The truth about human nature is that our attention is constantly occupied,  from survival needs to the thousands of daily distractions all around us. So how do you capture the attention of someone who could benefit from you and your offering?

The unfortunate aspect of the Coke clip in the movie is that we’ve all pretty much been trained that persuasion is inherently dishonest. Shouldn’t we just say, “Here I am.” and people will give you their money? No. Sorry. We humans just don’t respond to that. For some of the science on that, read the classic book by Robert Cialdini called, Influence.

You need to help them (persuade/influence them) to know how they will benefit, but herein lies the difficulty.  

I could claim that my Pocket Jazz course will, within just a few days, turn you into the master improviser you dream of becoming. That’s a pretty appealing result, but it would be a lie. Honestly, I happen to error on the other side. In fact, a friend of mind recently told me that I should cool it on reminding people so often that mastering jazz is a long and difficult journey. From the perspective of human nature, he’s right. But I don’t care.

It was after that conversation with my friend that I leaned into it and changed my Music Savvy tag line to: “Putting the fun into the long hard journey of playing jazz well.” The truth is that I try to make my writing and videos fun, but the journey to mastery is long and hard, and I’m unwilling to pretend that it isn’t.

Would I make more money by claiming that playing jazz at a high level is easy, and if you pay me, I’ll quickly turn you into the player you dream of becoming? Maybe, but I don’t care. My marketing (advertising, course and book descriptions, and conversations) must be true to who I am. 

Enough about me. You must find your own sweet spot in promoting yourself. If your persuasion tolerance is at the level of the above Coke ad, consider the fact that without persuasion, you are preventing the people who could benefit from you and and your expertise from bettering their lives. In some way, you’re short-changing them.

Can you begin to see how you can become more comfortable with promoting yourself and your efforts to create value for people? You must draw your own line over which you will not cross that claim results you know not to be true. My experience is that most musicians have a good amount of room to go before they even see that line. My guess is that the value you can provide players is much greater than you know.

Create your own marketing that feels true to you and that honors the people that can benefit from what you provide them. And then deliver to them on your every promise because in the end, your delivery is the most important aspect of your marketing.