One of the groups I’m most often asked about marketing to is the affluent.

Regardless of what you might have been told or seen on the nightly news, this segment of the population still has money to spend, is the last group to be impacted by economic turmoil, and they are still spending money today.

But there is a catch.

The way the affluent are spending money today is different then how things were just a few years ago.

To be perfectly clear — they are still spending, but they are spending differently.

If you are currently marketing to the affluent and want to continue, or want to expand your business to the affluent, paying attention to how things are changing is critical.

Which brings me to perspective.

You see, one of the things I do whenever I develop a new marketing campaign is to search for and understand Perspectives.

Let me explain what I mean…

I grew up in a lower middle class neighborhood outside of Baltimore.

Baltimore is a blue-collar town. And even when my own economic situation moved beyond lower middle class, my perspective on the world is still heavily imprinted by growing up “Rosanne-style.”

It always will be.

That doesn’t mean I can’t understand, market to, or appeal to people who have never known what it is like to stretch a dollar to get something to eat. I can, do, and if I may be so modest … will say I am exceptionally good at it.

It does mean that, as a professional marketer, I have to be aware of my own biases and seek out people and experiences that help me to understand and appeal to people who have had different experiences than my own.

In case you missed that “writer-downer” …

**If you plan to market to more than just yourself, it is critical that you do what it takes to understand your customer in a very deep and profound way.**

In fact, many marketing failures can be traced right back to skipping over that step.

Last November, I met someone whose youth couldn’t have been more different than my own.

She grew up with private planes and vacation homes.

Disposable income was a given.

Financial security always present.

And that has carried right through her adult life.

She “gets” what it is to live like that, and what it takes to appeal to people like her.

And, it turns out, she has dedicated her razor-sharp mind to helping other business owners learn *exactly* what it takes to develop, market and sell products and services to the affluent consumer.

Her name is Kelly O’Neil.

A few weeks ago she interviewed me about using remote presentations — teleseminars, webinars and videos — to market to the affluent. Among other things, we talked about how one of my students generated more than $3 million dollars with a single teleseminar to affluent consumers.

That interview is now part of something she calls, “Marketing to Millionaire’s University.”

For the next few days, Kelly is giving me the chance to pass on a VIP Preview Invitation to look into the program *and* get an amazingly generous 25% discount coupon should you decide to invest in any of the courses.

The catch? It is only good until Midnight, Pacific time, Saturday, October 31st.

So, let me make this simple.

If you are or are considering marketing to the affluent, you need to look into what Kelly has to offer.

Here’s the code for your 25% off discount (good only until the 31st): M2MEJV09

Now, click here to go to Marketing to Millionaire’s University.

If you have been following me for any period of time you know that I rarely if ever recommend someone. That above is an affiliate link, but if you’d rather visit without me getting credit, feel free — here’s the normal url.

Thank me later.

Be well,
Michael Cage

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This blog is and always has been about whatever is going on in my brain and my business — which means thoughts on entreprenuership, marketing, advertising, business strategy and living a full life.

Lately, I have been contributing to two new blogs for companies I own and/or have a role in. They let me write more frequently to a) local business owners who just don’t get the love, respect or support they need when it comes to growing their businesses (The Local Internet Marketing Blog), and b) people who are using teleseminars, webinars or online videos to promote their businesses (The Teleseminar & Webinar Marketing Blog).

There are more than a dozen back posts on each, and I thought now might be a good time to introduce you to some posts I think you’ll like.

From the Local Internet Marketing Blog:

“5 Ways to Get Better Results From Referral Marketing”
Ask any local small business owner, and they’ll tell you referrals are the lifeblood of their business. Especially when they’re short on money for advertising. Read this post to learn 5 simple strategies for generating a steady stream of referrals in your business (no matter what business) now.

“The Tortoise, The Hare And Your Local Business”
Is the saying, “slow and steady wins the race” applicable to the business world? Yes and no. Find out why, and how to turn your good success into great success in this post.

“Stand Out: What Yellow Pages Marketing Can Teach You About How To Market Your Local Business”
Read this post, which is a twist on an exercise I do with my private consulting clients, to learn how you can avoid the trap of commodity pricing and receive the premium prices you deserve no matter what your industry is, who your customers are, or what your competition is charging.

From the Teleseminar & Webinar Marketing Blog:

The 12 Most Common Lead Generation Webinar Mistakes
The fact that lead generation webinars are amazing tools for sales forces and marketing departments is no secret. But despite the thousands that occur each day, a frightening majority miss out on more than one of these mistakes that depress response.

“Compression, Revenue and Teleseminars and Webinars that Sell”
Teleseminar and Webinars are hands down the fastest way I’ve found to slash the time it takes to turn prospects into paying clients. Read this post to find out how you use them to shorten your prospects’ buying cycle from a matter of months to 90 minutes or less.

“6 Ways to Profit from Teleseminars Before You Have a Product to Sell”
If you’ve ever thought you can’t make money on teleseminars or webinars because you don’t have a product, read this post. In fact, you’ll discover I recommend you don’t wait to create your product to do your first session. Sound counter intuitive, I know. Find out why here.

“Teleseminar Marketing Works Better in a ‘Bad Economy?’”
Fact: People haven’t stopped spending money; they’re just more selective what they spend it on. Read this post to learn the three little-understood advantages teleseminars and webinars give you that make them superior to other sales mechanisms, especially in a bad economy.

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Sarah is a small business owner who lives in a state of steady crisis reaction.

She is well-versed in dealing with the crisis of the moment, even skilled at it.

So good, in fact, that when those moments of opportunity arise when she can step back and focus on the business at a systemic level, it is so uncomfortable and unknown that it never happens.

Opportunity is lost.

Wasted.

Soon another crisis looms. Demanding attention, getting a rise from those crisis-loving brain chemicals.

(If such a crisis doesn’t “pop up” … Sarah might well “create” it all on her own. Nature abhors a vacuum, ya know.)

Sarah’s is a comfortable position for far too many small business owners.

Moving beyond it is one of the key distinctions that mark the leap from small business owner to entrepreneur.

Three small business strategy questions

Here’s a simple exercise to test your clarity.

Don’t worry, you can answer at home with the curtains drawn. Be honest, no one else will know.

  • Why does your business exist — what is its purpose in the world?
  • How does your business sustain itself while fulfilling that purpose?
  • What are the 3 key things you are focusing on this quarter to serve the last two questions?

If you can’t answer those questions in a flash, without hesitation, you are due a strategy day.

Ponder the big questions and how you day-to-day actions either serves your vision, detracts from your vision, or are absolutely aimless because you have no vision.

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What big businesses don’t understand about marketing to small business owners

August 24, 2009

(Quick note before we start – I originally wrote this in a response to a question I got from a large corporate client trying to market to small business owners. My comments also apply completely to smaller consulting firms and professional practices.)
Talk to a small business owner and they’ll tell you that the big businesses [...]

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What I hate about the 4-hour work week …

June 5, 2008

Let’s start at the beginning.
I don’t hate Timothy Ferriss, nor do I hate his book, “The Four Hour Work Week.”
In fact, I think the book is excellent in many ways on a tactical level.
What I do hate is the underlying philosophy that makes an idea like The 4- Hour Work Week so appealing. [...]

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Is “find a need and fill it” bad marketing advice?

May 18, 2007

Just because marketing advice is repeated often … doesn’t make it true.

“Find a need and fill it … that is the key to successfully marketing a business.” – Someone who needs to be slapped around a little bit.

Truth is, follow this “find a need and fill it” advice and you are inviting commodity pricing.
Think about [...]

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The first Aggressive Marketing & Entrepreneurship podcast

May 15, 2007

Quick follow-up: The 2nd episode of “Aggressive Marketing & Entrepreneurship Daily” has been posted. AND … you can now subscribe to the podcast using iTunes or RSS Feed. If you just want to check it out with my handy web-based player, just click this link.
Fact is … I’m a slow writer. And while I love [...]

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The differentiation trade-off and marketing to values

May 8, 2007

One of the most common requests I get from clients is, “how can I differentiate my business/product/service/offer?”
The trade-off is clear. You can escape commodity-pricing and increase the flow of new and repeat business by being clearly and compellingly different. But part of being different is being willing to turn away, sometimes even offend, [...]

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Still cold calling for B2B lead generation?

April 15, 2007

When I write about touchy subjects, I get angry E-mails.
In July of 2004, I wrote that b2b marketers and salespeople that rely on cold calling are like functional drunks. They don’t grow fully because of it … in the back of their mind they know it is bad for them … yet they manage to [...]

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Experiences and story, the foundation of luxury marketing offers

February 15, 2007

Exceptional experiences that pack a story to tell are the new luxury marketing offers. (And there is a lesson here for all businesses, marketing to the affluent or not, so read on.)
People with disposable, six-figure incomes are spending money on luxury goods that used to be reserved for the “upper crust” of society. These are [...]

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