Behold a quote from director Martin Scorsese, about acting legend Kirk Douglas:<\/p>\n
\u201cSome actually believe that these qualities [commitment and dedication to the art form] that I\u2019m talking about can be replaced by algorithms and formulas and business calculations, but please remember it\u2019s all an illusion…\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Maybe this isn\u2019t directly related to marketing & business.<\/p>\n
But, it is related enough to serve as a reminder of the dangers of being enslaved to, dependent upon, and making all your decisions based on \u201cmetrics\u201d \u2014 and how doing so may make you a million, but can also prevent you from making hundreds of millions.<\/p>\n
Example:<\/p>\n
The late, great Stan Lee and Marvel Comics.<\/p>\n
The publisher Martin Goodman in the early 60\u2019s was a slave to metrics and sales stats and trends. His whole business model was \u201csee what kind of comicbooks are selling, flood the market with similar titles until it no longer works, rinse and repeat.\u201d<\/p>\n
And he became a very \u201crich\u201d man doing that.<\/p>\n
But, it wasn\u2019t until Stan Lee went completely against all that when Martin Goodman became a truly *wealthy* man when, in one last act of defiance in working for a soul-less company dependent on metrics, stats, and trends (and in complete defiance to his boss)\u2026 Stan Lee wrote the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, X-Men, etc \u2014 none of which were created out of anything even remotely related to metrics or trends or \u201ctesting\u201d whatsoever. Today \u2014 although Disney is working overtime to destroy them \u2014 those brands are collectively worth multiple billions of dollars.<\/p>\n
George Lucas did the same with Star Wars.<\/p>\n
Sci-fi was not “in” when he made the first movie. And almost none of the Hollywood testing, tracking, metrics, and audience analytics of the time thought it would be all that fruitful.<\/p>\n
A more down-to-earth example:<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve never had my biggest breakthroughs due to metrics or testing.<\/p>\n
Not one single blessed time.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s always been by having a dialogue with my list via daily emails, and interpreting what they want to buy \u2014 without them ever having to tell me, or ever looking at a spreadsheet \u2014 by being in consistent & persistent contact with them, observing what they say & do, and combining that with my own interests, brand, positioning, and personal intellectual & creative pursuits.<\/p>\n
Here are offers I\u2019d never have created if I relied on \u201cmetrics\u201d:<\/p>\n
\n
- The Email Players newsletter<\/li>\n
- Copy Troll<\/li>\n
- Copy Slacker<\/li>\n
- Brand Barbarian<\/li>\n
- Infotainment Jackpot<\/li>\n
- All 3 of my \u201cVillains\u201d Books<\/li>\n
- Email Client Horde<\/li>\n
- Breakneck Content<\/li>\n
- Email Players List Swell<\/li>\n
- Affiliate Launch Copynomicon<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
In other words:<\/p>\n
Every single book & newsletter issue I\u2019ve published!<\/p>\n
Not to mention 10-Minute Workday, or the online Checkout platform I own and am gearing up to sell with my pals Jack Born & \u201cEmail Players\u201d subscriber Troy Broussard. In fact, about the only offer that is based on metrics I have anything to do with is the other two tech companies I recently bought into with Troy, which I\u2019ll be telling \u201cEmail Players\u201d subscribers about soon, as they deal with what I believe the new \u201cemail\u201d is going to be 10 years from now. And don\u2019t even get me started on the book I got frying up teaching my publishing model next year. No \u201cmetric\u201d has told me to write it. Nor has anyone outright asked for it. Nor is there anything like it being sold anywhere, because there is no other \u201cme\u201d anywhere. But, I suspect it will be the biggest selling and most profitable offer I ever sell to my list regardless.<\/p>\n
We shall see\u2026<\/p>\n
Anyway, am I saying metrics aren\u2019t important?<\/p>\n
Or to ignore them?<\/p>\n
Or that you shouldn\u2019t bother with life time value, sales, stick rates (if you sell continuity), and other important metrics?<\/p>\n
No!<\/p>\n
You do need to know this stuff ultimately.<\/p>\n
Especially if you are using paid advertising, where you must.<\/p>\n
Plus, there is truth to \u201cwhat isn\u2019t tracked can\u2019t be measured.\u201d And, incidentally, the online checkout platform we are building will do just that for people, including eventually (down the line) having some extremely deep metrics I won\u2019t go into here \u2014 none of our competition understands, or are even capable of thinking of, going by how they set their platforms up \u2014 behind the scenes, that will work even for caveman-like luddites such as myself.<\/p>\n
But, there are forces at work far more important than metrics.<\/p>\n
Forces you can\u2019t control or direct via tech alone.<\/p>\n
I am referring to a \u201csensitivity\u201d to your list, combined with your unique brand, marketplace positioning, attributes, appeal, strengths, and other peculiarities you can only effectively use by having constant \u2014 and I would argue daily \u2014 contact with your market and list.<\/p>\n
Something email lets you play like a fiddle.<\/p>\n
And, also something my \u201cEmail Players\u201d methodology can especially do you for you.<\/p>\n
That is, assuming you are subscribed.<\/p>\n
And, that you implement what it teaches you.<\/p>\n
To do that, hit that NON-tracking link below:<\/p>\n