Perry Willis over at DownsizeDC thinks these are marketing words of wisdom:
- The first time a man looks at an advertisement, he does not see it.
- The second time he does not notice it.
- The third time he is conscious of its existence.
- The fourth time he faintly remembers having seen it before.
- The fifth time he reads it.
- The sixth time he turns up his nose at it.
- The seventh time he reads it through and says, “Oh, brother!”
- The eighth time he says, “Here’s that confounded thing again!”
- The ninth time he wonders if it amounts to anything.
- The tenth time he will ask his neighbor if he’s tried it.
- The eleventh time he wonders how advertisers make it pay.
- The twelfth time he thinks it must be a good thing.
- The thirteenth time he thinks perhaps it might be worth something.
- The fourteenth time he remembers that he’s wanted such a thing for a long time.
- The fifteenth time he is tantalized because he cannot afford to buy it.
- The sixteenth time he thinks he will buy it some day.
- The seventeenth time he makes a memorandum of it.
- The eighteenth time he swears at his poverty.
- The nineteenth time he counts his money carefully.
- The twentieth time . . . he buys it.
- And then he begins telling his friend what a wonderful thing he’s acquired.
I’ve got news for him. The twentieth time someone attempts to market a product to me that I don’t already think I need (the previous 19 times having failed to persuade) he’s more likely to get a boot up his ass than he is to get any of my money.
…Which is why I’ll rely on someone like Michael Cloud to communicate persuasion techniques, and leave agitating the body politic to DownsizeDC. In both cases, they are well suited to the task at hand. Explains why I support both The Advocates and Downsize DC.
