While Internet legend (and young pup) Frank Kern would have you believe that I'm so old I should be confined to a wheelchair, I'm still on the good side of 100! And I can stil enjoy a good concert from time to time.

My daughter - Rachel, my wife and I had the good fortune to score some last-minute tickets to the recent Prince concert here in Atlanta. The concert itself was nothing short of amazing. Prince is a master musician who really knows how to play to his audience - and play his audience.

Of course, marketing concepts and lessons to be learned are never far from my mind - and this concert was no exception.

Morris Day and the Time kicked off the concert with a few songs to get the crowd revved up. And inquiring minds got the first clue about how they would do that.

In their 30-40 minute set, they mentioned Atlanta, A-T-L or Georgia about 20 times.

Questions like "Are you ready to party...Atlanta?" "Tell me, Georgia, are you ready for a good time tonight?"

Statements like "We love A-T-L!"

Even if you've never been to a concert before you imagine the roar of the crowd at every single mention of... the specific thing they could identify with.

But Prince absolute took this to a higher level. I lost track of exact count, but we're talking 70-80 mentions of those magic words. And the crowd never lost interest or got bored of hearing them. Perfect proof that people never get tired of hearing positive things about themselves!

But what really took down the house and gave Prince and his band ownership of these thousands of people for the night (and probably several days to come) was the salute to the late great Ray Charles. One of the horn players delivered an outstanding version of "Georgia On My Mind" to a standing ovation. Now, it may be that they do this at every concert, but it's particularly poignant in Georgia.

The important marketing lesson here is that you need to create a connection with your target market. And you can't do that effectively with generic phrases.

Look at these choices to open a headline:

"Drivers:"

Who cares?

"Truck Drivers:"

A bit more defined. Some possible identification.

"Long Haul Truck Drivers:"
"Rusted Out Truck Drivers:"
"King Cab Truck Drivers:"
"Dump Truck Drivers:"

Immediately, your brain does a quick test to see if you identify with one of these. If you do, there's a little part of you that says, "Hey...that's me!"

Depending on your target, you may be able to move in a little tighter like:

"Georgia Long Haul Truck Drivers:"
"Cowboy King Cab Truck Drivers:"
"Texas Cowboy King Cab Truck Drivers:"

Can you see how the more you narrow down your target, the more the prospect identifies that this message is for him?

When you can make that happen, your prospect pays more Attention and you get a little closer to making a sale.

You can also target in by creating identification with a problem:

"Are You Overworked And Underpaid?" (Note: Combine this phrase with "Georgia Long Haul Truckers" and see how your readership will skyrocket.)

"Allergy Sufferers:"
"Parents Of Children With ADHD:"
"To The Wife Whose Husband Won't Save A Dime:"

Obviously, you only want to use ideas that lead into the solution you want to sell. But these lead-ins help you follow the classic sales pattern of

Identify A Problem

Agitate The Reader About The Problem (like picking a scab)

Deliver The Perfect Solution

As my friend and mentor Dan Kennedy would say:

If you can identify the 2 or 3 things that keep your prospect awake at 3 a.m. - with his stomach churning from the boiling acid - then you can truly step into the shoes of your prospect and create instant identification with him.

So the next time that you're thinking about your marketing and sales campaigns (which should be most of the time), take a few moments to focus on how you can more closely identify with your target.

Yours in success,

Shawn Casey