Hidden Selling: A Secret Way to Make Money

(or, “What I Learned from Muscle Builders, P.T. Barnum, 
and the Color Green”)
 by Joe Vitale

Scene One: It's 1843. A mysterious entrepreneur hosts a
Grand Buffalo Hunt in Hoboken, New Jersey. He anonymously
advertises it as a free event open to the public. Thousands
of people take the ferries across the river to witness the
"wild sport of the Western Prairies," which turns out to be
a playful hoax. The buffalo aren't hunted, are actually
frightened by the crowds and eventually stampede off. They
are later rounded up safely. The crowds give three cheers
for the nameless person behind the entertainment. They go
home happy. 

Question: Who was the entrepreneur who orchestrated this
free event? More importantly, how did he profit from it? 

Scene Two: It's 1934. An unusual event takes place at the
Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. Billed as the Green Ball,
highly respected designers, fashion experts, artists,
society people and reporters are invited. The Green Ball
showed the importance of the color green. There were green
menus featuring green beans and other green food. There were
talks on the importance of green in the arts. There was a
newly created Color Fashion Bureau to help promote the color
green in clothing. All proceeds from the event went to
charity. Reporters covered it and the public ate it up. It
was a major and mysterious occasion. 

Question: Who made money from this free event? Who was
behind it? 

Scene three: It's 1998. Muscle Media magazine hosts a yearly
bodybuilding contest for average men and women. They give
away an expensive book on training and supplements. They
give away a two-hour professional quality video, called
"Body of Work," containing inspiring stories about the
previous years contest winners. They ask for no money but
request that you make a donation, if you are truly moved by
what you see, to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, an organization
that helps terminally ill children achieve a dream. People
respond by giving more than $423,000, practically
overwhelming the Foundation when 1,272 checks arrive in one
day. 

Question: How does Muscle Media make any money from all this
giving? Who is behind it? 

These three stories illustrate a business phenomena I'll
call "Hidden Selling." They are events orchestrated to
entertain and educate people, that are usually free, but
which secretly sell something for some hidden benefactor. If
this Hidden Selling method is organized correctly, the
public will never care (and may never know) who made money
from the events. They will simply feel good and
willingly---even mindlessly---start giving their money to
the entrepreneurs who designed the events. 

Do you see what's going on here? Do you sense the incredible
power of a secret marketing technique at work? 

Let's look at each of the scenes above and meet the wizards
behind the curtains: 

Scene One: The Grand Buffalo Hunt was originated by P.T.
Barnum. He had bought a herd of skinny buffalo months
before, hired a man to nourish them back to health and then
quietly announced a free "buffalo hunt" to the public. 

The public did not know Barnum was behind the event. Barnum
knew that their curiosity would add more interest. The
public also did not know that Barnum rented the ferries for
the day of the hunt. So every time someone got on board to
go across the river, Barnum made money. He also profited
from all the drinks sold at the show. In short, Barnum gave
people a fun excursion for the day, charged nothing for it,
but secretly made money from the sale of items people needed
to get to the event: a ride, food and drink. 

Weeks later Barnum announced that he was the entrepreneur
behind the then famous hoax. People laughed and said "Barnum
humbugged us again!" As a result, Barnum got even more
publicity for his name and his businesses. 

Scene Two: The Green Ball was created and implemented by
Edward L. Bernays, the man considered the father of public
relations. Bernays was hired by Lucky Strike cigarettes to
find a way to make the color green fashionable to women. 

Why? Lucky Strike packages had a green design. Research
showed that women would not buy the packages because it did
not go with their clothing. Since the cigarette manufacturer
had invested millions of dollars in their product design,
they would not change it. Instead, they needed to change
women's perceptions. 

Bernays created the Green Ball to do just that. While no one
is clear just how effective the Green Ball was in selling
more cigarettes, it was clearly effective in making the
color green the "in" color of 1934. As a result, Lucky
Strike had to profit, if only in now having their package
design accepted by all. 

Scene Three: Bill Phillips is the editor of Muscle Media. He
is the key man behind the magazine, the contest, the free
video and the free book. He is helping people go for their
dreams of being healthy and attractive. As he does so, he is
getting rich. 

How? Phillips' company sells nutritional supplements for
bodybuilders. The more people he inspires to become fit, the
more people buy his supplements. Since supplements have to
be taken daily, that means long term, consistent sales.

While I don't have numbers for what this means in terms of
profits, I can easily imagine that he will pull in many
times what the Make-a-Wish Foundation will receive as gifts.

None of these scenarios are in any way bad. (The cigarette
event might be, but consider that it was 1934 and few knew
of the harm of smoking.) I think Bill Phillips, Edward L.
Bernays and P.T. Barnum all did something that focused on
people, not profit. But behind the scenes, hidden from easy
view, was a profit motive. They put giving ahead of getting.
As a result, they got big-time. 

I'm suggesting that you can apply this to your business,
too. In fact, I'll go as far as to say that in today's
skeptical age, when consumers are callused to high pressure
sales pitches, you almost have to use Hidden Selling as an
additional way to make a profit. 

The way this method works, it also helps people. That's what
I like most about it. It forces you to think of giving, not
getting. Barnum gave people what they craved in the high
stress times of the 1800s: Fun. Bernays gave people what
they wanted in the 1930s: Culture. And Phillips is giving
people what they want today: Fitness. Truth is, people still
want all of those qualities and always will want them. Human
desires never change. 

Do you see the pattern here? Focus on an altruistic end. Put
money on the back end. Focus on giving people something they
want. Put getting behind the scenes. Focus on an event. Put
cash at the end of it. Forget "show me the money" and focus
on "give people something." 

Hidden Selling is alive and well today, but not used as
often or as cleverly as it could be. This may be your
opportunity to use it to help others while helping yourself.

As I point out in my latest book, There's a Customer Born
Every Minute (AMACOM, 1998) P.T. Barnum called it
"profitable philanthropy." As Bill Phillips says in the
letter he sends out with his Body of Work video, "You must
freely give of yourself first before you get." He calls it
the "Law of Reciprocation." 

Bottom Line: Find a way to host an event that truly helps
people and let the back end of it in some way help you. The
result could be making a difference in the world while also
making more money than you ever dreamed possible. Isn't that
worth doing?