Marketing decisions should never be based on what “you” would do if you were your own customer.

You are not your market.

You have a biased viewpoint (at least you should if it’s your own product!).

And because of that, what “you” would do as a customer would likely be completely different from what your market would do.

Here’s a good example…

This Is A No Brainer… Or So I Thought!

Earlier this year we had some exciting news that Inc. Magazine wholesale nba jerseys had purchased WishList Member (our membership solution) and had decided to use it for a new site they would be launching later in the year.

Long story short, we connected with them and helped customize WishList Member to fit with everything else they had going on.

During that process, we built a great relationship with the team at Inc..

That’s when they suggested we organize a high level mastermind with other top membership site owners and host it in the Inc. boardroom (which just happens to be in the new World Trade Center tower overlooking all of NYC!).

The purpose would be to exchange best practices and ideas on what’s working to grow our membership sites, build community and maximize revenue.

The event would be small (20-25 people) but the experience would be tremendously valuable.

Finally, the last idea we had was to tie in a charity component by charging $500/person with all the proceeds going to World Teacher Aid (my wife’s charity that builds schools in Africa).

Win-win-win.

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As we started planning this, I kept thinking to myself, this is amazing… if I were invited to this, I’d be all over this like white on rice.  Seriously, this to me was a no brainer.

Being a membership site owner myself, I kept thinking…

Who wouldn’t want the opportunity to Oasis be in a room with other 6 & 7-figure membership site owners, Are best-selling authors and high level marketers… all of which would be at Inc. Magazine’s head office in NYC?

I mean, just having the opportunity to soak up the wisdom from one of America’s top business publications by itself is worth the price of admission.

Sounds perfect right?

I thought so.

So we made the final arrangements with Inc., wholesale nfl jerseys set the date and I started sending out invites to a small, exclusive list of people we wanted to include.

Almost immediately we started getting responses back – and some of them I was completely shocked to see.

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A Harsh Reminder – You Are NOT Your Market

Right away we started getting responses.

And at first, they were exactly what I expected.

“I’m in”.

“Count me in – where do I send my $500?”

“Thanks so much, this is going to be awesome”

After getting 7 or 8 like that, I then started getting a few that took me by surprise.

I got questions and comments like…

“Why would I share my top tips with Inc.?”

“I hate to be blunt, but what’s in it get for me?”

“$500?  I’ve never had to pay to be part of a mastermind”

At first I couldn’t believe these reactions.

One of them I actually thought the cheap mlb jerseys person was joking but when I followed up, he clearly wasn’t (oops).

But when I sat back and thought about it, I realized that I was the one that made the в mistake.  I expected everyone to have the same reaction I did – but that clearly wasn’t the case.

It didn’t take long before all 20 spots quickly filled up but it was a great lesson in human psychology.

Not everyone will react the same.

Not everyone thinks the same.

And most importantly…

Not everyone will buy for the same reason.

When I followed up with Open a few of the people that wholesale nba jerseys had decided to come, they too had different reasons for being there.

Some wanted to attend for the masterminding.

Some wanted to attend for a chance to connect with Executives from Inc. Magazine.

Others wanted to attend for the overall NYC experience.

The important thing to pull from this is that everyone’s reasons for coming or not coming were different.

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Conclusion

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The only way you’ll ever truly know how your market will react is by making the offer – just don’t expect everyone to think like you.

However, the more you cheap nfl jerseys learn about your market, the more you will discover their “reasons” for buying.

This is the gold that we all seek as business owners.

If you know their “reasons”, you just discovered the key to the magic kingdom of marketing nirvana ?

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Your Turn

Have you ever made a “no brainer” offer only for it to fall flat?

What happened?

What did you learn?

What about the opposite situation – an offer you weren’t expecting to do well but did?

Why do you think it did better than expected?

Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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