What a carny can teach you about marketing?
The other day I read a thread with a similar title to this and it made me think of my own carny experience.
Back in the mid-60s when I was just 10 my mother dropped me off at the Angels Camp Frog Jump and County Fair with a whole $5. Mind you, five bucks was worth a lot more in those days and I was beaming with pride to be released on my own at the fair with a pocket full of cash.
Suddenly a shout attracted me to one of those ball-throwing games where you get three balls to knock down a stack of milk bottles (which I now know are made of plutonium and weight about 60 pounds each!).
Of course even an overgrown 10-year-old like me didn't stand a chance. But as I shrugged my shoulders and turned to leave the carny says, "Hey, you're not a quitter are you? Go on... try again. Get your money back!".
To make a long story short, after teasing, cajoling, conning and questioning my masculinity (of a 10-year old??), that carny ended up taking every penny of my five dollars. I was left broke for the duration.
What does this have to do with marketing? Well, I do know that the vast majority of marketers are hard-working and honest like myself. But sometimes when I see things like "How to Sell to Desperate Buyers" and other examples with an unwritten subtitle "how to take advantage of gullible people" I think of my experience with that cold-hearted carny.
Back in the mid-60s when I was just 10 my mother dropped me off at the Angels Camp Frog Jump and County Fair with a whole $5. Mind you, five bucks was worth a lot more in those days and I was beaming with pride to be released on my own at the fair with a pocket full of cash.
Suddenly a shout attracted me to one of those ball-throwing games where you get three balls to knock down a stack of milk bottles (which I now know are made of plutonium and weight about 60 pounds each!).
Of course even an overgrown 10-year-old like me didn't stand a chance. But as I shrugged my shoulders and turned to leave the carny says, "Hey, you're not a quitter are you? Go on... try again. Get your money back!".
To make a long story short, after teasing, cajoling, conning and questioning my masculinity (of a 10-year old??), that carny ended up taking every penny of my five dollars. I was left broke for the duration.
What does this have to do with marketing? Well, I do know that the vast majority of marketers are hard-working and honest like myself. But sometimes when I see things like "How to Sell to Desperate Buyers" and other examples with an unwritten subtitle "how to take advantage of gullible people" I think of my experience with that cold-hearted carny.
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