What I Learnt From The Saying “Mainstream Marketing Doesn’t Work for Icons”
What I Learnt From The Saying “Mainstream Marketing Doesn’t Work for Icons”
The vast majority of individuals navigate the currents of the mainstream, content in its familiar embrace. This includes both buyers and sellers, consumers and marketers alike, which is why so many gifted entrepreneurs choose to dive in and swim alongside them. High volume is appealing. The idea of tapping into a gargantuan global audience sounds like a top-notch strategy for generating wealth. It seems like an optimal path to prosperity.
And for some, it is.
But not for Icons.
I learnt that and experienced it myself, that, when Icons pour their creativity into mainstream marketing tactics, they end up feeling frustrated and bored. They have to dumb themselves down just to get their genius across to this broad, unfiltered target group. And above all, mainstream messaging puts a ceiling on their success; their impact, wealth, reach, and ability to innovate are all cut off by these conventional tactics … and that dulls their gorgeous shine.
Mainstream Marketing is a limited outcome approach.
There’s a LIMIT to how much you can earn using those methods.
There’s a LIMIT to how many clients you can serve when you use your valuable time posting on social media and creating offerings at “accessible price points.”
There’s a LIMIT to the impact you can create when you’re addressing everyone … instead of speaking directly to the clients who matter most.
You know this. In fact, you may know it more intimately than you’d like to admit because you’ve experienced the pain and aggravation of living it out through your own endeavors. But now you’re here, and you’re ready to make radical changes.
Understand the most common mainstream marketing myths so you can ignore them, and leverage your Iconic status instead.
Ready? Let’s dive into those myths.
Mainstream Marketing Myth #1: All entrepreneurs must start at the bottom and work their way up
You know what I’m about to say, don’t you? This is absolute bullshit.
And yet it’s such a loud and pervasive message that even some of the world’s most visionary emerging Icons buy into it!
The backbone of mainstream marketing is this: start at the bottom of the value ladder and iterate your way up. Cast a wide net with your messaging, then winnow down from there. Adapt to the immediate needs of the customer or your business won’t survive. High volume and low pricing are the only way to get a foothold in any market, no matter how brilliant you may be.
Simply. Not. True.
It can take YEARS for followers to work their way up from a “bottom up” buyer’s journey. And the average follower conversion rate is 2 – 5%. Talk about wasting resources. Not only that, attempting to predict and adapt to shifting consumer needs is the very definition of a losing battle. Half the time people don’t know what they want, and the other half they change their minds as soon as their desires are met.
Icons must start at the TOP and work their way downward; embrace the opposite paradigm from the mainstream and use it to their advantage.
Icons never concern themselves with what the market demands. They never worry about what others are doing or selling, since none of them are truly competing with you at all.
They’re in a category of one, and their marketing reflects that.
Mainstream Marketing Myth #2: Social media marketing is mandatory for all businesses
Spending hours filming an Instagram Reel that gets 10 views. Constantly researching the newest hashtags. Trying to keep up with YET ANOTHER algorithm change.
And for what? So people can follow you for a year, absorbing tons of free, helpful information, and maybe, eventually, buy a $97 product?
Absolutely not.
Social media is marvelous when leveraged well but at the beginning of an Iconic journey, it can be a huge waste of time and energy.
Instagram and TikTok are all about getting content in front of as many eyes as possible, and that is a preposterous waste for Icons who are setting up their foundations with premium offers and deals.
Until you have that foundation stabilized, you don’t need to reach millions, you need to reach a tiny handful of people who will be galvanized by your ideas and ecstatic about supporting you.
Hypertargeting and invitation marketing is key.
Mainstream Marketing Myth #3: There’s only so much you can charge for your offerings
Mainstream marketing would have you believe that certain demographics will only pay certain amounts, even for the most exclusive and alluring offerings and products.
Mainstream marketing would have you believe that only certain people, with certain qualifications, are “allowed” to market themselves as Iconic.
Mainstream marketing would have you believe that it’s impossible to leapfrog from a high ticket item directly to an Iconic offering—skipping “premium” offerings altogether.
Of course, the mainstream marketing world is basing these extremely limiting “rules” on … well, mainstream businesses. And also on data collected from other entrepreneurs in similar markets. None of that applies to Icons, who break rules just by existing and have zero competition.
Once you step into your inner Icon, it can be possible to literally set your prices as high as you want. No ceiling, no limits, no rules.
When you follow your vision, establish multiple wealth streams, innovate, create, and grow, you get to set your fees wherever they feel right to you.
Because if you are the best in the world at what you do, you can dominate your niche, and that’s when pricing can become limitless.
Forget volume, price caps, and follower counts
I’ve worked on instillingd this belief in myself. For so long I have been focused on a “high-ticket” illusion. I’ve had to unlearn that and realise that what I provide is valuable and unique beyond dollar value. I have to remind myself that I am offering my craft at a high investment because I have the expert skill set and ONLY I can deliver the result my clients want with ease, creativity, and specificity.
As an Icon, it’s my responsibility to elevate my work and myself in every way possible. I’m operating at the highest level of business, a place where the mainstream market is utterly irrelevant.
Forget volume, price caps, and follower counts … and focus all your considerable energy on becoming the Icon that a few select people will follow to the ends of the Earth.
It will be worth it, I promise.
Abiosè
(Dr Abiose M O Haara)
P.S. Want to dig deeper? Start by watching Abiosè’s MuseClass “Globe Muse” by clicking the button below.
