This post is part of a series on marketing your products or services in times of economic uncertainty. Click the link to start at the beginning.

Yesterday we talked about selling freedom. Yay, freedom. Today, we’re going to talk about selling power. And if there’s anything people want on this earth, whether they’re young or old, rich or poor, black, white, whatevah, everybody wants the power.

There are two ways to sell power.

1. You can resell it to the already powerful.

2. You can provide it to the currently weak.

Both of these people are equally vulnerable to your emotional marketing, but each requires a very different approach. Let’s explore, shall we?

According to the nice people at Princeton, power is defined like this:

“Possession of controlling influence”

(Not according to Princeton but still according to Google, it is also, apparently, the 10th studio album released by the American rock band, Kansas. But I digress.)

Basically, if you have power, you’re able to get people to do stuff. If I tell you to go buy a book and you do, I feel powerful. I acted. You reacted. I’m in control. It feels good.

On the other hand, feeling as though you have NO power is a really shitty feeling and we all try to avoid it as much as possible.

Selling to someone’s desire for power is actually selling to their fear of not having it. They are afraid they’re going to lose their power or they are afraid they’ll never get it and they’ll be dominated over for the rest of their lives. You don’t make the fear — this is not fear mongering — you just remind them that they’re already afraid. Then, hopefully, you sell them something that makes their fear go away. Easy, huh?

Whichever group you’re selling to, you need to keep one thing in mind:

You need to project power yourself.

This means you must appear authoritative. You don’t have to act like an asshole. You have to act like you’ve got your shit together. This is not the place for meekness or gentleness or pretty much any trait that prefaces, “… shall inherit the earth.” This is not the place for “You’re my first customer!” (Actually, I don’t think there are many places for that.)

Generally speaking, if you have power, you have money. The reverse is not necessarily true, but it’s true in enough cases to make it relevant. When selling power, any show of wealth or prominence is probably a good idea.

If you’re doing business online, you need a good website. You need social proof of your awesomeness. If you’re selling in person, you need a good title on your business card. A nice suit and a nice car are helpful. (If your demographic doesn’t go in for that, use whatever the power metrics are in your demographic. Top of the line Mac laptop? Ass ugly hybrid?) The idea is, you need to give visible proof that you’re doing well.

How To Market To People Who Already Have Power

People who have power are outwardly confident and inwardly terrified. They are also very busy.

Powerful people respect other powerful people. They did not get to their position by being soft and quiet or by playing down their skills. They appear to be supremely confident in their own abilities, and you have to be the same.

Marketing to the powerful is a bit of a dance. You cannot imply your power is greater than theirs. You also cannot imply your power is less.

When selling power to the powerful, you cannot show weakness and you certainly cannot show fear. If you are selling them a pen, you need to have the best goddamn pen on the planet and know it. (We’re talking about pens today because I’ve fallen in love and all I can think about is this stupid pen. If you happen to have a secret stash of these pens and feel like throwing one my way, lifetime free advertising for you.)

If your pen is not the best pen on the planet, you have to change that. Not by changing the pen, mind you. But by changing your mindset. Go back to your office and sit down and look at that pen until it becomes the best pen on the planet.

This is not stupid ass abundance theory. This is what athletes do before a race. Are they saying, “Gee, I hope I win, but I would understand not winning. There are a lot of other cool runners on the track today. Where am I in relation to all of them? Well, this guy’s much better out of the gate, and this guy’s world famous for the last sprint, so I reckon I’m about third out of eight.”

Uh, no.

You have to go back and psych yourself up to the point where you KNOW how great your pen is for this guy and that’s the end of it. Without that you’re pretty much fucked.

Do not waste their time. I’m not exactly Richard Branson, but I don’t have time to read your long ass sales letter. You can TAKE their time. You just can’t waste it. Use it wisely.

Play to their existing reputation. (If they’re not THAT powerful, play to their aspirations for a future reputation.) Nobody in a position of power doesn’t realize the effect it has on other people. They like it. They want to keep it. So if you were selling that pen, for example, position it as something that would be expected of a man or woman in their position. (“You’ve just sold your first book. Are you going to sign autographs with a Bic you borrowed from the bookstore clerk?”)

How To Market Power To Weak People

This should be easy, and it is if you know how to do it. The problem is that not many people do.

Figure out how power manifests itself for these people. We’ll go back to the pen of my dreams. Let’s say I’m a typical middle class woman. I have an okay job but I don’t like my boss because she’s arrogant and uppity. Show me that this pen, when brought into a business meeting, will turn heads. It will upset the balance of power. Those below me won’t really get what the big deal is. But those above me will know that a lot of money was spent on that item, and they will wonder why. Sell me that feeling of smugness.

Play to their ego. Nobody but the clinically depressed, and sometimes not even them, believes that they are getting exactly what they deserve. We all think we deserve better because we are better. Remind your customer that they’re better than other people.

Hit them over the head with it. Make your benefits, or perceived benefits, very, very clear. People who are not in a position of power often do not believe they will ever be in that position, so you need to guide them into understanding. You need to reshape how they think about the world around them. Remind them that getting power is in their power. They’re going to wield more influence at the meeting of the condo board because of their new car? Show them doing that.

Know what kind of power they want. Not everybody wants the same kind of power. Some women get their power from knowing that they have men wrapped around their fingers. Others like knowing they’ve broken through the glass ceiling. Research your target demographic so you actually know what it is they’re looking for. With this emotion specifically, a bad pitch is worse than no pitch at all. Don’t run the woman-in-the-boardroom banner on a work-at-home mom blog. This should be obvious. Apparently it’s not.

Especially For B2B

Lastly, think about the different ways your product or service can make people more powerful in different aspects of their life. If you’re selling a business service — consulting? copywriting? web design? — it’s easy to think that you can only market that in a professional capacity. Not true.

People do things for a wide variety of reasons, most of which are incomprehensible to the outside world. Most business owners are not actually in business to make money. They’re in business to stick it to their old boss or their first wife or their mother. Or they want some of the trappings that money can buy for some other purpose. They’re not just sitting around saying, “How can I make more money?” They’re sitting around saying, “How can I acquire this thing that I want?”

Power in business always leads to an increase in power in the personal life. So if you can’t hit them with the business angle — maybe your competitors are doing a better job — hit ‘em on a personal angle. I buy your printer. I look more professional. I make more money. I buy my wife a Lexus. All the guys on the golf course look at me with new respect. Printer = Respect. Who knew?

Next up, selling security and control.