Twenty years ago I used to think that the marketing, sales and advertising industry was all just about lies and lying to people.
I used to think that all sales people were just liars who deceive people into buying something that they don’t want to buy.
I used to walk into stores, and see a sales rep walking towards me and start walking in another direction hoping they would just leave me alone and “bother” someone else.
This negative association that I had towards sales people and the marketing industry as a whole was something that I was programmed with growing up, by society, by teachers and just generally as a kid by listening to adults saying negative things about sales people and marketers.
As a young entrepreneur I totally didn’t see the value that marketing and sales played in a business.
At best I saw it as a necessary evil that a business had to participate in, in order to succeed.
Fast forward twenty years to today and now that I’ve taken the time to actually study and understand the marketing industry, I now see it as one of the most amazing and spiritually aligned and awakened industries on the planet.
Sure society and the mass media still tries to portray marketers as scum-bags who are out to “get you” like the boogeyman or something like that, but true marketing is deeply rooted in the spiritual practice of seeking Universal Truth.
As I’ve studied and have had the privilege of been mentored by some of the world’s most effective marketers, I have come to discover that they are some of the most enlightened human beings on the planet.
The reason for this is because to be an effective marketer you MUST understand the TRUTH of who human beings are and how they think and what motivates them.
Effective marketers have a much more accurate understanding of the TRUTH of what actually motivates human beings than the average person.
Let’s compare a marketer to a physicist for a moment.
The study of physics is the study of the Universe and the laws that govern the Universe.
So we could say that the more a person understands physics, the more that person understands the Universe.
Well, marketing is the study of human beings and the the motivations that govern human beings.
Therefore what we could say is that the more a person understands marketing, the more that person understands human beings…
… and since most spiritual texts and disciplines also say that human beings were made in the image of God, then logic would dictate that to have a better understanding of human beings is also to have a better understanding of God.
Now, I’m not saying that marketing is the ONLY discipline that pursues the understand of human beings, but it is ONE of the disciplines that pursues that understanding.
Let me give you some examples of what I mean by that.
As an Internet Marketer, for example, one of the things that I do is put together websites and marketing pages which are seen by thousands of people.
When I put together those pages and websites, I use my understanding of human beings to communicate the message that I want to communicate.
In other words, the starting point of my marketing efforts is based on my then current level of understanding of how human beings think and what motivates them to take action.
However, that is just the starting point…
… see, as an Internet Marketer I then do something that most other people never do in other professions…
I *split test* against my original marketing page designs and copy, with a variation on that same design and copy, to see which page performs better.
Meaning, for example I might start off with a page design which shows the reader three benefits of downloading an eBook I am giving away for free.
The three benefits that I state on the page are obviously chosen based on the best and most accurate understanding that I have of people in that moment of time.
And then what I do is I setup a split test page which has a nearly identical design, but which might now communicate three different benefits.
And then I drive a certain a mount of traffic to the two pages and monitor which one performs better.
Let’s say, for example, that the second variation that I create outperforms the first one by 20%.
Meaning, 20% more people took action on the second variation of benefits that I communicated, as compared to the first.
What this basically means is that as a marketer, I now understand human beings MORE than I did prior to running that split-test.
Why? Well, because prior to running that split test, my best understanding of how human beings work was responsible for creating the original page design and copy…
… but after the split test was completed, I now understand human beings MORE than I did before because I now understand what actually motivates people to take action MORE than before.
Does that make sense?
Here’s another example.
Let’s say that I am putting together a marketing page to promote a healthy weight loss program for men…
… and let’s say part of my sales page design will feature a hi resolution image of SOMETHING that I believe will entice men to take action and purchase this weight loss product…
… so let’s say that my initial belief and understanding of what motivates men tells me that men are motivated by sex and sexy pictures, and so I decide to put up a picture of a woman in a bikini in my marketing piece as I believe that might be the best way to motivate men to take action…
… and maybe I might couple that picture with a marketing slogan that states something along the lines that “If you lose weight, beautiful women will find you more desirable.”
Of course I might not use those exact words, but that concept.
Okay, so let’s say that I now have my baseline and I test this hypothesis of what I believe motivates men to lose weight, and lets say that this campaign converts at 20% – meaning 20% of men who see this sales page offer with a woman in a bikini and that slogan, end up buying the product.
Now, let’s say that as a random split test, I decided to try something totally different…
… such as for example a photo of a man in his 40’s or 50’s playing soccer with a teenage son…
…and lets say that I put a slogan there which basically communicates the message of “If you lose weight, you’ll be a better father who can play soccer with his kid.”
Now, imagine if this second campaign outperforms the first campaign by converting at 55%.
What would happen now to my understanding of what I believe motivates men?
Well, what I might realize now as a marketer is that the stereotype that society and that mass media has of all men being these two dimensional creatures that ONLY ever think about one thing (sex), is in fact inaccurate.
My marketing tests may uncover the truth that men are much more motivated by the desire to be good fathers, than they are by being desirable to women in bikinis.
I’m not saying this is true, as I haven’t done this test myself, but I’m saying that IF I did this test, and the results showed what I described above, then I would now have a better understanding of what motivates human beings (especially men) than I did prior to doing the test.
In other words, the more testing I actually do as a marketer, the more I understand what ACTUALLY motivates human beings to take certain actions, instead of what society, programming and the mass media TELL US that motivates human beings.
And I can definitely tell you that as an entrepreneur who has only really embraced marketing to a large degree in the last 5-10 years, I have a totally different understanding of people and what motivates them than I did prior to learning marketing.
Who people are, and what REALLY motivates them is NOT what society and mass media tells us.
In fact, in a lot of cases it’s the exact opposite.
Every time I run a marketing test, and then I measure results, I feel like I’m getting a bigger glimpse of the TRUTH of what actually motivates people, and I have to say it is absolutely fascinating!
Like a physicist who performs experiments to understand the Universe, marketers perform experiments (marketing campaigns) to understand human beings!
I’m so grateful that many years ago I decided to study marketing as it has given me an education in HUMANITY and TRUTH, and to me that’s been a highly spiritual experience.
