What Flavor are You & Your Business?

As an Internet Marketing Sweetie, you probably already know that even though we make money from being kind & giving. However, more importantly, we also know that we can't be ALL things to EVERYONE and that sometimes we offend people or cause them to disagree with us.

It's just the way human nature works.

Even if you're in the checkout stand and it's taking a long time because the cashier is a little slow on the go, the people behind you will still blame you and curse you. You did nothing - but people still get annoyed.

And even every time you send out an email, no matter how vanilla and politically correct you try to be, someone will get rubbed the wrong way. There is nothing you can do about it. They could be having a bad day, they could have different views than you or whatever.

So, why get hung up on these things and why have a vanilla business?

Even if vanilla might be one of the most popular ice cream flavors that appeal to the general public, people don't really get passionate about it. Believe it or not, you don't want to reach the most people, you want to reach the most passionate people who can't wait to hear from you and buy stuff from you. People get passionate about New York Super Fudge Chunk, not vanilla, so don't be afraid to be New York Super Fudge Chunk.

This reminds of some recent controversy sparked in the Internet Marketing community regarding a "Rich Jerk Party at the Playboy Mansion". I've never mentioned the Rich Jerk on my blog before (I don't think!), cuz he's not my style and I'm pretty darned sure he's not trying to appeal to me. Personally, I think he's after the Early to Mid-Twenties Male Chocolate Crunch Crowd that I'm just not part of. And no, that's not a Ben & Jerry's flavor, I think that's a flavor this "Rich Jerk" character came up with all by himself. ;-)

Frankly, I was a bit surprised that John Reese sent out a promo about this, but he included all kinds of disclaimers and illustrated why he stood behind the idea of the event. Jason Moffatt, one of the "bad boys" of Internet marketing also sparked some controversy with his more "raw" promotion of the Playboy party. He even called for some extra controversy by posting on a popular Internet marketing forum asking why all the ladies were unsubscribing from his list. Some people told him he deserved what he got because he was demeaning women. Some men said that they were married and this was inappropriate, but the vast majority were SILENT.

Out of the 10 or so people who posted on that thread (presumably before it got deleted....correct me if I'm wrong), there were many, many more that certainly had opinions. In my experience, when you do something controversial, it's the people who hated what you did that will speak the loudest. But often, if you targeted your market well, it's the silent majority that usually gives you the direction you need. These silent people are the ones who order what you recommend or email you privately to say, "thank you".

You need to learn your audience and how to speak to them, in order to bring out the passionate people. Now, I'm not saying you should send out an email promoting The Rich Jerk's party to your mailing list of craft business owners, but what can you do that ignites some excitement for your readers?

Interestingly enough, I guess the Rich Jerk Playboy Party did spark enough negativity that they did launch a more family-friendly version of the event sales page to fill the seats and that's probably smart marketing on their part. Offline events can be a tough sell and adapting to the needs of your audience is important...but don't totally sacrifice yourself and don't sacrifice your original target audience. I doubt that the Rich Jerk will never show that page to his hard core fans because they won't appreciate it. That page is for those who might want to cross over to the "other side" and just need a reason to do so.

Think what you want about it, but that is SMART marketing. Geez, I can't believe I just said the Rick Jerk was smart. *Sigh*