Tag: Marketing

Thoughts on Marketing: The Toy Store Experience

Let’s suppose the following scenario:
A child in a toy store holding a toy in his hands and asking his dad to buy it, but dad says « no ».
What will happen is:
– Answer (A): The child says « ok dad » and put the toy back in its place.
– Answer (B): The child starts crying and lying in the floor for a toy that his dad doesn’t want to buy. But at the end, the cashier passes the toy in the barcode reader, and the child is smiling with eyes full of tears that didn’t dry yet.

If you chose Answer (A), you have an amazing child. Don’t continue reading, what I’m talking about next may not convince you. Thank you.

When Apple opened the first Apple Store in 2001, all retail experts and analysts have predicted its fail. They were right, because they saw it in number’s perspective. But their prediction failed, because they didn’t see it in Steve’s Jobs perspective.
Steve Jobs understood that it’s all about the user experience, and Apple Stores drive a great customer experience. 

When you go to an Apple Store and you hold the new iPhone in your hands, you can see how amazing the design is, you can see how fast the phone is, you can see how the camera is great and you can see how it fits perfectly in your hands. And that creates a kind of special connection between you and the new iPhone, makes you want to buy it. 
This is exactly what happens to the child when he holds the new toy in his hands. Because, once you catch it, it’s hard to release it. And this is what I call « The Toy Store Experience ».

Business and marketing experts say that what made Apple what it is today might not be its revolutionary products like the Mac, the iPod or the iPhone … But It is the Apple Stores. What other competitors don’t have.

If your product is -for example- an App, it is easy for you to show your great product to your costumer to make him want to buy it. All what you have to do is offering him a trial period.
But, when it comes to a physical product, I think you should consider the Toy Store Experience.

Ads make people discover your product, but user experience make them want to buy it.

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Thoughts on Marketing: How to Sell as an Artist?

This is a sequel of the previous post “Why Marketing is an Art?” of the series “Thoughts on Marketing”. I suggest to read it first before you go with this one.

I believe that the best way to explain something to someone, is by giving him an example. And to explain how to sell as an artist, I think there is not a better example than Elon Musk to do it.

I did a small research about why artists are masters in selling, and I found that artists have 3 common tools they use when they sell, and by surprise Elon Musk use them too…

  1. Artists sell names
    I’m not bringing a scoop here, but, when you buy an artwork you actually buying the name of the artist.

    Elon is called the Tony Stark of the real life, and being compared to a superhero IS. JUST. DOPE.
    When The Boring Company sells “Not A Flamethrower”, people buy it like cookies; 
    When SpaceX lunches a rocket, millions of people watch the live on YouTube;
    When Tesla announces a new car, its name trends on twitter; and who is behind all of this? Elon Musk.
    If tomorrow Elon decides to start something crazy like a company that builds planets, investors will rush to invest in it, simply because it is built by Elon Musk.

    Having a strong name (as a person) in business is an absolute necessity. Today the first thing that matters for investors when they put their money in startups, is the persons who run the company. If you are a silly person no one will do business with you, so no one will buy what you sell.
    And to build a strong name you should: – Have a vision, – Know what you do, – Be a hard worker and – Keep your promises.

  2. Artists are sellers
    When an artist sells his artwork, he does it itself.

    Elon is the CEO and CTO of his companies, and I’m sure that he has the last word when it comes to marketing too.
    Recently Tesla introduced the Cybertruck, It’s a pickup with the DeLorean design… I don’t think that the responsible of marketing in Tesla came with the idea of changing the 100 years tradition of pickup design. Only a crazy person can do it, and it can’t be another than Elon Musk… 
    Result, selling more Cybertrucks in 10 days than other pickup companies sell in 1 year.

    So, when it comes to sell your product, DIY, because no one knows your product more than you.

  3. Artists sell emotions
    Seth Godin said: “Marketing is no longer about the stuff you make but about the stories you tell.”

    Telling a story that bring emotions, is the best way to influence, convince and stick in people heads, and of course Elon Musk do it (in his way)…
    Elon use sarcasm and memes to promote his products. He makes people laugh, and happiness is an emotion.


And that’s it.
If you want to sell as an artist, just apply the formula:

Build a name, DIY then Cry 

Thoughts on Marketing : Why Marketing is an Art?

If you’re passionate about modern art (like me), but you don’t understand it (like me), you probably gone to a modern art exhibition, where you felt like lost and dumb (but not too much), among those people who put very long scarfs in august…

Here you stand in front of a canvas, where two big blots are spilled there, the one in the right is black and the other in the left side is in yellow, they are separated in the middle with an inclined red line. And then you ask:
– What on earth is this? Everybody can do this. Why do these two dots and a line are exposed in a gallery?
And it gets even worse when you know the price of the painting…

While you’re discussing the worthy of this artwork, the artist who made this wonderful piece notices you and asks you:
– Do you like it?
At this moment, you take the scarf man posture and you answer:
– YES!
But you can’t stop there, a scarf man must say more than a yes, you must pronounce the scarf men’s phrase, otherwise, you lose your credibility. So, you add:
– Can you tell me about the inspiration and the mystery of this stunning work?

And the artist starts telling his story…
– When I was young, I was living in poor country, I was passionate about art, so I started drawing when I had twelve years old, but I didn’t have enough money to buy colored pencils so I was drawing with coal…
– I was bullied at school, every day they beat me until I bleed but I hide it from my mom who was sick, to not make her worried…
– When I had eighteen my mom died, then I decided to take a new beginning and pursue my passion… I came to this country where I fought to become a famous artist, taste the feeling of success and finally see light at the end of the road.

  • Black blot symbolizes the coal drawing and poor childhood;
  • Yellow blot symbolizes the success and happy life;
  • Red line symbolizes the violence and the fight to reach success.

After this, all what you want to say is: Shut up and take my money.

Okay, if you kept reading till here you may think that the title is wrong; I’m clearly narrating a story about a man in gallery with an artist trying to explain to that man why he painted two dotes and a line. Where is marketing here?  

Well, tell me who can convince someone that two dots and line could be worth 4,000$, or a banana taped to the wall could be worth 120,000$? Only an artist can do that.
They are masters in putting value on their work, to sell you something you couldn’t imagine to buy or at least convince you that it worth that price (not the banana though).

To be a good marketer, you should consider your product as an artwork and sell it as an artist.

And in the next posts we will see how to do it.
So, this is why Marketing is (literally) an Art.