“Yo Mama’s So Fat” and the most important marketing secret.

Say just about anything else to a guy and you might get away with, but as soon as you mention his mama, you’re walking on thin ice. ‘Yo mama’ jokes are possibly the most offensive jokes on earth – you know the kind

• Yo mama so fat that she’s on BOTH sides of the family
• Yo mama so fat that when she gets into an elevator, it has to go down.
• Yo man so fat that she comes at you from all directions
• Yo mama so fat that  – heck, you get the point right?

Not a good idea to say the above to your average guy. It’s too much of an emotionally charged statement… perfect for smart entrepreneurs and marketers.

In this post

• The single MOST important factor in successful marketing and how Volkswagen uses it to sell the world’s most expensive car.
• Why you and your marketers are much less logical than you thought, and how to take advantage of it
• Why a snobbish, racist, politically crazed, gay rights advocate could be the best thing that ever happened to your business.
• How to super-charge your marketing and make your products irresistible.

One thing that marketing and psychology have in common is that everyone thinks they understand it, when in fact very, very few people do. To be a world-class marketer you’re going to have to understand human behavior – Really understand it because marketing is really the science of moving or altering human behavior for profit.

And once you start learning the truths on human behavior, you’ll discover that one of the greatest myths about people. It’s that we (especially men) make our decisions based on logic. This is simply not true. Want an example?

The most expensive car in the world (Bugatti Veyron)

The Bugatti Veyron will cost you $1 700 000 dollars to take home. Here’s logic

• The car is so fast, but you’ll land up in jail if you try to go that fast
• It consumes almost two gallons of fuel a minute, making it extremely expensive to drive.
• It’s mainly expensive to buy because it’s expensive to make (and the manufacturers (VW) actually sell it at a loss for testing and marketing purposes.

Imagine trying to sell this car on logic. It wouldn’t work. On emotion though…

• This car is right out of a Batman movie with the coolness factor all over it.
• It’s price tag is appealing because it demonstrates how successful you are
• Even if you could afford it, they only make 50 a year and have a long waiting list…scarcity

Bottom line is you get to feel good about yourself, become the centre of attention, be envied and admired by others and impress everyone when you show up or dish out the specs it’s amazing performance and price-tag.

Oh and according to it’s makers, the target market for this car isn’t just any rich person. It’s very rich, extreme car enthusiasts. In other words, people who already have strong emotions about cars and can afford to suspend logic to buy.

Love, hope, lust, curiosity, fear, guilt, faith, anger, trust, hate… the great human motivators all very strong emotions that range from influencing to completely dominating people’s perspectives and decisions – all of them, well-known to overpower logic and even will power.

“Zanu PF Is Always Wrong”

In Zimbabwe, many people have extreme beliefs because of their strong emotions. “Zanu PF is always wrong, always selfish and always stealing from the people. No matter what good they do, be suspicious, because it’s for selfish reasons.” This is how some Zimbabweans think. That kind of bias/ blindness is a result of very strong emotions. Strong emotions create extreme views and extreme views make you a very easy person to influence.

So how is this useful in your business?

Well firstly understand that people primarily make their buying decisions based on emotions, not logic. Contrary to what you might think, the more unique, complex or expensive your product is, the more this is true for you.

The key with marketing is to discover what your market ALREADY feels about their problem, and it’s available solutions – then build a brand around their most intense feelings.

For example if the market has a strong distrust or suspicion about your industry or product, your brand should focus on exactly that. Helping them avoid their fears and establishing yourself as the exception.

Learn From Econet’s Mistakes

One example of strong feelings in Zimbabwe is the disappointment some have felt over the performance of 3G offered by Econet. Read some of the comments online on the subject and note how strong some people feel about it…If you had better alternative solution targeting that segment of people and demonstrating how different it would FEEL to do business with you would effectively position your brand as very desirable to them.

Investigate your market. What are the dominant emotions associated with your product, solution or service? What do people strongly desire, detest, distrust, fear etc. What do they strongly believe, love, hope for and so on. The better you know your target market, the more equipped you are.

yours for smart  marketing…