Marketing Lessons From The Apocalypse
Author: Ray L. Edwards

In the last book of the Bible called Revelation or the
Apocalypse, the writer John is given seven letters to be
delivered to seven different churches. They all contain
commendations, rebuke and a promise to those who take action
based on the advice given.

The last of these letters addressed to the Laodicean
congregation is quite harsh and contain no commendations. This
lack of compliments sets it apart from all the other letters.
What's so different about this group of people? Why is God
being so hard on them? What has brought on this scalding
rebuke?

Well, they are neither good nor bad. Neither "hot nor cold".
They are just lukewarm—ordinary.

The situation appears so hopeless that the Messenger says He
feels like spitting them out of his mouth. A nice way of
saying, "You make me feel like throwing up!" Yet, these people
were unaware of their condition. In fact, they thought that
they were doing just fine and "had need of nothing."

There are a lot Laodicean marketing taking place right now. I
see this whenever I open the yellow pages or read sales letters
online. I read advertisement and sales copy that lack any kind
of personality. They all read the same and make no attempt to
be "hot" or "cold". So they touch your skin but you don't even
realize that they are there. You leave unaffected.

One thing I've learned about marketing is that, the safer you
try to be the quicker you'll fail. If you try to please
everybody, you'll end up pleasing nobody. You have to take
risks and this means offending some people while being other
people's heroes. If you try to take the middle road, then
you'll always get run over.

It seems that even God hates lukewarm marketing!

"Hot" may involve going outside of your comfort level, but have
you ever seen a famous person who didn't? So, for heavens sake
(pun intended), be provocative and pull me into your message.
Get under my skin and ruffle my feathers. Make me upset, but
still want to read more because your ideas are so big and I
fear if I don't continue reading I'll miss THE idea of the
century.

Forget the predictable, lukewarm fuzziness and be audacious.
Don't bore me to death. Please, I have my wife to do that. (Did
that last statement offend you as a woman, or thrill you as a
husband? That's the whole point of the statement.)

I can still recall just a few years ago when I landed on one of
my competitors' website who was selling a huge ebook package for
$47 that contained an item I was selling for same $47. Needless
to say, I was outraged! Now I knew why my sales had fallen.
What if my customers found out about this website? I was sure
they'll request a refund.

So guess what I finally did after all the fussing and fuming. I
bought his package and became one of his affiliates. What? Could
you imagine that he upset me so much that I became his
affiliate? If he was selling the same item as I was for the
same price I would have just breezed along. But he rubbed me
the wrong way and got my attention.

And I've always said that attention is the most coveted and
expensive commodity for the online marketer. If you can get
people noticing your marketing message then you are just one
step away from the sale.

And you don't want your prospects vomiting you out. Just
thinking about it makes me afraid of tackling my dinner. Plus,
my wife loves to talk over dinner.


About The Author: Ray L. Edwards' copywriting has been
responsible for more than $3M in sales for his clients this
year alone. He is an online marketing strategist, a
copywriter's coach and published author. You may find out more
about his services by visiting http://webcopy-writing.com