I read on one of the socials recently… I think it was that Twitter one where you can only write half a sentence… a woman who was a peripatetic school teacher admitted that the only children she can remember over her 30 year career were those who were either ‘very strange or a proper little shit!’.
And there we have it ladies and gentlemen… the most valuable marketing lesson there is…
To make a lasting impression on the world… you need to be…
Very strange… or a proper little shit!
Being either of those will have you talked about for years to come.
And that explains how people such as Nigel Farage and Piers Morgan are still earning money.
They are unforgettable people.
When papers and news outlets need an opinion, they go to the people who they think of first, and the people they think of first are the ones they remember…
And they generally happen to be the people who are ‘very strange or proper little shits’.
Okay, before you panic, I am not in any way saying that you need to become a proper little shit or pretend to be strange… but it may pay to say or do the odd strange and shitty thing if you want you or your business to be talked about and remembered over the competition.
Before you go out and start publicly insulting anyone and everyone or strutting through your town centre wearing a suit made from meat like the very strange Lady Gaga, I suggest you carefully think through anything you try because sometimes… it can backfire spectacularly.
Saying the wrong thing can do more harm than good.
Who remembers Gerald Ratner’s little quip about the jewellery he sold in his stores being ‘total crap’?
It’s a memorable moment, but not for the right reasons. His business suffered terribly after that quip was reported across the whole of the UK.
Gerald Ratner who had built the company he inherited from his father into a multi-billion pound empire was forced to resign his position of chairman soon after his ill-fated quip.
I’ve also read about an actor who is now struggling to find work due to sharing his anti covid vaccination views.
So yes; you do need to be careful with what you say, when you say it and to who.
However…
Being strange and shitty can be manufactured.
I recall a true story I once read where a hotel at a ski resort in the United States alluded to the fact that they didn’t allow women to hire the snow bikes.
I’m struggling to find the book which the story was in so forgive me if I’m a bit vague in my retelling of the story.
I believe it was a paid-for marketing ‘review style’ news article written from the perspective of a guest who added towards the end of the article that she or his wife was not allowed to ride a snow bike because she was ‘female’.
It was one simple sentence in the newspaper article.
It blew up and caused outrage across the USA.
Women liberation groups condemned the hotel and gathered to protest outside… which attracted the attention of the television news channels.
As they say ‘there’s no such thing as bad publicity’ (although Gerald Ratner may disagree!).
The publicity brought a lot of national attention on the hotel… it was publicity which cost the hotel nothing.
The hotel released a statement saying that there was no such ruling and never had been and that there must have been some kind of ‘breakdown in communication’ that day and ‘apologised’ for any offence and outrage caused.
Problem solved…
Apology made…
Women libbers go home happy (well, satisfied at getting an apology)…
Hotel is now known across the whole of the USA…
Bookings go up.
The whole episode was a marketing stunt cleverly disguised as a third person review of a failing which was not actually real.
For that brief moment in time, the hotel was seen as being a ‘proper little shit’ towards half of the population of the United States.
And guess what…
I remember that story… albeit a little vaguely.
One of the best ways of managing and manufacturing your ‘strangeness and shittyness’ is through the use of emails.
I would also say social media, but it’s too easy for people to share and jump on you if you get it wrong.
At least with email, if you get it wrong, people are more likely to just unsubscribe from your list.
Writing and sending simple emails is still one of the best ways to make money.
It is a system which you can take with you wherever you go in the world.
There are people who make their money by simply writing and sending just one email a day… the rest of the day is theirs.
To learn more, go to:
The Email Secret
Kind Regards
John Harrison
PS… If you are not sure as to what type of emails to write and send, study the ones that you receive regularly. Study mine too. You will soon see a pattern emerge.
Writing profitable emails is incredibly easy.
Here’s that link again: