Tesla

My prediction about the future of direct response hits

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“The next Tesla may even hire creators to evangelize the company or at least, serve as a paid marketing channel. Creators are essentially media companies now, which means that the creators of tomorrow will operate a lot like the New York based publications of yesteryear.”
— David Perell

My email yesterday looked at some fancy science, and made a simple point:

A hit product is the result of chance. The first few raindrops of popularity determine which spots in the product landscape become lakes, and which ones deserts.

I think this leads to a few conclusions. One is that, just because a product (or an offer) was successful before, this doesn’t necessarily mean it is worth studying. It might have become successful due to chance more than any intrinsic quality or real demand. And vice versa. You clearly cannot count on the quality of your product as your only key to success.

So what can we do about this?

One option is simply to put out lots more offers. This will increase your chances of getting at least one big hit.

And then there’s the fact that early buzz seems to be crucial to long-term success. Which to me suggests that street teams.. astroturfing… or influencer marketing are really where much of your marketing efforts should go.

And that’s what David Perell is saying in the quote above. Media-savvy businessmen like Elon Musk are already using creators as their main marketing channel. And the “next Tesla” will probably do more of the same.

But hold on a second. Tesla? That’s a whole other country from the direct response businesses I normally talk about.

After all, if some guy in 1995 got a sales letter from Gary Halbert about a book on killer orgasms… he probably didn’t go down to the local bar to ask his buddies if they knew anything about this orgasms book, and if it’s worth the $39.95 Halbert was charging for it.

In other words, people chose traditional direct response offers in a more independent way than they choose cars or movies.

But as I’ve written before, I feel that’s changing. In the same way that traditional brand businesses are becoming more direct response savvy… traditional direct response businesses are discovering the power of having a brand. So the same reality of what makes a big hit matters for modern DR businesses too.

The way I see it, that means you’ve got two options:

One is to become a creator yourself, because businesses will need you more and more.

The other is to hire creators or influencers to promote your offers, so you can create enough initial buzz to make it a hit.

That raises the question of who to hire and when and what they should say… All interesting questions. I’ll talk about that another day. And if by some strange circumstance you want to hear what I have to say then, you can subscribe to my email newsletter.

Where will you be in March 2091?

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Right now, Elon Musk’s cherry red Tesla Roadster is cruising through outer space, somewhere beyond the orbit of Mars. A dummy named Starman is sitting inside the car, wearing a pressure suit and listening to David Bowie.

Musk launched his car into space last year, Starman dummy and all, as part of a test launch of his SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.

Now, Elon Musk is clearly a smart guy.

But there are lots of other people in the world who are as smart as he is.

And yet, he’s the only one who has managed to make electric cars sexy…

And to then send them into space on a rocket built by his own private company.

In other words, there is something to be said for thinking big.

The more I learn about business, the more I realize many people do not think big enough.

Again, many people out there are smart. Many of them have honed valuable skills or expertise. And many are willing to work hard.

And yes, all of these ingredients are necessary.

But for making a big success, you also have to develop the habit of thinking bigger than you’ve been used to.

This can be surprisingly difficult.

And I feel that, past a certain point, it’s really the only thing that distinguishes people who have enormous success — like Elon Musk — from those who don’t achieve very much.

Now, I’m sure there are lots of psychological strategies you can use to get yourself to think bigger.

But ultimately, I think it comes down to a simple decision.

You can start to think bigger.

So why not start it now?

Anyways, that’s my pep talk for this Friday. In case you decide to start thinking bigger with your business, and you want help with marketing, you might get some good ideas from the following:

https://bejakovic.com/profitable-health-emails/

And one final point before I take off:

The starbound Tesla Roadster is on an elliptical trajectory around the sun.

The next time it gets close to Earth, it will be 2091.

The question is, where are you going to be then?