Such a good title, if I do say so myself! Indeed I began to wonder just that over this weekend, the title of things. They matter so much. After talking to a friend a couple days ago I am still looking back on that conversation trying to figure it out. I am still thinking and wondering what exactly it was that she said which is pulling me back to it. Today I finally figured it out. I keep going back to a sentence she said that I didn’t want to hear. Maybe it wasn’t profound or powerful, but its meaning to me was something I did not and still do not want to hear.

Now, imagine that you have a company, a business, trying to break into your niche with success. The product/service is worthwhile to consumers, the business model is stable, and marketing is doing there job of hooking customers. But, maybe this isn’t enough. Maybe more is needed to either cover current costs, or to embrace developments coming towards you. I say, tell them what they don’t want to hear. Hook them with something they would’ve never even dreamed of hearing from you.

As soon as the conversation with my friend started turning to what I did not want to hear, I began to wonder and wonder. I WANTED to know. I really did. I’m not sure what it was about not wanting to hear it, but wanting to know it. It is like a horrible tragedy that you would never want to hear about but now that you heard it you want to know more. More of what caused it, more of how it occurred, more of what you don’t want to hear. I believe that this desire and curiosity to know overrules every other sense. It does not matter how horrible or how disbelieving, we don’t want to hear it but we do want to know it. Speaking rather abstractly [heh, most of this post is abstract] knowledge is power that we get by listening, listening to things we would not want to hear about in the first place. The listening is what triggers the curiosity. I am still wondering know why she said that, and how she said that, and where it all came from. Could this be taken advantage of by my fellow marketers? Probably.
How can we tell people something they don’t want to hear in order to make them incredibly curious of us? Should we stick to something global or something relevant to our business? Should we use facts or opinions? A lot of questions come up. I think a smart approach would be to do some experimentation. In a certain area you could tell people that your store may not accept everyone but it will be here. "We don’t want you to come to our shop." It generates curiosity, peaks interest. Of course you would probably follow it up with another ad or statement. Something to the effect of, "You can come if you want, but we really don’t want you here." And another, "This is not the place for you." or "We are unique, for unique people." I do wonder how creating dissidence within a community would fair in the human mind. Would they turn to a spiteful mindset in which no one can tell them which stores they can go to, or maybe an arrogant mindset in which they are better than others so they can go in? So many questions I have, and so little area to roam.

Curiosity is very unique. I believe it is one of the most important and vital human traits. Promotes progress, change, development. Of course, my sketchy-unsubstantial plan may backfire on me and people will hate my brand because I don’t care about them. Who knows.s