Help me market this. I'm lost.

[Guest SirVladimir]

I knew marketing would be the greatest challenge since I released a product, and yes, it's hard...

I'm facing a big dilemma, and I need your help. I don't pride myself on marketing skills.

Here's where I stand: I have a digital product that I spoke of already, i.e. an e-book meant to be read on cannabis/psychedelics. I'm racking my brain over my audience and how to best find them. Although I haven't gotten to any mass operations regarding marketing, I've mentioned it in various communities, bulletins and forums, just to map the initial reaction. I posted it in Psychedelic/Cannabis Facebook groups, subreddits & forums. 

I got my first few sales, which were all tied to very emotional and heartfelt messages. It felt euphoric to know what I'm doing is actually working; that reading on cannabis evokes deep feelings of beauty and gratification within some readers. But mostly, I was ridiculed, mocked, driven into a corner, laughed at. 

It kind of broke my heart that most people in those communities are like this. At first, I had thought my audience were active cannabis users with an interest in reading/imagination/art. Yet it quickly became clear to me these people were mostly not whom I had looked for. How naive that was. Being an active cannabis user is simply too broad of a stance. There's an additional aspect, which calls for a ripe psyche, a tint of romantic idealism and a zest for exploration of the universe.

My #1 limiting belief began to project: that people are too ignorant and selfish to appreciate the value of my life purpose. This is what I've feared since the beginning. This is what I had written in my life purpose journal for months prior to this. Such a bitter statement - yet I'm trying to keep an open mind and not to let ego wash over me. I'm noticing anger and frustration, although I maintain sight how it's self-created and where it's rooted. I know what I'm doing has enormous potential - the few 'golden strikes' I received in the form of heartfelt messages more than affirmed me. I cried at those. They are like beacons of hope to me. I just don't know where to look for such people, whether there are enough in the world, will I ever find them?

It left a mark on me when I realized most people in those communities are tier 1 NPCs who don't uphold the core values we have at Actualized.org. The majority I met were mindless smokers who had zero knowledge, interest, and awareness about the grandeur work I'm doing here; pushing the boundaries of reading and imagination, creating immersive stories that overwhelm people with beauty. If one's head is too close-minded, too full of ego, it won't work.

I think the solution could lie in finding people who use cannabis/microdose psychedelics AND are at least Green or above. It's a premature statement, yet hopelessness is slowly crawling onto my shoulders. I don't know what to do now. I don't know where to look. I don't know where else to ask.

What's my intuition telling me: The ideal audience more/less resembles me. What would be the characteristics:

• Deep sense for appreciation of beauty & excellence
• A childhood-like wonderment and amazement
• Open-minded, curious, positive, innocent, 'naive'
• I hate to use stereotypes, but INFP-like nature
• I bet the same people also love series like LOTR, Hobbit, Harry Potter, etc; I think the subconscious tone and attraction of such works is similar 
• Have a drive to explore themselves and their imagination
• Open to reading on cannabis or light doses of psychedelics (shamanic breathing works as well, but I think it's impossible to gather an audience solely based on shamanic breathing). Note: What if I dropped the requirement to read on psychoactive substances altogether? Using them or doing shamanic breathing prior to reading is what creates the magical atmosphere. Damn. 

Please, can you assist me, share your perspective, give me an advice on anything?

Thank you!

Edited November 10, 2020 by SirVladimir

[seeking_brilliance]

Seek out YouTube vloggers with high count subscriptions, who share an interest in marijuana or psychedelics, or mystic stuff, and post about your book in the comments with a link to your website. You get one shot per post, so make it count ? (Instant exposure to like minded people.) Might need a website/blog if you don't have one ?.  

Also contact the vlogger and try to get featured on their series.  

There are also some fiction writers vloggers who are badass and like marijuana. Seek them out as well. 

Here's one you might want to contact to test it out. She makes how to write videos but she's cool and might like be interested in something different:

https://www.youtube.com/c/iWriterly

Edited November 10, 2020 by seeking_brilliance

[Michael569]

There are 2 books I'd recommend to you to help you polish your marketing. These helped me in my currently very early stage as well. 

1. Don Miller - Building a Story Brand

2. Seth Godin - This is Marketing 

Seth Godin has a way of addressing a market that ridiculous you. "It is not for them". The product was never meant to be for them, they are not your customers, they are not your ideal client hence their opinion is not important....at all. It's ok they laugh. It's ok they ridicule you. You have to find your tine niche market who will be interested in what you have to offer. Maybe that means starting all over on social media? When you try to talk to everybody you usually end up talking to nobody. 

[Leo Gura]

Yes, it's gonna be very challenging marketing high-consciousness material because 99% of the population is low consciousness.

If you want to do that, you need to build some kind of bridge or funnel which meets people at their low consciousness level and slowly exposes them to higher consciousness material over time.

It's very challenging to start a high consciousness business as your first biz. You might want to start with a lower consciousness biz just to shore up your financial base, and then build on top of that.

Definitely nobody will ever care about your life purpose. Your customers are completely selfish and will only care about the survival value your product/service offers them. Your life purpose is for you, not for them. You must invent a way to translate your LP into tangible value for your customers. In this way they will indirectly care about your LP via the value it gives them.

[Applegarden]

Yeah, there goes my danza mathcore metal album, I might be playing in garage for decades, welp, here we go anyway...

[Guest SirVladimir]

@Leo Gura I now better understand and appreciate how hard it must have been for you to compress everything into Actualized.org. People need to meet the teachings halfway and forfeit their own survival to see themselves what it was about all along.

@Michael569 I've gotten the Seth Godin's book, and I am starting to read it now. 

1 hour ago, Michael569 said:

Maybe that means starting all over on social media?

I got rid of my original Instagram a few days ago. The audience was too frayed. No point in staying there. Right now, the newly born Facebook page and Twitter are all I have. So I'm on ground zero regarding social media. I do have Facebook Ads planned. 

@seeking_brilliance Yes, I perceive vloggers and influencers as potentially valuable nodes. I contacted about 8 yesterday, who specialize solely on cannabis/psychedelics, and asked them if they wanted to test out this activity, i.e. reading while high. I offered them an affiliate program if they liked it, giving them 50% for each sale. I'll speak to more along with group admins, bloggers, etc.

Thanks everyone for the feedback so far. I'll report back.

[Grateful Dead]

maybe you should drop the reading while high thing all together and just put it as a extra.. like: if you want to have the best experience while reading this - get a little high or something like that ^^..

7 hours ago, SirVladimir said:

Using them or doing shamanic breathing prior to reading is what creates the magical atmosphere.

this is basically true for every book you just read for pleasure

[Michael569]

2 hours ago, SirVladimir said:

I've gotten the Seth Godin's book, and I am starting to read it now. 

once you are done with that, get Don Miller's as well. I can't recommend it enough!!

 

[Guest SirVladimir]

@acidgoofy 

1 hour ago, acidgoofy said:

maybe you should drop the reading while high thing all together and just put it as a extra.. like: if you want to have the best experience while reading this - get a little high or something like that ^^..

It could technically work. I'm trying to work out as many narratives in my head as possible. So it's good to have you here. We're a tiny hive mind.

This narrative would open me up to more communities. The book would be available to a broader audience, and it would require minimal effort to edit. It would lose that seeming external uniqueness, although, as they say, never judge a book by its cover - true uniqueness stems from one's connection to the letters. Without shamanic breathing, cannabis, or psychedelics, I would have to settle that 99% of readers 'wouldn't get it'. Then again, how big of a difference do these substances make? 

Despite my effort to prevent it, I'm quite certain my #1 limiting belief is still beclouding my thinking as of now. Leo's message above tells the rest of this continuum. 

However, if I did this, I could focus more precisely on the rest of the stated characteristics. 'Overly' idealistic individuals, daydreamers, romantics. 

Quote

this is basically true for every book you just read for pleasure

You're a sneaky boy.  Yes. It's true. I completely agree. It's more about you, and not the book.

Edited November 10, 2020 by SirVladimir

[peqkno]

5 hours ago, Michael569 said:

1. Don Miller - Building a Story Brand

2. Seth Godin - This is Marketing 

 

@SirVladimir

Here's a summary of StoryBrand (https://www.nateliason.com/notes/building-a-story-brand-donald-miller)

For getting somewhat of a picture on marketing, if it seems plausible to you, read summaries of some marketing and business books. You find some great ones online. Seth is great imo (and shares lots of his stuff for free).

 

Some I found now:

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (https://sive.rs/book/Influence)

Made to Stick (https://sive.rs/book/MadeToStick)

22 Laws of Marketing (https://blas.com/the-22-immutable-laws-of-marketing/)

I suppose you read the other book on marketing in from the LPC list already (if not, get a summary!)

 

Besides, Eben Pagan can be a great resource: 12-key Marketing Mindsets

 

** Disclaimer: Haven't either done any marketing or tested it, but here's some ideas that float through my head right now (and hopefully not derail you).

Regarding your product:

I checked out the preview, looks solid.

Given my biases, and that the book was meant to be read on cannabis or sth, I would've expected another kind of cover, or design style. (Or make the cannabis part stic out more)

 

Target groups?

Try what AcidGoofy said and then you may be able to post it elsewhere too.
INFJ or INFP forums online? INFP book publisher forums? Sth like that.

 

How can you narrow down your niche?
Assuming you may already know some MBTI and their distinctions, what would it be? Introverted, Feeling, ...
Must they already take cannabis?
What do they value? ( > Spiral Dynamics + the words people resonate with)
I mean you already are suggesting music in the book. Any way to find people who like the music you use in the book and also have access or enjoy psychedelics?
 

What can they help you do?
Like can they be part of some tribe or themselves contribute somehow?
 

Update the book some time and put on those testimonials you got (if that's sth people do with books xD), or sth else?

Or ask some of the people who bought it already if they want to give a testimonial, or share their experience.
Do you have a place for people to gather? A place to remark?
 

Make it easy for people to remark and share your book, or their experience of the book. Find a way that makes it easy.

Any way they can get updates when you next volume releases? (+ promis no spam)

Target sneezers (https://seths.blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/2000Ideavirus.pdf )

 

What's the counter-intuitive move?
... hmm. maybe raising the price will make it look more valuable and interesting... maybe
Money back guarantee?
(great customer service may make you remarkable.)

[peqkno]

1 minute ago, peqkno said:

Disclaimer:

Oh, and btw. if any of that sounds ridiculous or the advice isn't much good, feel free to give feedback. I wanna learn too.

 

Good luck!

[Guest SirVladimir]

@peqkno A nourishing response, which I will not glance through just once. I'll ponder it. Welcome to the tiny hive mind. 

To answer a few notes:

21 minutes ago, peqkno said:

Given my biases, and that the book was meant to be read on cannabis or sth, I would've expected another kind of cover, or design style.

That's my bias. I went for an 80s comic book design. I fell in love with it. The "to be read on cannabis" subheading may be replaced by "daydreamer for daydreamers" or something alike soon if I go down that road.

Quote

Update the book some time and put on those testimonials you got

This is a neat tip. I do have a few magnificent ones already. 

Quote

Do you have a place for people to gather? A place to remark?

Yes. The Facebook Page serves as the headquarters for now. 

Regarding the MBTI, I know it's a gross stereotype. The cognitive functions are inferior to Spiral Dynamics or Cook Greuter, and even then I feel an urge to primarily focus on aspects like idealism, romance, daydreaming, etc. within the audience because they resemble me the most. I perceive the audience as me in different lifetimes. 

Thank you; I'm thinking over it as I write this. 

[Godhead]

Bro, you need an audience, Instagram or Youtube would probably be best due to good growth possibilities. 

You need this anyway if you ever want to sell other products.  

Imagine Leo trying to sell his LP course without his youtube channel. 

You want to get people familiar with your work and convince them of its value.

[Thought Art]

To lead others to higher consciousness and make a living, do you need a degree or accreditation? 

[Girzo]

You just have hard competition. I am your perfect customer, but I already read Rumi's poetry on comedowns. 

[seeking_brilliance]

@Girzo dude try it!  I think you'll really enjoy

[Guest SirVladimir]

@Girzo @seeking_brilliance What I should do, really, is abduct you two for experimental examination. I'll load you onto a flying saucer and anatomize your guts until I formulate the perfect lookalike audience on Facebook Ads.  But no, I'm grateful for the amount of advice I have received in this thread. There are many narratives in play. 

[vibv]

I really like the idea of a book to be read on psychedelics! (Of which Cannabis is one).

It could be part of the third wave, the psychedelic revolution, you know?

I‘m in fact working on a LP that involves a live musical play, that is best attended while on psychedelics. So your idea really resonates with me.

[seeking_brilliance]

Aw come on.... If I get abducted I expect a way cooler experience than that! 

[Guest SirVladimir]

Update:

The book @Michael569 advised me to read is a game changer. I'm halfway through. Can't thank you enough for recommending it.

When one attempts to speak to everyone, one usually ends up speaking to no one, and the sound of rejection is deafening.

So, yes, I'm saying let's find the most idealistic readers, who are also overly romantic, who are also childlike-amazed, who also see magic in everyday objects, who are also innocent and naive as a duteous dreamer should be, who also use cannabis. Even if there are mere 100 in the world, I will find them. As for the others, it's not for them. Journeys Beyond Earth were never meant for those who wallow in the mud of realism and lack of zest for exploration. 

It's not for them is a loud lesson from the book that sticks. I'll finish reading it tonight. 

I deeply appreciate everyone else's efforts and responses. It feels good to have your echoes to reflect upon.