I remember as a kid growing up in New York City, it was always such a thrill to watch Dick Clark broadcasting on Channel 7 ABC, directly from Times Square. And even though it’s not so thrilling any more, and Dick’s probably seen better days, New Years Eve is always exciting.
This New Year’s Eve, my wife and daughter fell asleep and my sons and I got to “watch the ball drop” together. It’s not often I spend time alone with the two of them nowadays, and I think they enjoyed it just as much as I did, and this is good — makes ANY evening memorable, let alone New Year’s Eve.
But while most people are VERY familiar with what goes on in Times Square, did you know there are a whole SLEW of other seemingly bizarre celebrations going on around the world to ring in the new year?
It’s true!
For example, in South Africa, it’s customary to throw refrigerators, beds and trash bins out of tall buildings. (You know, I read this in an article that cites Wikipedia as a reference, but somehow this is just W-A-A-Y too stupid to be true, right?)
In Greece, they make a St. Basil’s Cake, which has a gold coin hidden inside. Whoever finds the coin is supposed to have a new year filled with good luck. (Or a broken tooth.)
In the Philippines children jump up-and-down at midnight to make sure they will grow tall. Now with all due respect, they’d better make this a weekly event, since most of the Philippine folks I’ve met are FAR south of even 5-foot 10.
In Iran, they serve “Ajileh Moshkel Gosha”, which means “problem-solving nuts.” (I won’t touch that one with a ten foot pole. Literally.)
In China, they celebrate by shooting off loads of fireworks.
In Japan they celebrate by paying off all their debts so they can move into the New Year with a clean slate. Thank goodness Japan isn’t in the U.S. — if it was, no one would be leaving last year.
In Ireland, legend has it that if the first person who sets foot inside your front door during the New Year is a dark-haired man, then you’re in for good luck… if it’s someone whose “eyebrows meet above his or her nose” (over here we just say if it’s someone with a uni-brow), then watch out! And if it’s my ex-wife and her lawyer, slit your wrists!
And lastly, in Venezuela, some folks believe wearing yellow underwear on New Year’s Day brings good luck. Here in America we call wearing yellow briefs something else.
Anyway, the point is there’s lots of things’ going on out there in the world. And lots of cultural customs and behaviors that may seem unusual to you, but are totally normal to others who live with them.
You can apply this as a marketing lesson as well, and the lesson is, “You are not your customer.” And you are also NOT your prospect, so unless you REALLY know what you’re doing, making decisions about your own marketing, and not taking a significant amount of input from others (who either DO know your marketplace, or who ARE your marketplace) is the very LAST thing you should ever do.
Outside of throwing beds out the window on New Years Eve of course.
Look at how your business — and especially how your communication comes across — from your prospects point of view and with an open mind. It will be an eye-opening experience for you if you do it right.
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To kick off YOUR new year, this month’s Offline Seductive Selling Newsletter has more content in it than any other issue I’ve EVER published. So take a test-drive of it NOW, for FREE, and get $1,361 Dollars worth of bonus gifts along with it, before this offer’s gone: http://kingofcopy.com/ssnl
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Now go sell something, Craig Garber
P.S. Listen to my Seductive Selling Radio Show, premiering January 11th on WorldTalkRadio.com
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