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To go under the Temptations Chapter
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{Intro}
The Marketing Man takes you to the edge of a mountain overlooking a city.
He shares how he can give you “divine” wisdom above those mere mortals. He labors on about their ignorance and how little those people think. Just drink from this cup.
In reality, you gain the ability to disassociate the marketing you create with how you would perceive it. You believe you know more than them, so you create marketing that would never “work” on you.
The result? Removing friction from marketing.
You acquire The Marketer’s Delusion.
You ever meet someone who seems sweet, yet after chatting, they say something that makes you double take? Not only is it a contradicting or confusing statement, they hold conviction and are going to follow it. An example is someone who just graduated working to be a consultant.
It’s a delusion (not going to happen in 100 out of 100 realities).
Before I get in trouble, let’s explore the word Delusion which has a layered past.
A delusion is a firmly held belief or impression that is contradicted by reality or rational argument, typically a symptom of a mental disorder. (ChatGPT)
Stepping over the mental disorder part (more on that soon), it means to be deceived.
The etymology of the word comes from the Latin dēlūsiō, from dēlūdō, meaning "to deceive, mock, or play false," with roots in de- (down, away) and ludere (to play). It was born in the 14th century.
Let’s linger on the “mock” part. Because it’s at the core of this temptation.
We are “mocking” our audience and customers by creating marketing that we wouldn’t resonate with. No matter if we are the target market, we need to create marketing we would be influenced by. Rather than ignoring it.
Back to the mental disorder part:
By the 16th and 17th centuries, in religious and theological contexts, it was used to describe spiritual or moral deception. A person could be said to be under a "delusion" if they believed heretical ideas.
The concept was closely tied to morality and sin.