What have you changed your mind about over the years as a marketer?

With two decades of business experience, until a couple years ago I thought it was "just as easy to sell a high ticket item as a low ticket item."

However, I've had the realization that it is actually "easier to sell a high ticket item rather than a low ticket item."

This has lead me to a better understanding of Pricing, and why Foot In The Door strategy is pretty stupid.

What this realization revolves around is a jolt of understanding that sounds incredibly dumb...but people behave as if the opposite was true:

*The people who have money...HAVE MONEY.*

*The people who don't have money...DON'T HAVE MONEY.*

So why are you trying to push Foot In The Door products and services to broke business owners?!

For the people with money, it is no matter to move a portion of what they already have over to you.

For the broke people, it is a huge problem. They must rob Peter to pay Paul.

People who have money are also used to larger numbers. They are more comfortable with delegating and outsourcing: in fact, they are DELIGHTED when someone with actual competency comes along. And they will happily pay extra for that assurance of good fulfillment of a product or service.

The struggler has to make desperate choices.

The affluent has to make a decision.

It is much, much easier to position and sell to a high-end marketplace because of this. That realization has transformed my business, my earnings, and the scope and satisfaction from my projects over the last two years.

Any pitch will be more effective if the recipient can instantly put it in context. But you cannot supply that context within the pitch. No, a context must be established already. That means known facts, recognizable terminology, tacitly accepted assumptions.

The more unfamiliar a topic, the easier for someone to round down, to err on the side of inertia, to oversimplify for the sake of convenience ... and say "No".

As much as I hate buzzwords and cliches, they're effective in marketing because they reinforce familiar associations. They prompt a reflex. People already believe "the cloud" is the future. They already think "green" is good. And so forth.

Why? How? Because those industries have put energy into establishing public awareness, creating a context for pitching opportunities later on.

Since I work mainly in the domain industry – which is typically ignored, misunderstood, or maligned – every single day I'm reminded how important it is to work at creating a public context for ideas. A day after I purchased a domain for $2,100, someone approached me with an offer of $1.99! Such gaps in awareness cannot be handled 1 person at a time.

So if you encounter the same insurmountable chasms of awareness in pitch after pitch, stop! Consider how best to first establish a context for discourse and public awareness. Talk to everybody at once in advance.

Until the notions in your pitch are already familiar and half-accepted, the chance of success in particular transactions is almost nil.

For a number of years I placed social media on the back burner, choosing instead to focus on SEO.

As I've evolved in my marketing, I realize the absolute power of social media for not merely connecting with an audience, but also to compel that audience to take a desired action.

Having now helped a number of clients develop traditional brick and mortar businesses by simply using a targeted social media strategy, I no longer see it as an "additional piece."

Any marketing activity that doesn't enable and enhance other processes, say sales, shouldn't be counted as marketing.

Secondly, plan your marketing initiatives to make customers, not just sales.

Over the years, it has become increasingly apparent that giving away value before a sale increases the value of that customer.

Marketers used to horde all of the information, using questionable language and hiding behind vague promises. Now, the sales and marketing departments are (hopefully) working together to focus on one goal: increase revenue.

Deliver value upfront and delight your customers.

It's not complex, it's just really hard.