A 350 year old marketing lesson you can enjoy with your kids

Entertaining is not the same thing as selling.

However, good entertainers have mastered two of the key arts of selling: getting and holding attention.

No show does this better than a good old fashioned “Punch and Judy” Show.

How do we know this?

Because it’s been running continuously for over 350 years (since May 9, 1662.)

Any plot line that can keep people interested for over 350 years is worthwhile study for marketers, don’t you think?

Plus it’s a good excuse to have some fun.

Note: “Punch and Judy” shows have become too “politically incorrect” for the US these days, so we have to rely on our friends in Britain, supposedly captives of a “Nanny State,” to keep it going for us.

Enjoy and see what marketing lessons you learn and then compare them to mine below.

What are the lessons here?

Here are three just for starters…

1. Conflict sells

Professional wrestling is ridiculous and Trump vs Clinton is even more ridiculous, but look at how much attention these two spectacles attract and hold.

Is there “conflict” in your business?

Do your prospects and customers have an enemy? Are you on their side in fighting that enemy?

If not, you’re missing out on one of the most powerful relationship building tools on earth.

It’s an old, but true saying: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

2. Audience participation generates  audience passion

Do you see how many different ways the players involve the audience in the show?

The audience is not just passively watching it. They’re IN it.

Who is going to be most involved in your message, the person sitting back and taking it all in or the person on the edge of their seat playing along?

Direct mail masters knew this.

Whenever they could, they crafted “involvement devices” for their mailings: coupons to be torn out, special stamps to affixed, stickers to be placed on the order form for special deals etc.

Why did they go through the hassle of adding these things to their mailings?

Because they worked.

Can you do something like this on the Internet?

You bet you can.

3. People love to be “insiders”

Do you see how much delight the kids take in knowing things that the some of the characters don’t know? Everyone loves to feel that they know the “real deal.”

Are you giving your customers the opportunity to be “insiders”?

If so, they will love you for it.

Raising someone’s status in a natural, believable way is one of the fastest ways to make a friend and a follower.

There are other lessons you can take from this 350 year old best selling show.

And here’s the most important one:

When you see something that has worked this well for this long and shows no sign of abating, take out your microscope and: a) figure out how it works and b) figure out how you can use the principles you’ve uncovered in your own business.

There is big money in this world for the people who do this kind of “out of the box” thinking on a regular basis.

We’ll be going into all these and other lessons from Punch and Judy in much greater depth for members of the System Club.

– Ken McCarthy

P.S. For over 25 years I’ve been sharing the simple but powerful things that matter in business with my clients.

If you’d like direction for your business that will work today, tomorrow and twenty years from now, visit us at the System Club.

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