Increasing Your "Net Wealth"

Hey There…

Been working on the BLOG a lot – you might notice that I have a new theme now; needed space for my logo – do you like it? I remember when I was a kid I would watch Laverne & Shirley and think that it was cool that Laverne had capital, cursive “Ls” on her sweaters So.. as I said I have been working on the blog and as part of that work I decided to revisit my “tag line”. When I did that I discovered a phrase tucked away in my brain “Lifestyle Marketing” And this is what I want to talk about today.

I’m sure you have heard that most folks don’t go looking for a Drill because they WANT a drill – they want to make a HOLE in something. So you would not spend a lot of time marketing a DRILL you would spend time marketing the ways holes can be made and why some hole-making devices are better than others and eventually why your device is superior because it makes the right size hole, faster and better and easier and for less than any other device. Or something like that.

Those of us that are just getting started out tend to try to and sell features and benefits of the product or service without finding out first what it is the customer is really looking for and then selling to those needs. Think of every product or service you have purchased recently – what grabbed you initially? Was it a picture of a beach? A fancy car? A big pile of Cash? A big happy family? Maybe it was a headline like “College Drop-Out risks everything and Makes $XXX,XXX dollars in just 90-days” Not one of these things has to do directly with the actual product or service being sold – it’s the idea of what you can get by using it – the LIFESTYLE.

Lifestyle Marketing sits squarely in the center of our attention – especially in these tough economic times where so many families have been hit hard by layoffs, the real estate crisis, losses in the stock market and more. Now, more than ever, that dream of freedom from financial worries, of time with family, of dream vacations, of seemingly unlimited happiness. The difficulty with some of this marketing is what is known as “HYPE”. If you have spent any amount of time at all examining ad copy you know what I mean. Claims like the one about the College Dropout above are often just hype – stories exclaimed at a fever pitch to elicit a high emotional response from the reader. Hype does sell but it can also lead to buyer’s remorse if there is no substance behind the promises – and often there is not.

For some reason, it’s so easy to “believe” what we see and hear on the internet. I mean, consider all the chain emails that go around that promise all the senders money once the email has gone all around the world – the person you get it from always says “This is probably fake but I’m not gonna risk it” – everyone is looking for that winning lottery ticket which is why Hype works. But if you are a serious business person, you are probably not trying to sell the next winning lottery ticket, you probably really want to provide something of value to LOTS of buyers, and you probably want to do that over and over again – too much hype and not enough substance will make your business end quickly.

But let’s continue to look at Lifestyle Marketing a bit more. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with marketing lifestyle – I mean every major company does it too – jeans companies, soda companies, car companies, health and wellness companies even investing companies – you name it it’s all lifestyle. So, as you pick information or products to use to build your list and create your relationships and build your business, remember that lifestyle sells but stick with substance over hype.

Cheers~
Leanne