One of the most important things you will ever realize in marketing, in fact is, quite a paradox. Common sense advertising you see everyday on TV and 99% around you is not what advertising really is.

Main stream advertising(flashy commercial on TV, radio, magazines, print, signs and other brand building stuff). It’s goal (supposedly) is to reinforce the image of company or some product through repetition, which (also supposedly) will “program” you into unconsciously choosing the advertised product or company versus all the other competition. And it works. But it costs lots of money and (if you’re reading this) you probably can not afford it.

On the bigger scale this type of advertising is based on belief, that if I put something out there people will definitely notice it and they will come right to it. Similar like bugs fly toward the shining lamp when its dark outside. So that is also true, or perhaps was true, hundred years ago. When there was no automobiles and Henry Ford created one. He put it out and due to absence of competition, it was obvious that his advertising worked and attracted people from all over the place. But, in today’s day and age it is no longer an option.

You put out your sign out anywhere, three of your competitors do too and where does the person go? what is going to be the determining factor? the ad? the colors? the message?

Well, answer is simple. It doesn’t matter. Yes. It absolutely doesn’t matter.

why is that you say?

Because, if you understand what marketing really is. You would be making a mistake by putting out a sing anywhere, In fact, You wouldn’t even think of putting out a sign and hoping people will notice it and come to you.

Real marketing is totally opposite from this. Real marketing is about being in control and instead of  taking random action and passively waiting for results.

Real marketing is about seeking out what you want, right type of customer you want to work with. Instead of being on the receiving end and trying to please everyone and everybody, even people that you don’t want to work with. In fact, being everything to everybody is the biggest mistake in marketing you can make.

Most common analogies to depict this are: fishing – and Im not a fisher, but I know if you want to catch certain kind of fish, you must have certain kind of bait , certain kind of hook, poll, line and you must probably go to certain kind of water, whether its a lake, a sea, an ocean, a river, etc. Different fish lives in different waters.

In business, it is very difficult thing to grasp. It takes time and constantly pounding your brain with the “right” information. although for some people it seems to come naturally. But for most it’s not. It wasn’t for me, but after two years of reading and studying Dan Kennedy I have finally realized and experienced an A-ha moment with this. Hence I am writing this post for you.

This means that you have to become picky. You must decide what you want. You must describe, define, sort out, what your ideal customer is. You must use any of the imaginable criteria. It usually comes through experience and some basic awareness.

Biggest fear that stops people from doing this is fear of not having any business. the very thought of turning some customer down is terrifying and doesn’t really make sense. For, why would you turn someone down if they want to give you money?

The answer is simple. Because their presence, their demands and the things you have to do to make them happy, overshadows the actual benefit of you receiving money from them. In other words, say you have customer A, who you spend an hour with and he pays you $500, thanks you and leaves. And you have customer B, who you spend 2 hours with doing same service, who doesnt have full payment, complains because he has unrealistic expectations, calls you two more times, because he thinks he bought a different product and you get $700 from him.

Which group of customers would you choose to work with? Would you rather have extra headaches and babysitting and get extra $200 or would you rather get it done and have $200 less?

Smart marketers would have the latter. Because marketing is about boundaries. Marketing is about you choosing a specific market you want to work with, creating product or service, creating a set of rules you going to work by and then going out and proactively FINDING the Ideal customers you want to work with to present them with your advertising (just like dropping a line with the right bait in front of certain fish).

Only when you make this mental shift, you can set yourself free and start attracting customers you want to work with and transform your business to bring you profits.

This is what direct response is. Stop being blinded by whats going on around you. Think. Measure results. Track. Adapt. See what works, use it.