What Can Magic Teach You About Marketing?

One of my good friends and a true marketing GENIUS, Ben Mack, started out as a magician back in his college days.

If you’ve ever heard Ben on a teleconference, he often times recounts his time as a magician.  Although I’ve heard his stories many times, it wasn’t until yesterday when I met a young magician at a restaurant, that I fully understood that successful magic is ALL about marketing!

Now I understand how Ben got to be such a brilliant marketer!

No joke!  If you look at ANY successful Magician, it was the Magician’s MARKETING that made him such a success and caused you to remember him in the first place!

I’m not talking about the Magician’s advertising.  That’s another story altogether.

What I’m talking about is the marketing that happens during the act itself.  And what I’m saying is that for every successful Magician, it was the MARKETING and not the tricks themselves, that made them a hit!

It blew my mind when I realized this, just like I’m sure that it’s blowing yours right now!

Let me tell you about this young Magician that I met so that you can see what I mean and so that you can learn how being a good Magician can also make you a great marketer …

The Story of the Magician

My husband and I were sitting in Barnacles Restaurant in Tampa, FL when a young magician came up to our table. 

He was dressed in a black tee-shirt on which he had written with red paint “Magician”.  The tee shirt also said “My name is” and then a name which we couldn’t read as it was obscured by a tip bucket that was fastened around his waist.

The guy proceeded to do several card tricks for us which were really good!  Then came his “most impressive act” (his words, not mine).

I was wearing a white tank top and he asked if I’d mind if he spilled a little ink on it.  I told him that I’d be pretty pissed if it stained, and he proceeded to pour blue ink down my shirt.  He then turned to my husband and told him to take a napkin and gently rub the spot.

Within a few minutes, the spot began to dry and as it did, the blue ink just totally disappeared!  I was truly amazed and have been wondering about it ever since.

As the spot was disappearing, the kid made a few jokes about starving since he’d only gotten $1 in tips so far that night, and started to walk away.  We put another $1 into his bucket and he left.

You should know that this Magician was not hired by the restaurant.  He made his living from tips that he gets from patrons.  He is also available to do magic shows at parties as well.

In other words, magic is his BUSINESS!  And if he wants to make more than a buck in tips each time he does a show, he needs to MARKET that business!

That’s where Ben Mack’s marketing brilliance really helped to make magic profitable for him!

What this kid did from a magic perspective was GOOD.  In fact, it was REALLY good!  But you couldn’t tell by his tips at all.

It wasn’t enough for him to just do really good magic.  He needed to add some MARKETING to the show.

 

What Did Ben Mack Do As a Magician That Guaranteed His Success?

So what did Ben do differently that helped to bring in the cash?

Ben has done some magic tricks for me in the past and let me tell you, they are AMAZING! 

In fact, Ben does this one trick that is probably “the most amazing magic trick I’ve ever seen”.

Those words are in quotes for a reason …

As Ben did this trick for me, he started out by asking me a question.  What he asked was this:

“I’m going to show you a trick.  When I’m done, will you give me your honest opinion?”

Of course I answered “Yes”.  And he proceeded to say:

“You’ll be able to tell me honestly if this is the most amazing trick you’ve ever seen?”

And then he proceeds to do the trick.

As I’m “ooohing” and “ahhing” at the end of it, he then asks if it is the most amazing trick I’ve ever seen.  Again, I tell him it is.

When Ben was doing this as a magician, he would then hand the patron his card.  People would then go out and tell others about “the most amazing trick they’d ever seen”.

When someone who had seen the act would run into a friend planning a party, they would tell the friend about this magician who showed them the “most amazing trick they’d ever seen”.  Since Ben had given the person a card with his contact info, it would result in a booking for a party.

Was this kid a worse magician than Ben?

Nope.  In fact, I think the kid may have been equally as good as Ben.  I was pretty impressed!

But the kid couldn’t hold a candle to Ben as a marketer, that’s for SURE!

There wasn’t anything at all memorable about the kid’s act.  Sure, I was ASTONISHED when the ink disappeared from my shirt.  But the kid hadn’t planted any “seeds” in my mind that would help me to TALK about his magic act with other patrons or with others that I would meet.

I couldn’t read his name on his shirt.

I didn’t have his card to tell others how to contact him.

There was no memorable phrase — not even an “abracadabra” or anything!

In other words, the kid had no marketing!

Become The Magician In YOUR Business!

These are the same types of things that you want to do in YOUR business with YOUR products!

Think of yourself as the Magician.

You want to WOW your audience.

Show them the “most amazing trick they’ve ever seen”.

Then give them a “seed”.  Implant in their mind through your message a small little phrase that you want them to share with others as they tell them about you and your products.

After you have WOWed them with something that is free, then show them something that they have to pay for!

Notice that I did NOT tell you to SELL them anything.  Merely SHOW them something that they pay for and make sure that they believe that they will be WOWed by it as well.

This is how you sell through CONTENT!

This is why free reports work so well to sell ANYTHING that you want!

It’s the same reason that blogs and teleconferences can turn into CASH, even though they’re free!

Become the MAGICIAN in your business!

Perfect your magic act and turn it into the most amazing marketing magic anyone has ever seen!

Thank you, Ben Mack, for sharing your story of magic with me!  I finally get it!

To Your Abundant Online Success!

Gina Gaudio-Graves
“The JV Queen”
Founder & Dean, The IM University

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