What Donald Trump’s ‘Bed of Nails’ Can Teach You About Marketing Your Online Training

Jonathan Goodman
Jul 25, 2017 · 3 min read

January 23, 2016. President Elect Donald Trump was holding a rally in Iowa when he said,

“I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.”*

He’s probably right.

You ever stepped on a nail? Even if you haven’t you can imagine what would happen. !&$# OUCH. It’d go right through your foot.

On the other hand, if you lie down on a bed of nails, as long as your weight is evenly distributed, no single nail does any damage.

In a nutshell, the 2016 presidential election can be described as a bed of nails vs. a single nail. It was a fascinating display of marketing where the opponents took opposite tactics to try and undermine the reputation of the other.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign attacked Trump every which way, digging up sexist remarks, accusations of racism, criminal activity, and demands to see his tax returns every week. The major media except Fox News all aligned against Trump and did the same thing; jumping onto whatever they could, biting at the fodder that Trump gave them, attacking him, and sensationalizing as much as possible all in a vain attempt to maximize ratings.

Trump did the opposite. He attacked Hillary in one place: her use of a private email server for official, sometimes classified, communications while Secretary of State. Every single question in the debate somehow returned back to talk about Hillary’s email scandal. Trump nicknamed Clinton ‘Crooked Hillary’. It stuck and pre framed Clinton reminding everybody listening of the email scandal. She was behind before she had a chance to speak. Every one of Trump’s staffers blatently spun any question back to Hillary’s emails.

A single nail. It was all that was needed. Right through the foot while Trump lay comfortably on a bed of nails the entire time.

My personal opinion on the President is irrelevant. For the entire election I was watching, amazed, at the marketing taking place. This won’t be the last time you read from me about it.

The Bed of Nails and Marketing Online Training

While Trump’s Bed of Nails offered protection, yours puts you in a comfortable, useless place, squeezing the life out of your business. You cannot market a bed of nails. Trump knew this, Clinton did not.

The easier a decision is for your client, the better the chance that they will make it favourably to you. Find the nail and focus on it, making it the cornerstone of your marketing.

Nobody in your market will do this. They will think, incorrectly, that ‘more is better’ because if you ask a client what they want they will always tell you more is better. Listen to what people say they want and watch what they actually do and you’ll quickly notice the difference.

The Bed of Nails is an example of a conjunctive fallacy, a cognitive bias that I discuss in the Online Trainer Academy(http://onlinetraineracademy.theptdc.com/) with significant ramifications to your marketing. The most famous of which is the Linda Problem, as detailed by Nobel Prize Winning Psycology Daniel Kahnamen**,

Linda is 31 years old, single, outspoken, and very bright. She majored in philosophy. As a student, she was deeply concerned with issues of discrimination and social justice, and also participated in anti-nuclear demonstrations.

Which is more probable?

  • Linda is a bank teller.
  • Linda is a bank teller and is active in the feminist movement.

The majority of people will choose option #2 as being more probable.

The answer is #1.

Every bank teller active in the feminist movement is also a bank teller. Option #1 includes everything in option #2 and every other option. Our brains have a hard time handling this. The conjunctive fallacy states that, when given two options, we often incorrectly choose the more one.

Find your one nail and make that the focus of how you market your online training. It’s your thing. Spin every marketing element, every social media post, every answer to that one thing. Your competition will create a bed of nails. Your advantage is that you know better.

Want to know more about establishing your unique marketing position? Get on the waiting list for the Online Trainer Academy here:

— > http://onlinetraineracademy.theptdc.com/

— — — -

*http://www.snopes.com/donald-trump-fifth-avenue-comment/

**Thinking, Fast and Slow

Jonathan Goodman

Written by

A nomadic family man running an international education company for fit pros. www.theptdc.com, @jon_ptdc

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