image of hay stacks in field

How to get attention when there is none part 2

If you can’t sell anything where there’s no desire, how do you go about creating it? The simple answer is you don’t (see part 1 of this series). The complicated answer is you can’t.

Let’s take an extreme. If you have no desire to go big game hunting, then nothing on this planet will convert you (but if you do, this competition may be of interest https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/04/donald-trump-jr-trophy-hunting-auction-nevada-aoe).

Here’s another example: Become a shepherd. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’ve never had any interest in farming apart from playing around as a kid in a field. But weirdly, the thought of roaming the hills all day with a dog sounds appealing – I don’t need the sheep, I’m sure they can look after themselves, after all, they were around (and survived quite happily) a long time before we appeared on the planet.

In other words, somewhere in the back of my mind, there is a spark of desire with something connected with dogs, walking, and the countryside (but not necessarily shepherding or farmwork – you see how the right words matter?).

The most romantic film I watched whilst growing up was ‘Far From the Madding Crowd’. It just so happens that the hero is a shepherd. It was also around that time I fell in love with my wife.

Things connect in life. Associations with one thing lead to another. We build networks and internal webs of desire. All it takes is one little connection to start the ball rolling.

The reason marketers talk about ‘touch points’ has more to do with making connections than familiarity of some particular brand name. Remember this the next time you talk with a prospect (increasing desire is what we do, and what we sell for, and on behalf of, our clients).

It all starts with knowledge of our audience, and better still, knowledge of each individual within it, but it takes experimentation and time.

How do you do that? More next week.


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