are the places you’ll ultimately discover that it is actually YOU who has put up a block. An energy block. The energy is either blocked from flowing in (which is common for many), or it is blocked from flowing out.

If you’ve got more money going out than coming in, then you’ve simply got a hidden block to receiving. Don’t worry…lots of people in this world do. I suggest you work with a personal coach around receiving…just as you would work with a coach around losing or gaining weight (or achieving better health, etc).

You get more of where you place your focus. Don’t focus on what you don’t have, and don’t focus on ‘getting more.’ Many people make this mistake. The Universe doesn’t work this way.

For example: You could focus on having more …not just so you can ‘get’… but so you can truly create more for others. This is how the Universe works. You are a creator.

We are the faucet through which Divine energy flows.

Focus on having a balanced flow in all areas of your life…in your relationships (of all types), with your body & health, with your finances, everywhere. You will be amazed at how your life quickly transforms and begins to flow much easier.

Image credit (Zen Fountain): dan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image credit (Faucet): Idea go / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

=========================

Mike Lewitz is an innovative marketer who truly ‘gets’ the mental and emotional buying process of consumers. He’s shown thousands of global business owners proven, cutting-edge marketing methods that bring abundant results.  Mike is formerly a Google Certified Advertising Professional and holds two Bachelor’s degrees (business & marketing) and an M.B.A. in Management.

You may freely distribute, copy & share this article with acknowledgment/referring link.

Tags: energy flow, money

Isn’t marketing just loaded with paradox?  …or maybe it’s what consumers really want.

You see, I’ve learned the hard way that people definitely want solutions to their problems, but they only want them in a way that fits their circumstances –or else you can just forget it.

Let me explain…

 

My mentor said a crazy remark. I thought it was kinda funny at the time, but as I’ve pondered it over the years, it became so clear to me that it was the crux of how to grab my customer’s attention and get them the results they wanted.  He said:

“For people wanting to lose weight, they don’t want you to tell them what to eat …they want you to tell them what to eat while they’re at Krispy Kreme.  They want to know what to eat while they’re in the drive-thru at McDonald’s.”

 

Here’s a real-life situation that happened to me. I’ll call my client “Joe.”

Note: As I tell this story, it will be plainly obvious to you, but “Joe” never got the picture, even to this day …and I admit it was my fault.

“Joe” had an amazing web site that got enviable traffic, but couldn’t monetize the site despite tens of thousands of visitors a day.  “Joe” had spent over $130,000 but was only earning about $1,000 a month from the site by the time I was approached for help.

The moment I saw the site I instantly saw all sorts of major problems and I knew the perfect solutions.  It was a textbook case.

Like it was yesterday, I remember “Joe” saying to me several times: “Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it.  Whatever you say, Mike.”

Hindsight: Whenever you hear those words, expect the real actions to be the opposite.

 

Anyway, long story short, “Joe” had a particular writing style and was adamant in writing a certain way.  To make money using the written word (as is the case online), your writing style must be emotional and compelling.  “Joe’s” style was anything but.  It was boring and proper.  It was educational and indifferent, not engaging. (…kind of like this article, except I’m not selling you anything.)

In addition to my own written work, I also “borrowed” headlines and copy from top masters who earn over 8-figures online to place on the site.  “Joe” rejected every one of them, critiquing everything I provided as if I was the protégé.

In the end, “Joe” felt bitter and I was frustrated because I failed to get the results I knew I was clearly capable of delivering because I had achieved them for others, including myself, over and over.

 

To parallel my mentor’s remark, here’s why I failed:

1. At the time, I didn’t understand that “Joe” was in the proverbial ‘Krispy Kreme’ line, didn’t want (or understand enough) to step out of it, and I was not able to provide any solutions that were ‘on the menu.’
2. I didn’t help “Joe” come to the conclusion (I didn’t even try to convince him, either) that the only route to success is to first embrace another style that does not include ‘Krispy Kreme’ in the routine.

You see, “Joe” had an invisible, subconscious, emotional attachment to a certain writing style (ie: to ‘Krispy Kreme’ metaphorically speaking) …and it’s almost always the thing we’re most emotionally attached to that gets us into trouble because it’s our blind spot (we ALL do it –none of us are immune to this devil).

All I heard was: “I’ll do whatever you say” …thinking this would be a slam dunk.

The solution wasn’t what I believed.

Sure, implementing my concepts would have absolutely made the difference.  But the REAL, ultimate solution was for me to frame the situation so “Joe” could recognize the real source of the problem.

 

Here’s another example that will hit home with MANY …the dating world.

As a divorced man, I’ve studied a lot of the “Double Your Dating” by David DeAngelo.  Initially, David gets men hooked by showing them tricks on how to get a phone number, a first date and even a first kiss using his “kiss test.”

But every woman knows tricks are short-lived and it’s really all about a man’s style, his body language and his ‘inner personality’ that generates attraction …things most men have zero clue about.

But, if David came right out and said, “Hey, I know why you don’t have a girlfriend!  You gotta change your body language and develop your inner game” …they would be like, “What are you talking about?  I’m just fine who I am. I just need a clever pick-up line to get their phone number and get them to get to know me, that’s all.”  They don’t see the bigger picture and David wouldn’t be able to help them.

By starting from the frame of, “Okay, you’re at Krispy Kreme.  Well, ‘that’ donut over there has less calories than this one.  It doesn’t taste as good, but it will start you in the right direction.”

And, then, they’ll come back and say, “Hey, I lost 2 pounds.  Hoo-rah!  What else can I do?” …and he’ll say, “Well, so let’s cut out Krispy Kreme once a week and see what happens.”

He just can’t come out and say, “Well, lay off the Krispy Kreme, fatso!” …just like he can’t say to the masses of ignorant men, “Well, stop being a needy, wussy, momma’s-boy and start being a man and display some attractive qualities.”  They have to come to the realization themselves, on their own (your job is to help them find the door).

 

So, how does this relate to helping you market your business and make more money?

As a business and marketing expert, I also have to continually market my product …me!

If I just come out and say, “Hey, Mr. Prospect, I know exactly how to get you more sales,” sadly, nobody is going to listen –even if I’m dead-on right.

Sure, it’s what they want to hear, but they won’t like the solution.

Why?

Because we get too emotionally attach to our own ideas and ways of doing things.

It’s frustrating when you genuinely want to help and you absolutely know the solution, but you’ve got to hold back.  Less is more here.  We have to slowly ween people off their emotional attachments.

 

I’ve had web site owners show me awful (but very ‘pretty’) sites that they slaved over for months and were clearly enamored with but got zero results and tell me they just need me to “optimize” it for SEO and the keywords X, Y, and Z so they can show up on Google (know anyone who’s done this?).  They won’t listen when they hear their whole approach is all wrong.

Sadly, they end up finding someone less-experienced who will appease them and then go looking for someone else while griping about how they got ripped off by this web guy.

 

You’ve got to get your prospect’s attention by offering them something they want that falls within their paradigm (with integrity, of course).

Then, help THEM see for themselves a way to get better and better results.

 

I’ll leave you with this quote on Amazon.com about Seth Godin’s book: “All Marketers Are Liars”…

“Marketers succeed when they tell us a story that fits our worldview, a story that we intuitively embrace and then share with our friends.”

 

Do you have a story to share about marketing your business?

Think I’m off base?

Are all marketers liars?  Please share below!

=========================

Mike Lewitz is an innovative marketer who truly ‘gets’ the mental and emotional buying process of consumers. He’s shown thousands of global business owners proven, cutting-edge marketing methods that bring abundant results.  Mike is formerly a Google Certified Advertising Professional and holds two Bachelor’s degrees (business & marketing) and an M.B.A. in Management.

You may freely distribute, copy & share this article with acknowledgment/referring link.

Tags: business success, copywriting, marketing, Seth Godin

Why do SO many businesses fail their first year?

In spite of idealized success, it’s a consistently proven fact that almost 50% of all businesses FAIL within the first 12 months. In fact, about 80% of all businesses fail within the first five years. Of the remaining 20%, 80% of them will fail in the NEXT five years…a 96% FAILURE RATE within the first 10 years.

In business, failure is actually the “norm.”

Yet, some businesses succeed far beyond the statistical norm.

So, what can YOU do to put the tiny odds of success in your favor?

Most people know that an important step to begin a new business is to write out a business plan.

The biggest problem with a business plan is that it is typically a compilation of subjective material designed to support an entirely emotionally-based decision-making process (no matter how logical and objective we think it is).

Believe me …I’ve seen LOTS of plans and even written a few for myself.

And, let’s face it: We come up with a ‘brilliant’ idea, then look for all sorts of data sources that support and prove our assumptions about the market demand for our idea, the brilliant people on our team, 5-year forecast and revenue model, and so forth.

Steve Blank wrote and excellent post that describes the difference between a business plan and a business model.

As Steve succinctly illustrates, while a business PLAN is static and “forces you to think through all the parts of your business” and make it profitable, a business MODEL is dynamic and “describes how your company creates, delivers and captures value.”

The business model shows how all the different parts of your business actually sync together as the gears are turning.

The MODEL creation step also incorporates developing a real-world testing model, such as landing pages, keywords and customer acquisition costs to gather hard-core, preliminary data.

Both are necessary, yet few start-ups ever develop initial real-world scenarios to see if their idea or projection costs are actually viable.

Are your “worst case” scenarios REALLY worst case?

As a marketer who has consulted with countless businesses about their online strategy, I can’t begin to tell you how many genuinely sharp-minded business people simply budget for “online” with zero modeling or testing …blindly assuming that the idea they implement will simply work the first time through.

Then, they’re surprised when, for example, their sites are sandboxed by Google (or worse) for 6 to 12 months -a potentially fatal oversight to their business.

I fully agree with Steve that, while it’s necessary and highly beneficial to completely think things through in your head and compile them into a formal profitability plan for your new business, you must also go out and gather external, measurable, tangible real-world data from a scaled-down model before you begin day one.

Without crucial, objective testing, you (like just about everyone else) are heavily pitted in favor of complete failure. In other words, without testing a working model of your business with real-world data, you will very likely be the “norm.”

“Unless you have tested the assumptions in your business model first, outside the building, your business plan is just creative writing.” ~ Steve Blank

Please share your comments.

=========================

Mike Lewitz is an innovative marketer who truly ‘gets’ the mental and emotional buying process of consumers. He’s shown thousands of global business owners proven, cutting-edge marketing methods that bring abundant results.  Mike is formerly a Google Certified Advertising Professional and holds two Bachelor’s degrees (business & marketing) and an M.B.A. in Management.

You may freely distribute, copy & share this article with acknowledgment/referring link.

Tags: business model, business plan, business success, new business, start ups, starting a business, Steve Blank

Getting someone to buy your product is a lot like trying to get someone to have sex with you:

• A very small % of people will buy the moment they see what you have.  However, it’s difficult to turn these people into long-term repeat business and generally won’t stick around long enough to buy your up-sells.
• Most people want to know they can trust you first, and usually prefer to build some kind of relationship to be certain you’re not going to give them something they don’t want and won’t be able to get rid of.
• Some people require a little more time than others to determine how trustworthy you are.  You have to determine for yourself how much effort you’re willing to put in before deciding to move on to other potential buyers.
• The more clearly you understand exactly what your potential buyer perceives as valuable, the easier it is to increase your closing/sales percentage rate.  These can be areas such as a smooth and well-delivered message, nice-looking packaging, or even including supplemental goods or “bonus items” in the deal …typically, more expensive bonuses are better.
• While good quality merchandise is always in demand, the greatest products in the world will never sell themselves without effective marketing.
• If you don’t get your message out there or you have the wrong message to the wrong target audience, nobody is going to buy from you regardless of how great your product is.
• If you treat your buyers poorly, they will quickly leave you for your competition.
• Branding is overrated -positioning techniques are better.  It’s great when everybody knows who you are, but if your message doesn’t effectively position you as the better choice among your competition, it will be difficult to close deals.  Also, your potential customer may try your competitor’s product along with yours because they’re not sure which is better …and may later ask for a refund.
• It’s ALWAYS better to position yourself so you have potential buyers chasing after you instead of you chasing them.
• Some people will simply never buy from you.
• In the end you will find there are some buyers you will be glad have decided to stop buying from you.  Unfortunately, in some cases you may have to refuse to do any further business with them.

=========================

Mike Lewitz is an innovative marketer who truly ‘gets’ the mental and emotional buying process of consumers. He’s shown thousands of global business owners proven, cutting-edge marketing methods that bring abundant results.  Mike is formerly a Google Certified Advertising Professional and holds two Bachelor’s degrees (business & marketing) and an M.B.A. in Management.

You may freely distribute, copy & share this article with acknowledgment/referring link.

Tags: branding, effective marketing, marketing, Mike Lewitz, positioning, sex, target audience

Are You Aware That…

• The largest landfill in the world is in the Pacific Ocean (known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch) …consisting mostly of plastic.  It is twice the size of Texas.
• Scientists have engineered a type of bacteria that excretes crude petroleum.
• Every day, an area the size of a football field is destroyed in the rain forest.
• Scientists now know that all human decisions originate in the older part of the brain that controls emotions.  Using specialized equipment connected to this region of your head, scientists know how you will decide on something 7 seconds before you become consciously aware that you have made your decision.
• The Mayan calendar is 10,000 times more accurate than the most modern-day calendars.  Only 3 books exist (originally of hundreds) to help us decipher it.
• An alternate version of the Internet now exists that is 10,000 times faster than modern broadband …called “The Grid.”  It is currently used by research institutions and governments.
• The Chicxulub Crater is a 180 km wide asteroid impact location and one of the largest on Earth, possibly the largest in the inner solar system, and is widely believed to have been a significant factor in killing off over 50% of Earth’s species 65 million years ago, including the dinosaurs.
• Scientists and engineers now create sheets of carbon that are only 1 atom thick, as flexible as plastic wrap, can be bent or rolled, conduct electricity 100 times faster than silicon chips, and are stronger than diamond, called Graphene.
• The electrical power distribution grid in the United States has changed very little since Thomas Edison’s original system for 59 customers back in 1882.  To accommodate renewal resources (such as solar, wind, etc), the entire grid must be re-designed and re-built from scratch.
• We currently possess the technology and the know-how to build trains that can travel 3,000 miles an hour.  You could live in Los Angeles and stop in New York for an extended lunch.
• Water has been discovered on the Moon …LOTS of it!
• More new information will be created within the next 12 months than all of the collective information that currently exists since the beginning of man, combined.
• Compared to silicon, diamond has far superior electrical properties, is more thermally conductive and can handle much higher temperatures.
• If computer chips were made from diamond instead of silicon, computers would be significantly faster, smaller, more durable and could safely run hotter without elaborate cooling.
• Engineers have now figured out how to fabricate diamond wafers for use in computer chip manufacturing. As of late 2009, a 4″ silicon wafer costs roughly $6 …an equivalent diamond wafer costs over $525 each.
• “Just as the stone age, the bronze age and the steel age were named after the materials that we could make, this new age we are entering might be called the diamond age.” -Ralph C. Merkle
• Social media and social networking have recently surpassed pornography in Internet activity.
• The computer company HP has discovered forms of nano-sized switches that retain their memory and function like biological neural synapses, called Memristors.  They are smaller and use less energy than modern memory chips and can retain memory beyond the standard 1’s and 0’s of our current digital technology world, introducing the possibility of analog information storage …identical to the way biological life stores and processes information.  Not only does this discovery expand computing capability exponentially while making it exponentially smaller (and smaller = faster!) and use less energy, some engineers believe this discovery is the missing component to developing ‘true’ artificial intelligence.

=========================

Mike Lewitz is an innovative marketer who truly ‘gets’ the mental and emotional buying process of consumers. He’s shown thousands of global business owners proven, cutting-edge marketing methods that bring abundant results.  Mike is formerly a Google Certified Advertising Professional and holds two Bachelor’s degrees (business & marketing) and an M.B.A. in Management.

You may freely distribute, copy & share this article with acknowledgment/referring link.

Tags: asteroid impact, chicxulub crater, diamond age, graphene, great pacific garbage patch, memristor, Mike Lewitz, moon facts, petroleum bacteria, Ralph C. Merkle, the grid

Marketing Definition:
by Mike Lewitz

The art and science of understanding the needs, wants and desires of what makes individuals take action, then applying that understanding in communicating a message that inspires the existing emotional and irrational drivers of individuals to elevate a psychological need, want, or desire for a perceptively external, tangible and logical satisfaction, and enticing the action of satisfying that need, want or desire by acquiring specific knowledge, products, or services provided by a specific individual or group.

Discussion

• Marketing is both an art and a science.
• Emotions are the powerful, unconscious forces that drive us to make decisions and take action.  Thus, all decisions we make are emotional.
• Emotional influences result in psychological needs, wants, and desires.
• Psychological needs, wants, and desires cannot arise from emotions that do not exist.
• We humans do not function within any ‘fixed’ or common reality. We function only on an individual perception of reality each of us has uniquely created in our mind.
• We rationalize, validate and justify our psychological needs with logic.
• Logic is external, rational, tangible, and measurable.
• Our logical, rational conclusions drive us to seek out solutions that satisfy our perceived needs, wants and desires.
• Since solutions are perceived to be logical, solutions are expected to be found through external, rational, tangible, and measurable means.
• External solutions are (perceived to be) found though acquiring products, knowledge, and/or services.

There is no globally accepted marketing definition, and the most widely accepted version evolves over time.  As my personal understanding through study and application of how psychological triggers are activated to cause people to take action, I have developed this current model marketing definition.  The goal is to help people understand the incredible significance of the irrational mind in the decision-making process.

Modern brain science has only recently come to discover that we are exponentially more emotionally directed than anyone ever imagined in addition to clearly understanding the parts of the brain that control the decision-making process.  In fact, our emotions are so critical to decision-making, modern brain science has discovered that people who lack the ability to connect to the emotional part of their brain, such as from a severe brain injury, are incapable of making decisions at all.

 

Many former definitions relate marketing closer to consumerism and the buying and selling process. While this is certainly the purpose for doing marketing, buying and selling activities are NOT marketing, they are simply the the end result of applying proper and effective marketing principles that facilitate the emotional desire to purchase specific things.

In his book, Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices (1974), Peter Drucker, the father of modern management, wrote (p. 64):

“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself. Ideally, marketing should result in a customer who is ready to buy.”

NOTICE: The RESULT of marketing is: “A customer who is ready to buy.”

To illustrate the overshadowing emotional factors of marketing, here is an excerpt from the description of Seth Godin’s book “All Marketers Are Liars“ found on amazon.com:

“Every marketer tells a story. And if they do it right, we believe them. We believe that wine tastes better in a $20 glass than a $1 glass. We believe that an $80,000 Porsche Cayenne is vastly superior to a $36,000 VW Touareg, which is virtually the same car. We believe that $225 Pumas will make our feet feel better-and look cooler-than $20 no-names . . . and believing it makes it true.”

 

People will not buy unless they have an emotional association with something.

Some definitions suggest that marketing creates and/or delivers value.  The statement is somewhat ambiguous, as value is determined only by each individual.  Value is subjective.

Value is only created in and determined by the mind of individuals.

Marketing only facilitates the understanding that value exists within a given product or service or piece of information.  Marketing does not create or deliver the value itself, although marketing does …and SHOULD always… direct the creation of value through the understanding of what consumers want.

 

For example: Suppose I write a book about how to change your oil in your car.  First of all, the ONLY reason I would write such a book is because I initially did some research and discovered there are many people who would like to learn how and don’t really know where to find answers.  (…just go with me on this…) Since you cannot acquire the actual value of the content until you read the book, you must first purchase it based on your value perception.

If you were a master mechanic, what would your value perception be of this basic, fundamental book?  Probably zero.

If you knew nothing about cars …AND… wanted to learn how to change your own oil, what would your value perception be, now?

What if I inadvertently titled the book: “Pepperoni Pizza: A Love Story.”

What is your value perception of the book, now?

 

Here’s where marketing comes in:
Marketing fills the communication gap …in both directions!

The real value of the book, as determined by the person who has a want or desire for the information in the book, is not based on the title.  Regardless of the title, the content of the book is the same.  Yes, the perception of the value of the book is changed …and this why understanding marketing is so important: it’s about activating the emotional triggers to get people to take action.

The job of marketing is to come in and demonstrate, or paint the picture of, the value; to give you the perception that the book is valuable to you …based on YOUR needs.

While I’ve used an absurd example, it’s important to recognize and acknowledge that people DO evaluate value based on first impression or ‘the cover.’

So, ask yourself: “How many of your products and services, even your business name, have you named in such a way that people don’t instantly recognize the value?”

If you’ve done this, you’re walking an uphill battle.

 

The ThighMaster is a great real-world example.

The original inventor of the item (whatever he originally invented it for) couldn’t sell it for pennies.  A smart marketer came in, bought the patent, made a couple minor modifications, got a sexy, young girl to model it (Suzanne Somers), and called it the ‘Thigh-Master.’  They created a message that communicated the value to others in a way the original inventor was unable to accomplish.

They made Millions.

Why?  Because they understood what their potential buyers wanted and then slightly modified the product and created a message that spoke directly to the wants of their potential buyers.

But, the original product was essentially the same.  The intrinsic value never changed and the marketing did not actually create any value.  The marketing simply communicated the message that the item has value to those who were looking for an item that provides the value they sought after.

The value itself is actually created by the business or individual.  In a large company, marketing tells engineering that consumers prefer and value the color red and engineering creates what marketing research has discovered will motivate consumers to buy.

 

Sadly, too many business got it backwards.  They create their product, then go figure out a way for people to “market” (read: sell) it …often by the time things aren’t going well.

Because nobody knows what is going on inside the mind of others, research is necessary to determine the value triggers.

 

Understand what your customer wants, figure out the emotional triggers, build what they want, create a message that leverages those emotional triggers and entice them to buy …in that order.

That’s the application of the definition above and a proven model to get consumers to chase you to the ends of the Earth.  …now GO take action.

=========================

Mike Lewitz is an innovative marketer who truly ‘gets’ the mental and emotional buying process of consumers. He’s shown thousands of global business owners proven, cutting-edge marketing methods that bring abundant results.  Mike is formerly a Google Certified Advertising Professional and holds two Bachelor’s degrees (business & marketing) and an M.B.A. in Management.

You may freely distribute, copy & share this article with acknowledgment/referring link.

Tags: decision making process, emotional influences, emotional triggers, marketing, marketing definition, Mike Lewitz, Peter Drucker, Seth Godin

Achieving huge success in business is all about having the power and a gameplan to maintain your power.

Consider these two questions:
A.) If you want someone to buy from you, who has the power to determine whether a transaction takes place or not, them or you?
B.) If someone wants to buy something from you, NOW who has the power to determine whether a transaction takes place or not?

On one side of the power equation you are giving up your power.  On the other side you keep your power.

In which scenario would you rather have your business?

Businesses and people who achieve peak sales levels have discovered ways to use psychological triggers to entice people into wanting to buy from them without ever trying to convince anyone of anything.

People who really want something will always figure out a way to obtain it.  Discovering how to create this desire in people will cause others to demand what you sell …keeping you on the preferred side of the power equation.

If you stay on the ‘convincing’ side of the power equation, your success will only be based on how many doors you can tirelessly knock on per day, working to convince people that they should buy from you.

If you master the principles of marketing using psychological triggers to entice people to want to buy from you, your sales will close much easier.

While the old ‘sales-based’ approaches of convincing people to buy still work and will likely always produce a certain level of results, if your business uses a sales-based ‘convincing’ approach to get clients and close deals, you will discover that as time moves forward it will become increasingly difficult to grow until you learn the psychological factors that attract buyers to you.

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” ~ Alvin Toffler

=========================

Mike Lewitz is an innovative marketer who truly ‘gets’ the mental and emotional buying process of consumers. He’s shown thousands of global business owners proven, cutting-edge marketing methods that bring abundant results.  Mike is formerly a Google Certified Advertising Professional and holds two Bachelor’s degrees (business & marketing) and an M.B.A. in Management.

You may freely distribute, copy & share this article with acknowledgment/referring link.

Tags: alvin toffler, marketing, Mike Lewitz, peak sales, principles of marketing, success