“Your enemy can’t guess your strategy if you don’t have any. To confuse your enemies, first confuse yourself. Always keep your friends close, but your enemies far away. Because they would kill you if they were closer.”
~Sun Tzu, The Art Of War (supposedly)
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Some brutally honest advice for anyone thinking it’s a good idea to learn marketing by watching free stuff on YouTube:
Years back…
When I was just a young pup, getting started with my online business, one of my friends told me to read ‘The Art of War’ by Sun Tzu.
He said it was great.
Swore by it.
And told me all sorts of benefits I’d get by knowing all the stuff inside. From being better at navigating office politics, to just being better prepared for all the ‘snakes’ that would come my way in the business world.
And so I got a copy.
Read it.
Read it again.
And again.
But couldn’t understand a word.
Well, I did understand it… literally. But it was like reading philosophy. Like, how was I supposed to apply these mysterious ‘proverbs’ to my business anyway?
And I knew that…
Every business leader on Earth seemed to swear by it.
And constantly talked about how you can’t win in business if you don’t read it.
But to me?
‘Twas like reading Greek!
And I like to imagine it made me feel ‘enlightened’ or something. But honestly, I got a couple o’ things here and there. But what did it all really mean? And how was I gonna use it? And… did ancient Chinese soldiers really use this stuff to fight wars, while wearing togas like Socrates and Plato, spewing out ‘hard to understand’ wisdom to get their opponents to surrender?
I seriously doubted it.
Anyways:
Fast forward several years later…
… I discovered this guy called Colin Thorne.
He was an expert in the field of accurately interpreting and translating ancient Chinese texts. Which is WAY different than modern Chinese. To the point that, most modern Chinese translators trying to translate old works like ‘The Art of War’ are mostly just… pulling stuff out of their butts and feeding it to you, wholesale!
I mean…
… almost all the translations are SO bad…
… and so broken…
… adding on top of that all the other ‘experts’ taking those already broken translations, and putting their own spin on it…
… that the original ‘Art of War’ got ‘pretzeled’ into a total abomination, nowhere near what Sun Tzu wanted to say!
It was like a game of telephone.
Where every time the info was passed down, it’d get garbled up some more.
And more.
And more.
Until you had no idea what the original person was trying to say.
But then, this guy, Colin Thorne…
… decided to dig deep into the original version of the manuscript…
… and do his own ‘actually accurate’ translation of it!
The result?
After getting a copy, and reading his work for myself… for the first time in my life… I actually understood what Sun Tzu was trying to say, and how to apply every single thing to both life and business!
Why? Because the original was never meant to be a philosophical book of proverbs.
It was meant to be a step-by-step instruction manual!
Showing you exactly what to do.
And when to do it.
But since, like, almost every person on the planet is reading the ‘broken like a telephone game’ translation, and trying to sound all philosophical like Socrates, it turned into the biggest operation of ‘blind guroo leading the blind guroo into the pit’ in the history of business, marketing, and management.
Anyways:
It’s the same thing for most of the stuff (not all) you learn about marketing…
… on YouTube…
… or wherever else you get your free info from online.
When I first started diving deeper into how to create super addictive, viral content, specifically on YouTube… and studying and mentoring under some of the top millionaire kid YouTubers who I could tell really knew their stuff… I also did some of my own research on the side.
Namely:
I started watching YouTube videos from OTHER YouTube influencers too.
People who had some viral hits here and there.
Lots of subscribers.
And were teaching exactly how they did it.
Via free YouTube videos.
Videos that, I guess… they use to get you to buy their new courses or high-ticket coaching… or training.
But:
When I started actually analyzing the videos that they used to go viral? And get lots of subscribers? And compared it all to what they were saying?
Lo and behold, I discovered that…
… they were just pulling more stuff out of their butts…
… and feeding it to me…
… just like those ‘experts’ translating ‘The Art Of War’!
But because I just so happen to have some expertise in psychology, behavioral economics, neuroscience, and copywriting, I could tell right away that… the reason why they thought their videos went viral? Those weren’t the real reasons at all!
And they had nary a clue.
‘Bout why people were watching their stuff.
And why they’re going viral.
They’re just putting hundreds or thousands of videos out there. And, obviously, if you have massive loads of random stuff, some of them are going to go viral here and there… eventually. But truth be told, they actually had no clue how or why it happened!
Yet, they were trying to spew out their ‘wisdom’.
And ‘proverbs’.
To the point that… most of the ‘kids’ following them fell for it!
Anyways:
I got so sick and tired of being fed all that poop…
… I decided to analyze every viral video…
… all by myself!
Using the proven psycho-logic and copywriting principles I’d accumulated over the years. Principles that have been working for centuries. And are STILL working on YouTube.
The result?
My collection of 21 One-Minute Word Hacks.
Containing the ‘real’ essence. Of what actually makes videos (and every type of content actually, even sales copy) become so addictively satisfying to watch and consume, they actually go viral. Making them almost impossible to ignore. And almost impossible to stop watching, listening, or reading.
All based on tested and tried copywriting and psychological principles.
Principles using very simple words that…
… everyone knows…
… and everyone’s been using since kindergarten…
But that real millionaire YouTuber kids (who actually know their stuff, like those I’ve been studying under) have figured out how to ‘inject’ into their content. To game people’s attention-spans, and the algorithm, at will. Like a Nintendo Switch running Super Mario.
Anyways:
If you wanna know what it really takes to…
… make your content (any type of content, or even sales copy) so addictive…
… they’re like chips, chocolate, cookies, and coffee…
… to the point that, you almost can’t stop ‘binging’ and wanting some more…
(Well, if you have anyone in your family who’s constantly glued to social media, or on their phone 24/7, you get my drift…)
… I’ve written all the details in plain English for you right here:
https://themysteriousmarketer.com/one-minute-word-hacks/
(no translation necessary, you’re welcome)
Sincerely,
Allen Walker
The Mysterious “War Mongering” Marketer
Allen Walker, the Mysterious Marketer, is the marketing genius who’s deleted more 6 & 7 figure businesses than anyone else on the planet (*all because he gets bored). He’s also known as the world’s most genius renaissance marketer. Visit his blog to read thousands of his ‘secret’ copywriting tips for getting paid to grow your email list.
This post (https://themysteriousmarketer.com/the-fart-of-war) was originally published by Allen Walker, The Mysterious Marketer. And yes, you can click that link to read his newest secrets for free…