We all know that savvy people don't believe us (marketers) like they used to...

That's very hard to accept when you are 1000% convinced you have the most remarkable product, that it's scientifically proven and, it's really helped you.

But that is not enough today, and anyone who has tried to market anything they love to anyone else knows it. (Except for Mom, who will try anything you offer.)

That's where the art of marketing comes in. Assuming you believe you have that remarkable product that will make a difference in the lives of others, the challenge is:

1) to recognize that your prospective customer is only that sliver of the market that already shares your worldview about it, not those you have to persuade or convert and

2) to realize your goal is to ask her to try it, no promises. Then she can test it for herself, and see if it makes her feel like it did you. (They need not be samples. People can buy a few months' supply to try it for a few months to see if they'd like to stay on the program.)

That reduces their suspicion about your motives...good start to being believed.

Seth Godin, marketing uber guru, writes:

"In order to be believed, you must present enough of a change that the consumer chooses to notice it. But then you have to tell a story, not give a lecture. You have to hint at the facts, not announce them. You cannot prove your way into a sale - you gain a customer when the customer proves to herself that you're a good choice.

The process of discovery is more powerful than being told the right answer - because of course there is no right answer, and because, even if there were, the consumer wouldn't believe you!" Seth Godin, ( www.bananamarketing.com/library.html )