In the last book of the Bible called Revelation or the Apocalypse, the
writer John is given seven letters to give to seven different churches.
The letters 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.

I'm a big believer in what Dan Kennedy and John Carlton have said... Don't be afraid to piss-off people that aren't your prospects in order to "get closer" to the people that are your prospects.

Most advertising is so boring, bland and afraid to ruffle anyone's feathers that it is devoid of its ability to motivate anyone to do anything-- except ignore it.

Yeah Michael,

I know that Dan Kennedy is a big evangelist for this style of marketing.
Even his sales letters lack visual appeal--all marked up, different fonts ect.

This approach to sales letter formatting has been discussed on the board
before but I think it works because it helps your sales letter to stand out
from the crowd.

The "Rich Jerk" has made great use of this style marketing as well. But
whatever approach a marketer takes it must be memorable and persuasive
at the same time.

-Ray L.,