Getting Inside Your Prospects’ Heads with Your Marketing Message

My first huge marketing success was a $1,000 ad I ran in three editions of the local Penny Saver in Irvine, California. I was sitting in my small karate school one afternoon waiting for the world to discover me when a man in his forties walked in and said, “You know, I always wanted to try karate.” About two hours later a woman in her mid-twenties walked in and said, “You know, I always wanted to try karate but my father would never let me. He wanted me to do girl stuff!” Later, around 5 pm, a mother walked in with her son and said, “He has always wanted to try karate and I have finally given in!”

Your photos should alway mirror the look of the prospects you hope to attract.

Three totally different people, three identical com- ments, in just three hours.

Fortunately, the significance was not lost on me!

I took the words I kept hearing from my customers and added a picture of a good looking blonde in a karate uniform flanked by two boys (in later versions we used a boy and a girl). They were actually smiling, maybe even having fun. Below their picture were the words, “You always wanted to try karate, now is the time!”

With a simple change in advertising strategy, I made more money in that month than I had in the previous year. The…