SELLING WITHOUT SELLING

I’ve noticed something interesting happening now on YouTube. There are people showing their wares without apparently selling anything. No prices. No sales pitch. No breathless announcement that TODAY ONLY you can have this magnificent object for $29.95. Often there’s just music.

The camera moves around the room. There are paintings, jewelry, clothing, collectibles, handmade objects, whatever the person happens to deal in. The objects are simply there.
But of course, they are being seen.
This suggests a very different approach to selling.
The merchandise doesn’t have to behave like merchandise.
Suppose I make a music video. The music is the reason for the video. While the music plays, the camera wanders through paintings, bead necklaces, jewelry, prints, sculptures and strange things that happen to be lying around the place.

Nothing has a price tag. Nobody says, “Buy this.” Nobody says, “Operators are standing by.”
The viewer simply spends five or ten minutes in a world in which these things exist. And if something catches the eye, the viewer wants to know more.
That’s the whole mechanism.

The music supplies the reason to watch. The objects supply the reason to inquire.

This is almost the opposite of conventional advertising. Instead of dragging the merchandise out under a spotlight and demanding that somebody buy it, you let the object live naturally in its own environment.

You don’t even have to explain everything. Mystery helps.
“What was that thing?” “Who made that painting?” “Is that necklace available?”
Now the viewer has initiated the conversation.

For someone who dislikes conventional social media selling, this seems particularly attractive. You don’t have to become a salesperson. You don’t have to chase anybody.
Make something worth watching. Put interesting things in front of the camera. Play some damn good music.
And let curiosity do the selling.

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Here’s the Bardo bus now!

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See You At The Top!!!

gorby