SFR 282: The 2nd Millionaire In America
This is one of my favorite, brilliant marketing stories!
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I\u2019ve just finished another 20-mile bike ride (in the dark)\u2026
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I'm still several miles from home, but my mind's kinda spinning, so I thought I'd stop and\u2026
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- Drop kinda a cool story about PT Barnum that involves a dead monkey and a fishtail\u2026 (Yep, that BT Barnum\u2026 and Nope, it\u2019s NOT in the film \U0001f609)\xa0
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- Tell you WHY Sales Funnel Radio will be ending soon!\xa0
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#SHOCK!
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MAKING MARKETING HISTORY!
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I LOVE studying yesteryear's marketing gurus. I\u2019ve been going back to the 1700s and 1800s\u2026
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I've been kind of obsessed with studying how these old, rich, dead marketers got their messages out before the internet.
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...because we live in a very different world.\xa0
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And while the internet is beautiful, it\u2019s largely a crutch\u2026
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And it\u2019s a HUGE distraction if you don't understand what marketing truly is.\xa0
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To illustrate my point, I\u2019m gonna tell you a story of a guy named PT Barnum.
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You\u2019ve probably have heard of PT Barnum from the movie, The Greatest Showman, which is \u2026\xa0
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- A largely made up by Hollywood.
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- A great movie.\xa0
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Most of what\u2019s in the movie is NOT true.
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PT Barnum did have a circus, but it was his retirement project.
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Barnum was older when he started that circus, but the movie makes it seem like he had this young struggling family and that it was the circus that made him...\xa0
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That's NOT at all true.
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However, PT Barnum was a brilliant, brilliant guy, and he died in 1891 at 81 years old and by that time,\xa0
I believe he was the second millionaire in America\u2026 he was definitely the first show business millionaire in America.
A million dollars was waaay more back then than it is now, it was pretty impressive to have a million dollars at that time.
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HUMBUGS & A PRE-INTERNET MARKETING STRATEGY
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Barnum loved doing hoaxes, or as he called them, \u2018humbugs\u2019 for the public.\xa0
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And there's a lot of famous quotes from him about that...
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I don't care what the newspapers say about me as long as they spell my name right. - P. T. Barnum
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One of the MOST famous hoaxes that Barnums well-known for is the Feejee Mermaid.
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The Feejee Mermaid was widely known in the1800s as being one of the greatest hoaxes ever pulled off.\xa0
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Barnum was famous for saying something to the effect of, \u2018The world wants to be fooled, so let it be fooled.\u2019
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The bigger the humbug, the better people will like it. - P. T. Barnum\xa0
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So Barnum would play these tricks on the public and his sales would increase\u2026
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And so long as he over-delivered on value, he found that nobody really cared that they were hoaxes..\xa0
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Now, I'm not here to say whether or not that's right or wrong.\xa0
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I personally don't think that's right.\xa0
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Don't lie\u2026
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However, there's a lot you can learn from the brilliance of what Barnum did.\xa0
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And I wanna share a really fascinating story on what I believe true marketing is if you remove the internet\u2026
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It's kind of a funny episode, it's a cold dark night, and I'm in a Staples parking lot\u2026\xa0
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(Who says marketing isn\u2019t glamorous? \U0001f609)
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*CHECK IT OUT*
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But back to the story!
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THE FEEJEE MERMAID
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Barnum had this museum in New York and most of his income came from this museum of crazy stuff, NOT the circus.\xa0
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AND\u2026
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When in the mid-1850s, \u2018a mermaid was caught off of the coast of Feejee\u2019(#QuoteUnquote) it was brought to PT Barnum to see if he wanted to put it in his museum.\xa0
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It was literally a monkey's body that they had been sewn onto a fish, and it's kind of morbid.
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But Barnum decided that he could use the \u2018mermaid\u2019 to create a cool buzz!\xa0
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So he grabbed all of these naturalists to declare, "This is a true Mermaid from Fiji."\xa0
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Now, anyone looking at the \u2018mermaid\u2019 could tell that it was fake\u2026
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So Barnum asked experienced naturalists until finally, he had a naturalist who would declare:
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"This is a real mermaid."\xa0
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Then he took *that story* and ran with it.\xa0
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He and one of his associates started sending letters to the newspaper from various locations.\xa0
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His associate acted as a doctor and they started \u201cleaking\u201d quote after quote of interactions they were having about the Feejee\xa0 Mermaid and how spectacular it was to the press.
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They sent them from anonymous locations throughout the city and the nation.\xa0
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The press was like:
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\xa0"Oh my gosh, we're getting all these letters about this incredible Feejee Mermaid.
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\xa0Look at this correspondence between this doctor and PT Barnum the museum owner.\u201d
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It was completely fake.\xa0
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However, when they\u2019d created enough buzz, the fake doctor took a trip from New York down to Philadelphia o \u2018business\u2019\xa0 and brought the Feejee Mermaid with him.\xa0
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They did their Dream 100 homework and chose a hotel where the owner was friends with a bunch of newspaper editors.\xa0
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Dr. J. Griffin (fake doctor, fake name)... checks into this hotel and as a thank you for letting him stay, he promises to let the hotel owner see the Feejee Mermaid.\xa0
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The hotel owner goes, "Oh my gosh. That's the coolest thing I've ever seen. Do you mind if I bring some of my friends over?".\xa0
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Q: Guess who his friends were?\xa0
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A: Yep, all these editors!\xa0
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\u2026 but wait, it gets even better!
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Seriously, this is some AMAZING marketing!
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When people are like "I sent a Facebook campaign\u2026\u201d
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\xa0I'm like, "That's NOT a campaign, that's just a Facebook ad. *This* is a campaign. Study what Barnum did".\xa0
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Barnum was BRILLIANT at campaigns.\xa0
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So while this fake doctor is in Philadelphia swooning all of these editors, PT Barnum is busy at work in New York\u2026
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He prints off 10,000 fliers with these voluptuous, nude mermaids.\xa0
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He literally litters 10,000 Mermaid pamphlets all over New York City.
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\xa0And what he says on the flyer is:
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\xa0"Guys, guess what? I am gonna get the Feejee Mermaid to my museum, but it's only gonna be here for one week, starting on this day."
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Oh my Lanta!\xa0
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That\u2019s straight scarcity and urgency direct from the1800s!
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(Now, there's A LOT more to the story, I'm telling the Reader's Digest version.)\xa0
CREATING A MARKETING CAMPAIGN 1800\u2019S STYLE
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Now that the press in Philadelphia and New York are buzzing, Barnum puts the cherry on the top...\xa0
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...and this is what he did.
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Again, I'm not here to argue whether or not this is right or wrong. I don't think it's right, but that's beside the point\u2026
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\xa0Just learn from what he did here...
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So\u2026
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- There are10,000 fliers in New York City
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- Philadelphia is buzzing.
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- Everyone knows that the Feejee Mermaid will be in Barnum's museum for ONE week\u2026
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So Barnum goes to the press and says, "Hey, local news-press. I wanna give you exclusive rights to cover the story when the Feejee Mermaid shows up".\xa0
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They go, "Oh my gosh, that's awesome."\xa0
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Then he went to the next newspaper and said the same thing\u2026 and he did this over and over again!
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\xa0He told all the newspapers, "You have exclusive rights!\u201d
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All the papers were like, "Oh my gosh!"
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So the day comes when the Feejee\xa0 Mermaid will be revealed... and there's a TON of pressure built up.\xa0
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- The newspaper editors know about it and they were excited
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- Over in New York, there are 10,000 leaflets all over the place with (I'll be honest) voluptuous, largely nude mermaids.
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(Again, I'm NOT talking about the morals of this, I'm just saying this is what happened.)\xa0
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Now ALL the think they have exclusive coverage!
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BUT\u2026
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When the day of it comes, and the newspapers learn that all the other newspapers \u201cexclusive coverage.\u201d
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But rather than miss out on an opportunity, they ALL decide to l run the story\u2026
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Because they don't wanna be the newspaper that's left out!
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And that gets ridiculous sales for PT Barnum and was a HUGE deal for his career.\xa0
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Now here\u2019s my point...\xa0
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DON\u2019T BE A LAZY MARKETER!
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Compare the amount of foot-work that Barnum did to create pressure around a single date and compare it to what MOST people do when they build a funnel and turn Facebook ads on\u2026
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I\u2019ve said it before and I\u2019ll say it AGAIN\u2026
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Facebook ads are NOT a campaign.\xa0
I've had people say, "Steve, what do you mean Facebook ads are NOT campaigns?"\xa0
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Look, I'm not saying ads can't be part of a campaign, I'm saying that just running an ad is NOT a campaign.\xa0
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So let's think real quick about what PT Barnum did for his campaign to promote a completely fake and NOT valuable thing called the Feejee\xa0 Mermaid.
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It was NOT the voluptuous mermaid in the pictures, it was this rotted to death, stuffed, frozen monkey sewed to the back-end of a fish.\xa0
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First of all\u2026
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- \xa0What was the hook that PT Barnum used to get this campaign going?
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Probably the picture of the mermaid\u2026 that's definitely one of them.\xa0
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- The headline was very, very clever\u2026
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I wish I could remember it off the top of my head, it \u2018s on the internet, you can go look it up.\xa0
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- He created a story.\xa0
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People do okay with the story, but creating hooks is a work of art. Most people don't really create a hook.
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The next part of EVERY campaign is to attach it to distribution.\xa0
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Q: What is the distribution channel that PT Barnum used?\xa0
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A: Newspapers.
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He even distributed 10,000 leaflets around New York City.\xa0
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He used the distribution channels that were already there.\xa0
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Barnum did NOT create his own newspaper press, he used the existing distribution that was there.\xa0
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That's 100% a direct response marketer play.\xa0
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So there\u2019s a\u2026
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- Hook
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- Story
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- Distribution
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- Call To Action
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Let's think through the mechanics a little bit...'cause there's another piece I wanna go hit real quick that\u2019s very key\u2026
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\xa0You'll see that Hollywood even does this today.\xa0
Inside of the sales letter, he said, "The Feejee Mermaid\u2019s only coming on these days and when it's gone, it's gone. ."\xa0
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Most of the time, people make the mistake of promoting their products by making it ALWAYS available.
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However, Barnum opens and closes the cart on a physical location, his museum.\xa0
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He opened the cart and closed the cart... that's HUGE; that was his call to action.\xa0
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These are ALL the same principles we use today; it\u2019s no different just because we have the internet.
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When you remove the internet out of the equation and\u2026
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- Learn what marketing really is
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- Learn how to build campaigns
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...then, when you add the internet, it's very powerful.\xa0
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However, before you learn what marketing is and how to build campaigns, the internet can be a distraction.\xa0
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Now, there's one other element to this\u2026
HOW TO MARKET YOUR BUSINESS\u2026
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Understand that Barnum did NOT start by going to the newspapers and saying, "You have exclusive coverage.\u201d
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... that was his final move.\xa0
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First, he created a series of campaigns.
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I literally call campaigns, orchestrated noise.\xa0
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Think about the way Hollywood launches a movie, it\u2019s very similar.\xa0
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- A year out, Hollywood will launch a minute-long preview - it doesn't say much, and they're probably still editing.\xa0
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But it just brings a little bit of, "Oh my gosh, I can't wait."\xa0
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And who does that attract?\xa0
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The fans!
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When Disney bought Star Wars to start dropping hints that they were gonna drop a movie, all they had to do a year before was play the 15-second Star Wars theme, and say:
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"Coming Summer, This Year!"\xa0
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\xa0...that was it.\xa0
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And what do all the hypers do?\xa0
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\u201cOh my gosh!"\xa0
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They go spread the message all over the place \u2026
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... the \u2018sneezers\u2019 spread the message for them.
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That's the beginning of a campaign, it's a single pressure event\u2026
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Then six months ahead of time, they release another trailer that's 90 seconds\u2026
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Then in three months, they release another one that\u2019s three minutes.\xa0
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Next, they release a few different versions and tell a little bit of story around different characters.\xa0
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...it's a series of escalating pressure.\xa0
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That's a campaign!
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A campaign is NOT a single event, it\u2019s a series of events that escalate pressure, and piggyback off of each other.\xa0
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THE GREATEST MARKETER\u2026
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You can clearly see this pattern of creating events that build pressure in the PT Barnum example.
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- Anonymous letters create buzz.\xa0
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- A\xa0 fake doctor goes to Philadelphia to build MORE pressure.
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- 10,000 pamphlets with voluptuous mermaids are distributed.
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- ALL the newspapers are given an \u2018EXCLUSIVE.
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All these orchestrated events build pressure for a specific date, and that's very key.\xa0\xa0
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So one of the things I've been obsessed with lately is watching what other successful marketers do\xa0
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- Launch
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- keep the products out, once they're selling.\xa0
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That's two separate styles of campaigns.\xa0
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- A Launch Campaign.
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- An Evergreen Campaign.\xa0
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And I know I've beat that to death, but it's because *that* is how a marketer gets paid on the internet in today.
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It\u2019s very powerful.
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I want you to analyze how a lot of those guys back in the past created noise and realize that that's why this stuff works.
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I use Facebook campaigns in conjunction with my podcast.
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A lot of times we'll drive ads to a specific podcast episode, NOT a registration page.
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People go through the podcast episode, and then we re-target them for a small download\u2026
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Once they get the download, we re-target them for the actual thing with more pressure.
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BOOM!
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Cart closing, only open during this time.\xa0
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Bam! closeout.\xa0
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We still use the same principles as Barnum today!
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But it's ONLY when you understand the principles that Barnum used all those years ago that today's modern tools are really powerful.\xa0
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Without that backdrop, it's very easy to take advantage of the tools and use them in weird ways as easy distribution channels\u2026
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\xa0And NOT actually use real marketing.\xa0
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That\u2019s NOT marketing, it\u2019s link barfing\xa0
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Anyway, hopefully, you enjoyed today's blog? And I\u2019d really appreciate it if you dropped a review.
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THE DEATH OF SALES FUNNEL RADIO!
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\xa0Just so you know\u2026
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( Oh my gosh, I'm gonna start a campaign right here! )\xa0
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Sales Funnel Radio will most likely be over at episode 300.
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(I\u2019ll tell you why in a future episode \U0001f609)\xa0
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It's NOT because this show doesn't do well; we get 2500 - 3000 downloads a day.\xa0
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I'll teach you guys the actual strategy of what I'm doing and a pattern that I noticed in content creation\u2026
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I\u2019m in a position now that I've really fought and worked hard for.\xa0
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But there is a principle that I'm following and that I want you to take note of.\xa0
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So, anyway, it's just a little heads up... in a month or two\u2026
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Sales Funnel Radio will be over.\xa0
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The whole point of the show has been to document my journey from literally broke to...\xa0
\xa0I'm hoping we hit a gross of 5 million by the end of this year. I still have another million and a half to go, but I think I can hit it and I'm trying to hit it by the end of this show.
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\xa0So anyway, It's pretty sick.\xa0
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#GetRich.
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Hey, just real quick:
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A few months ago Russell asked me to write a chapter for a secret project he was doing. I had to write a chapter for a book, this was the letter I got from him.\xa0
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He said:
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\xa0"Hey Stephen, let me ask you a quick question...\xa0
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You suddenly lose all your money, along with your name and your reputation, and only have your marketing know-how left.\xa0\xa0
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You have bills piled high and people harassing you for money over the phone.
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\xa0You have a guaranteed roof over your head, a phone line, an internet connection, and a ClickFunnels account for only one month.\xa0
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You no longer have your big guru name, your following, your JV partners. Other than your vast marketing experience, you're an unknown newbie...\xa0
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What would you do from day #1 to day #30 to save yourself?
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\xa0Russell Brunson
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Hey, if you want to see my answer and a bunch of other marketers who also answered that in this amazing book and summit, just go to 30days.com/stephen.\xa0
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You can see the entire summit, you can see the book, you can see what we wrote in there and each of our detailed plans. Just go to 30days.com/stephen.\xa0