Brief Overview

Direct response marketing used to be effective, but “ugly”.  Now, there is a much BIGGER opportunity and it comes down to the way you view your marketing.

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Big Ideas

Treating You Marketing Like an Art [00:35]

Over the last several days, I’ve received a bunch of compliments from friends and colleagues who are all saying, “Stu, I absolutely love your marketing.” They were referring to our new promotion for Tribe—the videos, the quality of the production, and the whole on-boarding experience.

For me, that’s a huge compliment because we take great pride in the marketing that we produce. Over time, the thing that really shifted for me was looking at marketing less like a tactical thing to attract people to our offer, and instead, approaching it more like an art that serves a purpose, that moves people, that inspires and that people want to interact with and do business with.

Did old school direct response marketers tell you it was supposed to be ugly? [01:53]

Initially this perspective around treating marketing like an art was hard for me. I come from the old school direct response marketing world where ugly was better. Meaning you could put up a sales letter, just words on a page, and it didn’t matter what it looked like. In fact, it was actually better and encouraged if it didn’t have graphics and it didn’t look beautiful.

This was the mentality for old school guys like Dan Kennedy, Jay Abraham, and John Carlton. And I agree with them that the copy is super important, but what felt uncomfortable for me was that it never looked good. I never felt a sense of pride for what I was putting out when I followed this old-school direct response, keep it dirty and ugly marketing.

Along came Marie Forleo… [03:00]

Marie Forleo and I had been friends for many years, but one of the things that I have a tremendous amount of respect for is the way she treats her marketing as art. It’s beautiful, it’s intentional, and when you see her work, you can’t help but be inspired and moved. It’s a masterpiece and she set a whole new standard in my opinion. She combined beautiful branding and art along with intentional, direct response marketing. And when you combine those two, this is when you have the mega of all marketing assets available to you.

Are people proud to share your marketing with their audience? [04:41]

If you want to get the attention of bigger and bigger JVs, influencers and partners, then you’ve got to start thinking about their mindset and what they’d be proud to promote. When your marketing is beautiful and when you treat it like a piece of art, you attract a different level of promotional partners. You attract a different type of person who wants to get involved, because it makes them look good. People have a sense of pride to share that with their audiences. They want to get behind it, because not only is it going to be effective, but it makes them look good and people rave about the experience.

Are people raving about the experience with your marketing? Are people looking forward to your marketing? Are people sharing your marketing because of the way it moves them? If not, then maybe you need to go back to the drawing board.

Increase Your Conversion Rates [06:34]

I want you to look at your marketing like a piece of art, because it is art. When you treat it that way, you’ll be more intentional, you’ll be more thoughtful, and you’ll put more energy into the whole experience. When you do that, people will have a better experience. And when they have a better experience, they’re much more likely to buy.

How treating your marketing as art helps in the long-term [10:36]

Not all people will buy from you the first time around. But if you create a great experience with people interacting with your marketing, a huge percentage of them will buy the second, third, fourth, or fifth time. If people have a bad first experience, do you think they will come back? Heck, no.

Memorable Quotes

“When your marketing is beautiful and when you treat it like a piece of art, it’s a whole different ball game.” – Stu McLaren

Resources

TribeWorkshop.com

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