Net Frontier Marketing

Remember that episode in Seinfeld when Georges uses a picture of his model ex-fiancé to attract more models?

That’s making use of social proof at its best. The very idea that Georges once had such a beautiful girl to himself demonstrates more plainly than anything else he could do that he has value as a man.

What does this have to do with an internet marketing blog. A lot actually, just read on.

You see, over the past couple of weeks, I have been tentatively playing with the “dating/pickup” niche. I stumbled upon it out of curiosity and put up some basic promotions to test the waters.

It’s been quite profitable as well as entertaining thus far, which just goes to show how exactly marketers find niches in which they will do well.

When reading forums or other mediums where you encounter a large number of marketing newbies, one of the questions that often comes up is “what product should I sell, or what niche should I target?”

It’s a great question but one that not so easy to give a direct answer to. In the sense that naming a niche publicly will often instantly make it less profitable than it was just before it was singled out.

And when you go through the trouble of finding a profitable niche, it’s not all that interesting to amputate your profits in the name of altruism.

So here’s how I came to this particularl niche.

One of my old friends is a pick up artist. He doesn’t call himself that, nor did he take any special courses, he’s just genuinely obsessed with women. It’s never enough for him, the thrill is unending.

I remember 10 years ago, he had trouble getting girls interested in him. Today he can strike up conversations with the most smoking hotties, get their numbers and just about whatever else he wants from them quickly and reliably.

I was passing through Montreal and we got together. He hasn’t changed. What did he want to do? Pick up girls. But now he’s a pro, and it’s intriguing because I think most men have fantasized at one time or another about being able to pick up any girl in any situation.

And there are tricks. Like just about anything else, it can be broken down and studied. It’s a science with its very own laws and principles.

So I got home and looked it up online. “Dating, pickups, pick up girls.” A couple of Googles later and I was seeing a large fertile niche in full bloom.

Traffic, paying customers, a large number of vendors, quite a bit of competition but not overly qualified competition.

Ok, so there were possibilities. Then what comes to mind is “will I have fun doing this?” There are enough niches around that that should always be a primary question on your mind…

And it turns out that the pick up, or seduction is incredibly close to sales and very much based on psychology, two of my favourite subjects. So I thought yes, I would have fun doing this.

One of the recurrent pieces of advice the pick up and dating guides give men is to not look too interested. Lavish your attention on a woman you just met and she will ignore you or bolt. You might not have needed a guide to tell you that but so many men are stuck at the “can I buy you a beer-you’re pretty” level it seems it might be somewhat of a mystery after all.

The same applies to sales. This is true as much in the online world as off. If you look like you need the sale or you want it too badly, you hurt your chances.

Here are a couple of other similarities I noted:

1) Social Proof has a great influence
2) Empathy is one of the most powerful forces you can have working for you
3) Don’t look like you’re too interested, even if you are
4) Be prepared to face rejection and dish it out when the prospect doesn’t fit with your objectives
5) The law of averages works in your favour…

In fact the list could go on and on. Sales and life are intimately related. Understanding enough psychology and sales will always be a great advantage no matter what you may be after: a promotion, friends, women, money, help, investment capital, a job, a favour, you name it.

But some people think it’s akin to being manipulative. I used to have that hiccup, but not anymore.

If you firmly believe that the outcome you are trying to orchestrate is favourable to both parties involved, the evil lies not in using persuasion but in shying away from it and thusly allowing the unfavourable status quo to be maintained.

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