🤔What if your offers have impossible-to-see benefits?

In partnership with

It’s Monday. Let’s fight through that realization.

And let’s see how to battle the hardship of marketing something that has benefits that the customer can’t really comprehend. That’s today’s Main Thing, which I’ll highlight with two examples. 

After that breakdown, you can sink your teeth into the Monday Marketing News section.

Appetizer: Tab & app switching costs you more time than you think. RescueTime is a tool that shows you how bad it really is. 

The Main Thing

Selling Stuff with Benefits the Buyer Can’t See

You can learn a ton from businesses selling products / services that are highly beneficial but not in the way the public perceives them.

Now, this post is not a step-by-step tutorial on ways to implement a system for highlighting benefits. It’s only meant to spark ideas in your big brain for alternate angles for promoting whatever you sell. 

The Two Examples

1. CPR Classes

2. Jiu Jitsu Training

How are those offers related?

Both offer benefits that the “user” or “buyer” of the course will likely never use.

How many times have you been near someone needing CPR?

How many times have you needed to physically defend yourself using a wrist lock?

If you’re like most folks, the answer is zero on both questions. At most, your answer was less than two times.

So, do people who pay for CPR classes feel like they wasted their money? No. 

They walk around knowing they have the knowledge to save a life. Maybe a loved one’s life. 

Similar to jiu jitsu practitioners. They aren’t getting in street fights every month! Nor are they walking around like they’re the baddest man or woman on the planet. 

They do get to walk around knowing they have the ability to at least defend themselves if attacked. Again, it’s a confidence thing. It’s comforting, like knowing CPR. 

However

If you asked 100 people what the main benefit of taking a CPR course was, 99 of them would say “saving lives.”

With jiu jitsu, 99% of people would say the main benefit of paying for training is becoming good at fighting.

Wrong in both cases. 

Building one’s confidence is the main benefit of both. 

I’ve never learned CPR. But I can list more hidden benefits of jiu jitsu, such as:

• Camaraderie with other students

• Keeps ego in check 

• Anxiety reduction

• Fitness 

Thing is, the only way to comprehend (or feel) those benefits is to sign up for jiu jitsu. Fitness might be more obvious, but anxiety reduction? It actually makes you anxious initially to sign up for a weird activity involving chokeholds and leglocks.

That’s part of the benefits too (facing fears), that aren’t tangible or believable if someone were trying to sell you on joining a martial arts gym.

The Bottom Line 

All that to say this. Study up on advertisements for CPR classes and martial arts training centers. 

Interview a CPR trainer or martial arts gym owner. 

Ask them how they persuade people to sign up and pay for classes when the benefit the person thinks they’ll get is not quite accurate.

(You could sign up for a class or two if you really want a feel for unseen benefits.)

Again, you’ll have to find your own way of using those insights in your marketing. This wasn’t a hold-your-hand type post. I do believe it’s valuable, though, if you’re willing to put some thought into it. 

Now, let’s creep into Monday Marketing News.

Marketing ideas for marketers who hate boring

The best marketing ideas come from marketers who live it.

That’s what this newsletter delivers.

The Marketing Millennials is a look inside what’s working right now for other marketers. No theory. No fluff. Just real insights and ideas you can actually use—from marketers who’ve been there, done that, and are sharing the playbook.

Every newsletter is written by Daniel Murray, a marketer obsessed with what goes into great marketing. Expect fresh takes, hot topics, and the kind of stuff you’ll want to steal for your next campaign.

Because marketing shouldn’t feel like guesswork. And you shouldn’t have to dig for the good stuff.

Subscribe Free

Please share Inbox Hacking with a fellow marketing go-getter or business owner. I appreciate you reading & sharing.

Shane McLendon - Copy Kingpin

“Caitlin Clark’s impact on the WNBA: Merchandise sales soared 601%, Indiana Fever viewership jumped 170%, the team’s value tripled, League Pass subscriptions climbed 366%, and app engagement rose 613%.” ~WSJ.