By Flint McGlaughlin

Get the full, printed version here

Prelude
Reflection 1 The Marketer as Philosopher

Reflection 2 The Marketer as Entrepreneur

Part I: The Essence of Marketing is the Message

CONCEPTS
Reflection 3 On the Message and the Simplicity of the Four Elements

Reflection 4 On the Message and the Inversion of the Micro-Yes Funnel

Reflection 5 On the Message and the Geography of Chronology

Reflection 6 On the Message and the Discipline of the Four Actions

FACTORS
Reflection 7 On Hearing and Listening

Reflection 8 On Empathy and Attraction

Reflection 9 On Clarity and Conversation

Reflection 10 On Timing and Nurturing

DANGERS
Reflection 11 On the Two Voices and the Danger of the Offensive Tone

Reflection 12 On Offer Physics and the Danger of the Flawed Ask

Reflection 13 On Linear Meaning and the Danger of Foreground Noise

Reflection 14 On Perceived Problems and the Danger of Unwanted Truths

Part II: The Essence of the Message is the Value Proposition
CONCEPTS
Reflection 15 On the Value Proposition and the Priority of the “Because” Factor

Reflection 16 On the Value Proposition and the Elegance of the Functional Definition

Reflection 17 On the Value Proposition and the Force-Dyads of the Four Dynamics

Reflection 18 On the Value Proposition and the Immanence of the Three Derivatives
FACTORS
Reflection 19 On Derivatives and the Primary

Reflection 20 On Specificity and the Prospect

Reflection 21 On Reason and the Product

Reflection 22 On Transition and the Process

DANGERS
Reflection 23 On Brand Awareness and the Danger of Remonstration

Reflection 24 On Two Logics and the Danger of Incoherence

Reflection 25 On Thought Sequence and the Danger of Disorientation

Reflection 26 On Ultimate Reasons and the Danger of the “Slogan”

Part III: The Essence of the Value Proposition is the Exchange Sum
CONCEPTS
Reflection 27 On the Exchange Sum and the Intuitive Calculus of Self Interest

Reflection 28 On the Exchange Sum and the Ultimate Impact of Perception

Reflection 29 On the Exchange Sum and the Conceptual Clarity of the Fulcrum

Reflection 30 On the Exchange Sum and the Explanatory Power of the Heuristic
FACTORS
Reflection 31 On Analogy and Heuristic

Reflection 32 On Appeal and Exclusivity

Reflection 33 On Material and Mental

Reflection 34 On Clarity and Credibility

DANGERS
Reflection 35 On Whitlam’s Nag and the Danger of Beautiful Copy

Reflection 36 On Mental Dialogue and the Danger of Hidden Friction

Reflection 37 On Emotional Risk and the Danger of Rational Response

Reflection 38 On Customer Theory and the Danger of “Design-by-Committee”

Postlude
Reflection 39 On the Marketer as Artist

Reflection 40 On the Marketer as Leader

1
The Marketer as Philosopher
Asking “how” leads to information; asking “why” leads to wisdom. Yet marketers are all too busy asking how: How do I improve conversion? How do I
drive more visits? How do I meet my numbers? We are so busy asking “how” that we have no time to ask “why.” Indeed, we are so busy “trying” that
we have no time to reflect.

Sometimes we need to slow down in order to go fast. Action is overrated; action should be grounded in contemplation. Admittedly, contemplation
without action is anemic, but then action without contemplation is dangerous. Plato said, “Philosophers [must] become kings, or those now called
kings must genuinely and adequately practice philosophy.”1 One might substitute the term “marketer” for the term “king.”

Plato wrote these words before philosophy earned its contemporary (and disappointing) reputation. Ancient philosophy was concerned with wisdom
(sophos), and especially loving it (philos). The marketer should love (customer) wisdom. Indeed, the marketer should be the philosopher of the
organization – for the vigorous action of sales needs to be grounded in the rigorous contemplation of marketing.2

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 “Sometimes we need to slow down in order to go fast.
Action is overrated; action should be grounded in
contemplation. Admittedly, contemplation without
action is anemic, but then action without contemplation
is dangerous.”

Flint McGlaughlin, Founder and Managing Director, MECLABS

The Marketer as Philosopher: Reflection 1

See Related Case Studies

3
On the Message and the Simplicity
of the Four Elements
The essence of marketing is the message. But the complexities of marketing’s
activities obscure the simplicity of its essential form.7 The term has come to mean so
much that it means very little. Theories abound, courses proliferate, and yet it is
possible to achieve your MBA and still not know what it is the marketer does – much
less how one should do it. The composer Frédéric Chopin wrote, “Simplicity is the
final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is
simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.”8

The organization and especially the marketer desperately need this “crowning
reward.” It comes by reducing the marketer’s work to its essence. The marketer
communicates an offer. This predicate involves just four elements: the sender, the
receiver, the message, and the means. These four elements may be translated into
the language of the discipline: (1) the marketer, (2) the market, (3) the message, and
(4) the media.9

Of these four, the message is primary. The other three can exist before and after the
communication act, but the third exists only as the act. Thus, the essence of
marketing is the message. And it is with this message the marketer simplifies the
connection between the customer and the company distilling it down to an
essential melody – the offer.10
 “The essence of marketing is the message. And it is with
this message the marketer simplifies the connection
between the customer and the company distilling it
down to an essential melody – the offer.”

Flint McGlaughlin, Founder and Managing Director, MECLABS

The Marketer as Philosopher: Reflection 3

See Related Case Studies

TP1420, TP1508-9, TP1512: How the Right Messaging at the Right Time Generated a 68% Lift in Free Trial Conversion
How Businesses Achieve Breakthrough Conversion by Synchronizing Value Proposition and Page Design
4
On the Message and the Inversion
of the Micro-Yes Funnel
People are not falling into the sales funnel; they are falling out. Gravity is not working
for the marketer; it is working against them. The traditional analogy is flawed.
Thomas Kuhn said,” ... the scientist who embraces a new paradigm is like the man
wearing inverting lenses.”11 Marketers need a new, more accurate paradigm. They
need to see with Kuhn’s “inverting lenses.” More to the point, we need to see the
funnel in a new way – the funnel must be inverted.12 With this new perspective, we
can better fathom the nature of our work.

The marketer must defy the law of gravity. We must overcome the organic resistance
in the marketplace. More people are falling out than are flowing in (and thus up).
And those moving up (toward the narrow end) do so in steps, in micro-decisions.
Moreover, they do not move up the center; they move up the sides, with each side
representing a sale path.

The funnel is the message; it is constructed from micro-offers. Progress is dependent

on a micro-yes at each of these many junctures. It takes a long unbroken sequence
of micro-yes(s) to achieve a macro-yes (the sale), but it takes just a single “no” to
undo every single “yes.”
 “It takes a long unbroken sequence of micro-yes(s) to
achieve a macro-yes (the sale), but it takes just a single
‘no’ to undo every single ‘yes.’”

Flint McGlaughlin, Founder and Managing Director, MECLABS

The Marketer as Philosopher: Reflection 4

See Related Case Studies

TP1306: How changing the first seven seconds of user experience drove a 201% gain
Recent research reveals a radical webpage redesign that produced a 173% lift in customer response
12
On Offer Physics and the Danger of the Flawed Ask
Marketers deal in “asks”; they collect “yes(s).” Their message is always, even if nuanced, some form of an offer. Brand (even brand) is just an “ask” for
a position in the mind.35 And when we craft an “ask,” we (rightly) focus on the message. But crafting the right message is not enough.

In Gravity’s Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon observed, “If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about the answers.”36 If
we as marketers ask the wrong questions, the answers won’t matter. But even if we ask the right questions, our “asks” may still fail to yield a “yes” if
we get the “physics” of our message wrong. This is more apparent when we reflect on the micro-yes paths of the inverted funnel.

There are two ways we can frustrate our best efforts. There are two flawed “asks” that will mitigate the power of our message: (1) an ask to the
wrong person (matter), (2) an “ask” at the wrong time (space-time).37 Doing the right thing is more important than doing the thing right. The
marketer must deliver the right message to the right prospect (point 1) at the right time (point 2) – or it is no longer the right message.38

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 “Doing the right thing is more important than doing the
thing right. The marketer must deliver the right message
to the right prospect (point 1) at the right time (point 2)
– or it is no longer the right message.”

Flint McGlaughlin, Founder and Managing Director, MECLABS

The Marketer as Philosopher: Reflection 12

See Related Case Studies

TP1420, TP1508-9, TP1512: How the Right Messaging at the Right Time Generated a 68% Lift in Free Trial Conversion
How Businesses Achieve Breakthrough Conversion by Synchronizing Value Proposition and Page Design
15
On the Value Proposition and the
Priority of the “Because” Factor
The essence of marketing is the message; the essence of the message is the value
proposition. The marketer communicates a particular type of message – an offer. It is
not a declaration; it is not an imperative. It is a special type of interrogative: Will you
do x? The “will you” always implies a “because.” Think of this as a three-question
dialog: the offer-from-agent asks, (q1) “Will you choose…”; the offer-to-agent
counters, (q2) “Why should I … ”; and the offer-from-party promises, (p1) “Because I
will … ”

The operative word in this three question dialog is “will” – free will is the hinge of
conversion. The marketer offers choice; the prospect exercises choice. As the poet-
philosopher Paul Valéry observed, “It takes two to invent anything. The one makes up
combinations; the other one chooses, recognizes what is important to him … ”45 The
work of the marketer is to connect the offer with the “what is important” factor of
the prospect.

If the marketer’s response, “Because I will ... “ (q3), does not connect with the
prospects priority, “what is important … ” then the probability of conversion is weak.
The value proposition is an attempt to articulate the best answer to q2, and the best
answer is the one that comes closest to the epicenter of the prospects, “what is
important … ” factor. Thus, the strength of the marketer’s message is grounded in a
single word – “because.”46
 “If the marketer’s response, ‘Because I will …’ (q3), does not
connect with the prospects priority, ‘what is important …’
then the probability of conversion is weak… Thus, the
strength of the marketer’s message is grounded in a single
word – ‘because.’”

Flint McGlaughlin, Founder and Managing Director, MECLABS

The Marketer as Philosopher: Reflection 15

See Related Case Studies

20
On Specificity and the Prospect
Specificity converts. Indeed, for any reasonable sample size, the specific offer to the
specific person will outperform the general offer to the general person.59 And so the
primary value proposition must be translated into the specific value proposition for
the specific person.60 As the German philosopher Hegel observed, “Passions, private
aims, and the satisfaction of selfish desires, are … the most effective springs of
action.”61

The primary value proposition is necessary but not sufficient. Beginning with the
primary expression, the marketer must craft a particular expression around the
“private aims” of the prospect. Selfishness, if a benign version, is the primary driver
of sales velocity. Even as the selfishness of the marketer can prevent us from
connecting with the prospect, so too can the selfishness of the prospects enable us
to capture their transaction.62

The concept, selfishness, has a negative connotation. But this can be unfair … how
can a self be faulted for being self(ish)? In one sense, selfishness is essence(tial). The
marketer does not eliminate their self; we seek to empty our self, identifying with
the “self” of the prospect. This paradoxical move enables us to achieve that
empathetic specificity which powers true conversion.
 “The marketer does not eliminate their self; we seek to
empty our self, identifying with the “self” of the prospect.
This paradoxical move enables us to achieve that empathetic
specificity which powers true conversion.”

Flint McGlaughlin, Founder and Managing Director, MECLABS

The Marketer as Philosopher: Reflection 20

See Related Case Studies

25
On Thought Sequence and the Danger of Disorientation
The “what” must precede the “why.” The value proposition, as important as it is, has no value if it is delivered too early in the thought sequence. The
prospect must understand the “what” (you want them to do) before they consider the “why” (you want them to do it). And the “where” must
precede the “what.” The prospect must be “oriented” before they are “messaged.” Transition demands orientation.73 When anyone transitions from
channel to collateral (like a webpage), there is a moment of confusion.

Confusion impedes progress. And on the Web, people resolve confusion not with effort, but with regress. Indeed, with just one click, they can
terminate the conversation, and thus, for all practical purposes, your existence (relative to themselves). Transition must be accompanied with instant
clarity, and clarity is achieved, in part, by sequence.

The novelist, George Henry Lewes, observed that discovering answers “requires intense and sustained effort of imagination. The relations of
sequence among the phenomena must be seen; they are hidden; they can only be seen mentally … ”74 As marketers, we must use our imagination to
converse with the prospect. And in the beginning, we must begin to answer, in correct sequence, three questions: (1) Where am I? (2) What can I
do here? (3) Why should I do it?75 Request must precede reason.

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 “In the beginning, we must begin to answer, in correct
sequence, three questions: (1) Where am I? (2) What can
I do here? (3) Why should I do it? Request must precede
reason.”

Flint McGlaughlin, Founder and Managing Director, MECLABS

The Marketer as Philosopher: Reflection 25

See Related Case Studies

TP1548: How one company increased conversion by 65% by aligning page elements with customer desire
28
On the Exchange Sum and the
Ultimate Impact of Perception
Marketing need only exist where choice exists. Marketers influence choice. Indeed,
any marketing effort (even branding) that does not influence choice is waste.
Wherever a choice is offered between competing options, there exists an implied
fulcrum. Its hinge is the prospect’s power to choose, but its weight (on either side) is
derived from the prospect’s power to see.

The fulcrum is a mental manifestation. Its tilt, the weight on either side, is not
necessarily a physical property but rather a perceptual property. Value unperceived is
of no value at all. The emperor-stoic Marcus Aurelius enjoined, “Remember that
what pulls the strings is the force hidden within; there lies the power to persuade,
there the life.”84 The marketer appeals to forces hidden within, transforming
perceived value into believed value.85

The language of marketing is the language of the mind. The language of the mind is
imagery. The marketer must make value visual; the marketer must make value
perceived. The marketer must make value believed. The prospect must “see” the
value. The marketer does not write copy on a page; the marketer creates an image
in the mind.86
 “The marketer must make value believed. The prospect
must “see” the value. The marketer does not write copy
on a page; the marketer creates an image in the mind.”

Flint McGlaughlin, Founder and Managing Director, MECLABS

The Marketer as Philosopher: Reflection 28

See Related Case Studies

How to earn the trust of a skeptical consumer.
32
On Appeal and Exclusivity
There is an inverse relationship between appeal and exclusivity. These two elements
form an essential dyad. An appealing offer without exclusivity has its force diluted by
the competing options.97 An exclusive offer without appeal has its force undermined
by a lack of attraction. If the prospect wants it and they can only get it (or some
aspect of it) from you, then your value proposition will have high impact. But if either
side of this dyad is lacking, then its force is seriously diminished.

Appeal is related to attraction. Attraction is a response to (some form of) beauty.

The Greek word for beauty (ton kalon) finds its root in the Greek verb (kaleo), which
means to call or beckon. The marketer does not drive; the marketer attracts. John
Navone, the philosopher-theologian, remarked, “Beauty itself is the exemplar
cause.”98

The appeal element of the value proposition is its “exemplar cause.” When combined
with exclusivity, its “beauty” becomes “irresistible” to the ideal customer. Most
marketers have an innate sense for appeal. Most of us can feel the “beauty factor,”
but few of us can see the “only factor.” This is dangerous, for it is only the “only
factor” that amplifies the force of the value proposition.99
 “Most of us can feel the “beauty factor,” but few of us
can see the “only factor.” This is dangerous, for it is only
the “only factor” that amplifies the force of the value
proposition.”

Flint McGlaughlin, Founder and Managing Director, MECLABS

The Marketer as Philosopher: Reflection 32

See Related Case Studies

TP1315, TP1243: Homepage Design: The five most common pitfalls and how to overcome them
38
On Customer Theory and the Danger of “Design-by-Committee”
There are no expert marketers, only experienced marketers and expert “testers.” Speculation must be replaced with experimentation. Too often, our
campaigns and their messaging are dominated by a social dynamic rather than a science dynamic. Our collateral suffers a “design-by-committee”
process and thus, speaks with the disjointed voice of compromise. There is a better way.

Experience helps determine what should be tested, but experimentation determines what should be selected for the test. There are gaps in our
understanding of the customer theory that cannot be bridged by opinion – neither the opinion of the senior leader in the planning session, nor of
the sincere participant in the focus group. Such gaps may only be bridged by ruthlessly honest behavioral experiments.116

Einstein observed, “Development of Western Science is based on two great achievements, the invention of the formal logical system (in Euclidean
geometry) by the Greek philosophers, and the discovery of the possibility to find out causal relationships by systematic experiment (Renaissance).”117
The marketer benefits from both – formal logic and systematic experimentation. But their application has exponential force with the advent of the
Internet, for the Internet is more than a channel; it is the most powerful behavioral research laboratory in the history of mankind.118

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“Experience helps determine what should be tested, but
experimentation determines what should be selected for
the test.”

Flint McGlaughlin, Founder and Managing Director, MECLABS

The Marketer as Philosopher: Reflection 38
 By Flint McGlaughlin

Get the full, printed version here

Copyright © 2014 by Flint McGlaughlin
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book
review.

Illustrations by Andrew Scott Wilson

Printed in the United States of America
First Printing, 2014

ISBN: To be assigned
Trivium Publishing
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Jacksonville, FL 32224

www.MECLABS.com