Attraction

I don't believe much in paid advertising.

For example, I always know who charges far too much for their product by how many times I see their commercials on TV. Which is insurance and pharmaceuticals. Way overpriced.

Sorry Flo.

I believe that anyone who develops a product learns more about how attractive and exciting their product is by how much word of mouth it gets. So, the challenge I give myself is to see how little I can spend on something to push it into the world.

(Marketing champ of all time, by the way, is Jesus. The fact that Christianity grew from one man and twelve disciples by word of mouth despite endless persecution across the centuries is remarkable. But he's the Lord, so perhaps he has an advantage...)

I haven't paid out any money to promote my book, for example. My risk of a few hundred hours writing the book and $8,535 buying 1,000 self-published copies last fall has paid off - I'm in the black. I just booked my first seminar out of state - in Tennessee.

Or take Grassroots Priorities. GAWTP has spent no money on advertising, but the website is becoming a fixture in Texas politics. We're not quite halfway through May, but we already have over 1 million page views for the month. During this session alone, over 37,500 unique visitors.

When you listen to people and give them what they want - to empower them and improve their lives - they will come to you for what you offer.

Any time you create something and offer it to people, a conversation begins. You try to find the best way to articulate what it is and how it can help and then you begin to hear whether it resonates with people or not.

If it doesn't, you have two choices: you either modify the product or the pitch, or you can push it harder into the market with money.

Sometimes, the money is smart because if you don't have an organic way to reach people initially, then the money can lift you to get to people. It's an investment and a boost. But if you keep having to plow money into advertising, that might be worth looking into. Something is amiss.

Can a product get major market share without any advertising? Yes, of course. Ever seen a Tesla ad on TV, for example? No, you haven't. Why? The product and its word of mouth are that good.

Guerilla marketing is hard. But it's street-level and forces you to really listen to those who might want what you offer. If you do it right, you get the maximum return on investment. There is no advertising better than word of mouth.

I spend a great deal of time thinking about how to apply that to politics and elections.

We lament the money in politics. How much is spent selling us on bad incumbents peddling bad policy? That would be an example of working too hard to sell a bad product. It's so artificial.

As Grassroots Priorities shows, people want the facts. They don't want a spin or an interpretation of the facts. People want to be empowered with knowledge and a means to share that with others. If you do that right, then people will come to it organically.

And the more you practice that discipline, the better you will get at doing it. It's about listening and creating something of real value that improves lives. People are smart enough to know whether their life is better for what you offer, and if what you offer does that, you don't need money to push it on people. It's attractive all on its own.

5 Comments

Deana (May 13, 2025 7:56 AM):

What! Your first seminar is in Tennessee! That's awesome. Congrats.

Paulette (May 13, 2025 8:24 AM):

Great points! Congrats on your book and seminars. You are changing the political landscape (thus families and communities) with each person engaging with a book and attending a seminar.

Carol Milder (May 13, 2025 9:28 AM):

Love your book and your seminars! Winning!!

Randy Reeves (May 13, 2025 10:53 AM):

I believe there are two separations in what "we need" and "what we are going to get". And you are exactly correct in your assertion that big money buys big ad time. And you can throw lawyers into the mix of who can afford bunches of TV ads.

Insurance companies have long bought congressional support along with pharmaceutical companies. So it's no mystery why subduing the push, is a hard fought battle. A huge percentage of our reps are lawyers, too. Thus, protection of their clan is paramount in their circles, if you will.

The separation happens when our "full lives" gets an election, thrown into the mix. We are, after all, expected to keep up with the best insurance rates, the best grocery prices, gas prices, raising children and on and on. A dedicated few pay close attention to politics. The remainder are trying to keep their heads above water. When elections come, advertising is big business. Its also the time when consultants gets their chance to show their expertise in "half truths". Many examples could be put forth of just how sleazy political ads can be. An example is being aired today by John Cornyn. It states, "Cornyn has voted with Trump 99% of the time." In fact, its true. For 100 plus days Cornyn has voted in favor of Trump's agenda. And the disconnected will believe that ad. Truth is, he's voted only 64% of the time in his years as a Republican senator with Republicans. That, my friends is a failing grade in schools I attended.
So our "needs" are to survive in a more complex world, while our "what we are going to get" is elections filled with uninformed voters making choices based on commercials filled with half truths. Sad fact, those in charge of campaigns know we are going to believe these lies. Why? We didn't get facts on our on. We believe what we are told.

Roy Getting (May 13, 2025 11:14 AM):

Great work Brett!! There is a reason during campaigns that door knocking has proven most effective. Person to person is always more convincing.