Marketing Muggles At Hogwarts

by Linus Rylander

Coat of arms of Hogwarts, the fictional school...

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I think… fundamentally, there are two kinds of people who build businesses online.

The first one is what we’ll call the Marketing Muggle, to borrow from Harry Potter terminology.

The second is the Marketing Wizard.

In J.K. Rowling’s magical world, a “muggle” is what the wizards call ordinary people. No magical abilities. Just humans, like you and me.

And a wizard is one born with magical ability. They have control over the force… uh… (or was that a different movie? ;p)

To me, a “muggle” is just the normal, average Jane who is trying to make some extra money from home.

Pay some overdue bills. Put food on the table.

A “make money from home” attitude.

The wizard has the magic wheezing through his veins. He’s an artist. He’s obsessed with people… what makes them tick, click and pull out their wallets.

He’s a marketing fanatic.

To the muggle, everything is a bit… grey. Everything she learns in her marketing education are dull, mechanical steps to her. Step 1: lift wand. Step 2: utter magic phrase. Step 3: point wand.

To the wizard, it comes alive. He can see every piece of the marketing machine in crystal clarity. He lives it, breathes it.

He looks at a sales letter and in 20 seconds has 12 ideas how it can be improved. He builds sales funnels in his sleep.

The Marketing Muggle flings her wand, and wonders why it’s not working.

Both may receive and follow the exact “step by step” blueprint.

The end results are the difference between the cute background jingle in a shopping mall, versus Ray Charles masterfully hammering out “You Are My Sunshine” on the keys…

So what’s the distinction?

Soul.

The “Art Factor”.

Here’s why it’s more difficult for a “muggle” to make it online:

  1. She doesn’t “feel” it. She doesn’t see the big picture.
  2. She is not in love with the process of marketing

But here’s the thing: Every marketing “wizard” wasn’t born one.

There was a process that took place that hooked him. Somehow.

I wasn’t always one. For the first one or two years in the biz I was still a muggle.

I’m not sure exactly what that process is… but something happened. And it wasn’t auto-magical.

So it stands to reason… anyone “could” get it.

I think most people just don’t make it that far. They try something, then give up… without really trying.

So here’s my suggestion:

  1. Take relentless action, do stuff.
  2. Keep doing stuff.
  3. Completely immerse yourself in the process.

Oh – and also… I am in no way suggesting that a “wizard” is in some way a superior human being to a “muggle” … but rather at a different stage in the process.

We’ve all been wizards at something. I think immersion is a big part of the equation.

Anyway, these were just some thoughts I had the other night while brushing my teeth.

The Daily Unstupid will be back on Monday…

Talk soon,
Linus

P.S. Thanks, everyone who picked up their copy of MiniBiz. :)

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  • Nancy Gomez

    Wizards also need space to wave those wands, so I’m clearing out years of notebooks and yellow pads filled with notes that are surprisingly redundant and muggle-ish.  I have also been unsubscribing from lists I’ve been on for years because my elbows keep bumping into the walls
    of  the same old pitches and landing pages.  I need room. I’ve got a wand to wave.

    Thanks for another idea sparking post.

  • http://www.terrycoombes.com Terry Coombes

    Hi Linus,
                       Great, thoughtful post, as always.  Listen, someone posted a question on Warrior Forum recently and she wanted suggestions for questions she could ask a guru she’d been given the opportunity to interview. So, I sat there and thought and came up with a few I’d be interested in knowing the answers to (I’ve no idea who the guru was).

    Well, by the time I posted my reply, the thread had been closed, because someone decided she was using it to research a WSO to sell at some point in the future. So that left me with a bunch of wasted questions.

    Now, if I swear I’m not going to make money out of this, could I drop these Q’s here and if you ever get the chance to address any, or all of them, that would make me a happy muggle.

    Here are the questions:

    “If you were starting right now (with your current knowledge), what would you do?”

    “What do you wish you’d done sooner?”

    “What do you wish you hadn’t done?”

    “Everyone gives the advice, ‘Pick one thing and focus, focus, focus.’ When you started out, did you do that, and if so, were there times when you just had to give up and backtrack to the beginning?”

    “How do you know when to give up?”

    “What is the biggest (marketing-related) secret you’re prepared to share with me?”

    I know you’re a busy guy, so don’t worry if you don’t get around to it.

    Love everything you do.

    Regards,

    Terry

  • http://johnoyork.com John Reed

    You’ll have no enamel left on your teeth at this rate Linus!!
    And whatever you do – avoid Weaslie Toothpaste!

    I just wish I could get the hang of using my wand more effectively…… but I AM gaining a better understanding.  I just compared a simple process of choosing secondary keywords and a year ago I was just guessing whereas now I really am looking for relevant search terms that rank.  Of course some of the guesses were at least as useful as the choices I now make, but overall I’ve improved in huge leaps – AND it now comes more naturally!  So, the more I get to look like Dumbledore the better I get !!!!!

    Thanks
    John O’York

  • http://lemonarian.com Linus Rylander

    Nice comment Nancy, love how you kept using my weird analogy lingo.

    But yes, you’re right. I subscribe to as many lists as I can… but only from people who are really good at email marketing. They’re the ones with (a) the best emails to study and (b) the best actual content. Win-win.

    Now go wave some wands :)

  • http://lemonarian.com Linus Rylander

    Wow Terry, hey.

    I don’t think about this kind of stuff very often, and I don’t think something as BIG as this fits in a single blog comment.

    I’ll mull it over some more, and then I’ll probably tell everyone my answers…

    Thanks for your comment and making me think a bit…

    Linus

  • Quickfirst2

    Hi Terry,
    You asked this of somebody else not me but I couldn’t resist answering so here you go.
    “If you were starting right now (with your current knowledge), what would you do?”
    Exactly what I am doing now, learning.

    “What do you wish you’d done sooner?”
    Nothing

    “What do you wish you hadn’t done?”Nothing
    “Everyone gives the advice, ‘Pick one thing and focus, focus, focus.’ When you started out, did you do that, and if so, were there times when you just had to give up and backtrack to the beginning?”
    Success is a journey not a destination.”How do you know when to give up?”On a personal level I never give up but I do change direction.”What is the biggest (marketing-related) secret you’re prepared to share with me?”There are no secrets just plenty of half truths.
    I was once told that if you put a web site up and don’t build any links to it, it will not get found by the search engines it is not true.The gurus are all confidence tricksters, most of what they sell works but like most things you have to be lucky as well, they don’t tell you that. Determination will bring reward but not any time soon unless your very lucky or prepared to become a confidence trickster also, they don’t tell you that either. If you don’t do anything then you can guarantee nothing will change, if you do something then you are putting yourself into a position for change to happen it might not be the change you want but it will change. The more effort you put in, the more change that occurs, increasing the chance of making the right change and reaping reward.If I hadn’t done all the things I have done good or bad, right or wrong, then I wouldn’t know very much, which would mean I have wasted my time.

  • Quickfirst2

    Hi Terry,
    You asked this of somebody else not me but I couldn’t resist answering so here you go.
    “If you were starting right now (with your current knowledge), what would you do?”
    Exactly what I am doing now, learning.

    “What do you wish you’d done sooner?”
    Nothing

    “What do you wish you hadn’t done?”Nothing
    “Everyone gives the advice, ‘Pick one thing and focus, focus, focus.’ When you started out, did you do that, and if so, were there times when you just had to give up and backtrack to the beginning?”
    Success is a journey not a destination.”How do you know when to give up?”On a personal level I never give up but I do change direction.”What is the biggest (marketing-related) secret you’re prepared to share with me?”There are no secrets just plenty of half truths.
    I was once told that if you put a web site up and don’t build any links to it, it will not get found by the search engines it is not true.The gurus are all confidence tricksters, most of what they sell works but like most things you have to be lucky as well, they don’t tell you that. Determination will bring reward but not any time soon unless your very lucky or prepared to become a confidence trickster also, they don’t tell you that either. If you don’t do anything then you can guarantee nothing will change, if you do something then you are putting yourself into a position for change to happen it might not be the change you want but it will change. The more effort you put in, the more change that occurs, increasing the chance of making the right change and reaping reward.If I hadn’t done all the things I have done good or bad, right or wrong, then I wouldn’t know very much, which would mean I have wasted my time.

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