Sales and marketing is all about reframing, so after getting nailed with snow last week, I decided to make the most of the next round: the huge “snowpocalypse” due to arrive early this week. I would bend it to my will. I would use it for nefarious business purposes.

So I thought: What if I did one of my promotions where I set up WordPress blogs for free while buried in my living snow tomb? That sounded compelling. I talk a lot about story, and this was a fun one: “Man trapped under seven feet of snow keeps warm by doing marketing stunt, eats own foot to survive.” Man, it sold itself.

So I filled the wood bins to overflowing. Made sure both the tractor and generator worked, and filled both with gas. Bought extra gas. Bought supplies. Rented Jingle All the Way.

We got like 2 inches of snow. Next up: my “Overreaction is Underrated” sale.

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Membership has its privileges.

When American Express unleashed this tag line on the world, they weren’t blowing smoke.

How do you sell a credit card with high annual fees when other cards are competing based on “free”? An expensive credit card that you have to pay off in full every month?

How did AmEx succeed in winning over hundreds of thousands of people to a product with such significant drawbacks?

The answer is in the privileges of membership.

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