Sneaky marketers toasting & celebrating withering depressions
Published: Wed, 04/28/21
But back in 2008-2009, during the last economic crash, I had a client who hired me to write some 11 or 12 (give or take) full length sales letters for his line of info products and other offers.
While the majority of clients were playing not to lose, he was playing to win.
And he was aggressive about getting as many of his offers out there as fast as possible.
Early on we started talking about the economy, and he said:
(paraphrased)
“Direct response marketers love recessions, this is when we make all the money.”
Yes, hardcore direct marketers (and clients) don’t spend less during bad times.
They spend more.
They don’t hold back on learning how to get more sales.
They splurge on MORE of said info.
And, instead of being afraid and frozen in the headlights every time a talking head on the news says something horrifying, they triple down on trying to take advantage of the situation and gain as much market share as quickly as possible, while their timid competitors are holding back, investing in themselves and their businesses less, and being reactive instead of proactive.
Another story:
I remember around that same time a well-known info marketer and copywriter wrote on a forum or social media (don’t recall where he published it exactly) about certain internet marketing guru-types he knew at a fancy restaurant, smiling, laughing, and toasting the recession that had just started that many people were already starting to suffer from.
Again, I don’t exactly remember where I read it.
But I do remember a lot of sob sisters getting extremely offended.
“how DARE he write this when people are struggling!”
Right or wrong, I do not doubt that story about those guys was true, though.
And this is all potentially GOOD news for freelancers, coaches, and other service businesses.
The reason why:
There are always clients out there not only hiring, but will very likely be tripling down on hiring the best talent they can to take as much advantage of the current situation when the economy completely buckles from all the overspending and debt in the coming months as they possibly can. If you do a bit of investigating, you’ll see some companies profited like gangbusters during the lockdowns and even the knee-jerk cancel culture chicanery going on.
That ain’t no accident.
Especially in light of 6G Marketing Warfare.
(That I taught in this month’s April “Email Players” issue, no longer for sale.)
It’s so interesting being in this business.
I hear from the timid and the bold alike.
And the only thing that really separates them is attitude.
If you look for opportunity, you will find it.
If you look for reasons to be a big baby afraid all the time, you will find it.
It’s not unlike when the great Gary Bencivenga told a story about how if you were asked to look out a window at traffic and then look away, and if you were asked to name how many red cars you saw, you wouldn’t remember. You weren’t looking for them. But if you did it again, you’d be able to count how many there were because you were looking for them.
This is an extremely powerful principle of success at work.
And it’s something anyone can utilize.
Which brings me to the May “Email Players” issue.
It shows you how to get clients around freelancing, coaching, and services, where you can be well-positioned to have these types of super clients potentially seeking you out, wanting to hire you. And due to the nature of the info, a lot of info publishers and other non-service businesses can use much of the info inside, too.
I certainly do in my book, newsletter, and software businesses.
Selling is selling, marketing is marketing, pitching is pitching.
It’s all the same at the end of the day.
To subscribe in time for the May issue go here immediately:
https://www.EmailPlayers.com
Ben Settle