If 1 out of 100 people are potential buyers for your product, you still have a target market of approximately 3,227,000 people. The challenge is reaching them.
Mass media would work, if you saturate all 322MM people with your message, some fraction of that 1 in 100 would respond, but you’d be broke from the cost of mass marketing to everyone to target the 1%.
The hack for this system is to get the media to give you free (often negative) coverage by creating manufactured controversy and outrage. They will run stories that attack your product and show them to everyone, but your 1 in 100 target market will also see those stories. They will be intrigued by your product and probably even more loyal customers from watching your product be attacked by the mainstream.
The specific methods for using this technique are covered in Ryan Holiday’s book, “Trust Me I’m Lying,” and are used by controversial public figures every day.
Understanding how this works is a powerful tool, though it can’t be your only tool.
Nick, with your permission I'm monitoring your blog and will throw in an old-timer's tidbit or two. Keep up the good work!
You've made a very nice point with an excellent book resource. That phenomenon has certainly been my experience, especially if one stays on-message. Over at LPD Libertarian Poll Data on Facebook (and thanks for your kind previous participation there) it became pretty clear that every time Gary Johnson was attacked, support went up. When they tried to twist that as going down, it went up even more.
An LIO initiative, Operation Saturation, is to get the QUIZ or libertarianist materials in front of every household. For now it is to ask folks to go door-to-door in their communities (about ~1000 homes district) spreading the QUIZ and from people's responses starting an informal 1-5 home local betterment group with occasional lunches. There is some LIO long-term stuff in the works but people doing it on their own works. The Costa Rican Libertarios did this mildly and had great results. In Pinellas here in Florida this was done for a while by LIO fans and upgraded into a county-wide neighborhood council initiative. Is everybody then Libertarian? No. Do they like us enough having met us and seen benefits so negative PR backfires? Basically. SFL is also starting a local-service initiative that seems off to a good start.
A link FYI on that : http://www.libertarianinternational.org/apps/blog/categories/show/1993952-what-to-do-
Is this why you attack people like Jeff Deist, Tom Woods and the Mises Institute?