Marketing Minimalism: How To Make Your Ideas Win
Two choices of perception for minimalism: Live in a world that is poorer, or live in a world where intangible items are more valuable.
Which marketing angle do you think will have a better fighting chance? Obviously the second. We all want to consume less and live more meaningful lives, but not at the expense of deteriorating the economy as a whole so we consume less because we are poorer as a society. What we all really want is more autonomy and freedom. To focus on the the things in life that matter.
When I share the idea of minimalism with my friends or family the first thought that comes to their minds is living in the woods and “roughing” it. That I will be living in a van down by the river, or living in a tiny one bedroom home where everything is economy sized and I have a garden that is fertilized with recycled garbage.
The new idea of minimalism, that having less (in terms of possessions) helps one to focus on the more important things like friends, family, and freedom; has a much more stronger marketing persuasion effect than telling people to not consume because it is a distraction from life, or that driving cars is killing the planet (ok Everett says this, I agree but it is the wrong angle to change peoples behavior).
We all know this to be true, so why don’t we do anything about it?
One word: perception
Yes I know my car is killing the planet, but I need to get to work. Yes I know I do not need that new model of the Ipad to read books, but it is sooo cool. The thing with perception is people hate being told they can not do something. That they should sacrifice for the greater good. What we want is to be empowered. Tell us how these ideas will empower us and you will always win. For example, during World War 2 people grew freedom gardens and consumed less copper and meat to support the war. It was not marketed as a sacrifice, it was marketed as being an integral contribution to defeating the evil that was Nazi Germany. Sacrifice = bad, contribution = good.
Perception = Marketing
Some hate the idea of marketing idea because it comes off as tricking people, but really it is just accepting how we all are. Including you. Including me. If I wanted people to drive fewer luxury cars like a Porsche the wrong approach would be this:
Pass a law that would limit the amount of Porches that can be bought in the USA per year to a tiny amount, say 500.
This would be a dumb idea because it creates MORE value for this vehicle by making the driving of a Porsche exclusive.
The right approach to have people drive fewer luxury cars like a Porsche would be this:
Rapists and child molesters must drive Porches.
By that no one in there right mind would want to drive a Porsche. It is a beautiful powerful vehicle, but if the perception that you are either 1) a rapist, or 2) a child molester comes along with that purchase, you can be damn sure no one would willingly buy a Porsche (except for rapists and child molesters)
The moral of the story is value is always relative.
Ideas that spread win as the saying goes. If you want your ideas to spread though, it must be marketed as something that empowers others, not as something you should do because it is the right thing.
How this applies to marketing your own ideas
Market minimalism as freedom, IE minimalism = freedom. Puts this idea into the conscious minds of others and you win. Focus on frugality and sacrifice and you loose. The first is much more powerful than the latter because starting a minimalist blog where you write about frugality tips and how to cook brown rice on the cheap is dis-empowering. I want more freedom, you want more freedom, so starting a movement around creating more personal freedom and happiness through minimalism is a no brainier.
Yet still I see minimalist blog reverting back to frugality. We don’t want to sacrifice, we want to contribute. We don’t want to work less. We want to do work that is meaningful. We don’t want to be rich. We want to live like a rich person. Empower others with your ideas and stop focusing on sacrifice. It’s not simply about following your dreams, it’s also having a reason behind your actions.
How I apply this to the Edge of David
Edge of David at the time of writing this is currently sand boxed (update: no it’s not) by Google and has a PR of 0. As such it has not yet been given the chance to take off yet, but I am confident it will because 1) I empower others through rejecting mediocrity in life.
personal development+self realization+financial abundance+empowered relationships
The focus of this site is on this process. To first overcoming limiting beliefs and personal roadblocks. To then achieve a level of self realization (when who you are and who you want to be are the same thing). With self realization in hand, discover work that is important to you (which should be fairly easy at this point). By doing work that is important to you, a feeling of fulfilment sets in as well as financial abundance.
It is should be no surprise when you do something you like and are good at you can probably make a nice little income at it. All this sets you up for an empowered relationship. No longer do you enter into relationships looking to fill a void, but rather you enter into one a complete person, looking for someone who can uplift you and help you achieve your goals.
How you can leverage this fact
When you place a material value on intangible things you previously discounted before, simply because you can not see them like love, health, and sex, you realize how much more wealthy you are than you previously perceived you are.
best,
-David
