THE MASTER SECRET OF GREAT MARKETING • BY ROY FURR

THE MASTER SECRET OF

GREAT
MARKETING

By Roy Furr
 THE MASTER SECRET OF GREAT MARKETING • BY ROY FURR

© 2014, Fresh Look, Inc.

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www.BreakthroughMarketingSecrets.com
 THE MASTER SECRET OF GREAT MARKETING • BY ROY FURR

The following is an excerpt from my book, Breakthrough Marketing Secrets, out of the
chapter “Kill Your Ego.”

Great marketing is about the buyer, and how their life will be transformed.

First off, I’ll say great marketing is rare. The masters of the craft — half science, half art —
have spent their entire lives improving.

I can’t teach you great marketing in this book. You must set out to learn it yourself. And
you’ll learn it through true experience — trial and error — far more than you’ll learn it by
reading another book.

However, I can tell you a little bit about it, to point you in the right direction.

I think of it much like I think of “enlightenment” as taught in contemplative spiritual

traditions.

It’s said that enlightenment can’t be taught. And yet, there are centuries of manuscripts,
books, and other teachings on enlightenment. What gives?

While it can’t be taught, it can be pointed to.

And so you might hear from a Zen master, “You wish to find enlightenment? Stop looking
for it!”

With no experience in the teachings of these traditions, you read this as nonsense.
However, to someone who has recognized the nature of enlightenment, this is a perfect
description.

Perhaps it will make more sense if I take it out of the mystical. “You wish to find happiness?
Stop looking for it!”

The simple act of trying to make yourself happy rests in the assumption that you’re
unhappy to begin with. If you’re looking for happiness, that means you don’t already have
it.

And so it is with truly great marketing. Perhaps you could say, “You wish to create great
marketing? Stop creating marketing!”

Often someone who works too hard to create great marketing ends up with horrible
marketing. Because their work says, “Look at me, I’m so good at marketing.” Yes, on the
surface it looks like it’s trying to make the sale. But really it’s trying to look like it’s good at
making the sale.

When you think of yourself as a marketer, and you set out to create great marketing, you’re
going about it in the wrong way.

EXCERPT FROM ROY’S BOOK BREAKTHROUGH MARKETING SECRETS

GET YOUR COPY: http://www.BreakthroughMarketingSecrets.com/the-book
 THE MASTER SECRET OF GREAT MARKETING • BY ROY FURR

I’ve had the fortune to learn the processes of at least three or four truly great marketers.
These are folks who have created millions’ and billions’ worth of sales through their
writing alone. They have created business empires with hundreds of millions of dollars in
sales. In understanding and adapting their process, I can start to point to what goes into
great marketing.

I’ll paraphrase the words of Bill Bonner, founder of Agora, Inc., a 9-figure direct marketing
publisher of consumer information. In a discussion a few years back, Bill told me…

“I’ve learned thousands of rules to creating great marketing. And since

then, I’ve also forgotten them. Most have become habits, and can be
called on when needed. But I don’t start with these rules.

“The rule I start with today, is to get into the mind of my reader, and
look for the story that interests me. If it interests me, I hope it will
interest my reader. And then I seek to tell that story in the most
exciting, compelling way. I’ll never know until I test it, of course.
Sometimes I’m right. Often I’m wrong. But when I’m right, it’s because
the story was right.

“If you want to create great marketing, you must find the story you
believe will interest your reader, and tell it in the most compelling way
possible. Everything else is secondary.”

Bill is among the most revered direct marketing writers in the world. Even the gurus of the
direct marketing world bow at his feet.

Over three decades ago, he wrote a sales letter to launch a publication called International
Living. The letter has been updated a few times over the decades, to reflect changing offers
for the publication. However, the core story of the letter — and much of the copy —
remains the same, three decades later.

In the time since then, the best copywriters in the world have been paid enormous sums to
make their best efforts at beating it. Some have, for short periods of time. And yet, Bill’s
letter always come out on top for the long run. The more time you spend in direct
marketing, the more you realize what an impossible feat this is. But Bill did it — attributing
much of its success to his uncovering the story the prospect wanted to hear.

So what kind of story interests your prospect? Well, the superficial details change quite a
bit by market. The investment story that piques someone’s interest is very different from
the health story, and that’s also very different from the home improvement story, and the
wine story, and the [insert your market here] story.

However, on a deep level, it’s always the same story. It’s the hero’s journey. And you are not
the hero — your reader is.

EXCERPT FROM ROY’S BOOK BREAKTHROUGH MARKETING SECRETS

GET YOUR COPY: http://www.BreakthroughMarketingSecrets.com/the-book
 THE MASTER SECRET OF GREAT MARKETING • BY ROY FURR

The story you tell is one of a journey, and of transformation. The hero, your prospect, starts
in their ordinary, mundane life. “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation,” to quote
Thoreau.

And then there is a call to adventure — the invitation to go on a journey with you to
fulfilling their wants, needs and desires. The invitation is to try your product.

They answer the call, they take the journey. Their lives are changed for the better. They
share their joy with their friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues.

They are a new and better person as a result. Their life is visibly transformed.

Your product, your service, your business was a tool on the journey. It was a vessel for their
transformation. But the story is not yours, and is not about your product.

It is about them.

Nearly everything you learn from this point forward will be about how to create good
marketing. Not great marketing. When you’re doing everything right and creating good
marketing, that is enough to accomplish tremendous business breakthroughs.

But I urge you… Never forget Bill’s lesson — which was the same I learned from the other
great marketers I’ve had the fortune of learning from.

The more you focus your marketing on your prospect, and their hero’s journey, the better
you will do. This requires you to no longer be the star. Your product, your service, your
business, and you become mere members of the chorus line. You are only there to support
your prospect’s starring role.

You must kill your ego.

If you enjoyed this excerpt, find out how you can get your hands on a copy of Breakthrough
Marketing Secrets here: http://www.BreakthroughMarketingSecrets.com/the-book

EXCERPT FROM ROY’S BOOK BREAKTHROUGH MARKETING SECRETS

GET YOUR COPY: http://www.BreakthroughMarketingSecrets.com/the-book