The first goal of every marketer, of the very act of marketing, is to gain the customer's attention, and then his interest.

To do this, it helps to understand what the customer wants that he does not have. Every hero is striving for something that they do not have; something that they are longing for. Remember: do not catch yourself in a trap of thinking about the customer's material desires; they are becoming increasingly irrelevant for online businesses, and for many niches, they are entirely irrelevant. What is important is the customer's psychological desire. A psychological desire can most simply be defined as the desire for something that cannot be traded or exchange. Examples: love; parental care; confidence. Material desires are simply symbols of psychological desires, and to truly seduce the customer, to separate him/her from the world they know and reel them into your own, you must lure them in by appealing to their psychological desires.




Remember, though, the heroic journey is always a choice -- while fated situations often create the necessary crisis for the hero, the hero must choose to embark upon the heroic journey and resolve the crisis.


Likewise, it is best to seduce the customer -- allow him/her to make the choice. The hard sell/spam approach has limited returns; it won't be able to separate the customer, and thus won't allow for the transformation of the customer into a superhero for your cause. Whenever possible, do not state your credibility, but create scenarios where it is assumed. Remember: people will always question what you tell them about yourself, but they will never question what they assume about you.

Once you've separated the customer from the world that he knows, the next step is to initiate him into your world. Come with me to the next post where we'll explore that concept a bit more.

Other Posts in This Series

Phase I: Separation
Phase II: Initiating the Customer
Phase III: The Superhero's Return
Further Resources for Exploring Superhero Marketing