Marketing Lessons from Satan: What Politicians & CEOs Can Learn from the Devil

TAMPA, FL (PRWEB) July 09, 2014

Talk about overcoming bad press: Just 2,000 years-or-so after his headline-making setback in the Holy Land, the Devil has never been hotter (figuratively speaking, of course; the Catholic Church contends that the Devil has, in fact, been much, MUCH hotter).

Movies. TV shows. Internet memes. New recognition from Pope Francis.

When it comes to staying power, the Devil’s grip on our imagination is almost… Godlike.

“The Devil is the ultimate complimentary product,” claimed marketing expert Scott Pinsker, author of the new novel, The Second Coming: A Love Story. “Satan’s popularity is tied to God’s popularity. You can believe in God without believing in the Devil, but you can’t believe in the Devil without believing in God.”

Scott Pinsker is a Tampa-based celebrity publicist who has analyzed marketing trends for FOXNews.com. In his debut thriller, The Second Coming: A Love Story, two men claim to be the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Each claims the other is Satan in disguise – but only one is telling the truth, and the reader isn’t explicitly told who’s who. America soon splits along ideological lines, with Red America following the conservative “savior” and Blue America (naturally) following the other. A furious Culture War-turned-Holy War erupts, with both sides waging a win-at-all-costs media campaign to prove their savior’s supremacy.

“God offers us Heaven, love and eternal salvation. Satan offers us Hell, agony and eternal damnation. Talk about an inferior product!” exclaimed Pinsker. “But Satan has proven himself a resilient marketer because he follows an unholy trinity of three time-tested marketing principles that today’s politicians and CEOs would be wise to follow.”

Satan’s Unholy Trinity of Marketing Principles

1.    Establish yourself as the foil-of-choice to the industry leader. “If you can’t be the leader, lead the opposition,” Pinsker said. “Harden your brand’s edges and force your audience into an either-or decision. Like Satan said, sometimes it’s better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven – and if you need a more earthbound example, look to Steve Jobs’ ‘PC versus Mac’ campaign.”

2.    Always be outcome-based and focus like a laser beam on the consumers’ needs. “The Devil isn’t about ideology,” said Pinsker. “He’s a Machiavellian marketer who tells people what they want to hear by mirroring his message to their needs and aspirations. One man might sell his soul for love. Another might be motivated by fortune or fame. Satan approaches each differently, because he’s wise enough to know that it’s irrelevant what Satan wants; it’s all about what we want. The outcome is always fixed; the tactics are always flexible.”

3.    Define yourself with attitude. “There’s no intellectual reason to follow Satan,” said Pinsker. “In every parable and every prophecy, the Devil is eventually defeated, humiliated and destroyed, and all his followers will burn in a Lake of Fire. So why waste your time following a loser? If you’re going to hitch your wagon to a Deity, doesn’t it make pragmatic sense to at least pick a winner? But Satan has defined himself not via intellect, but by attitude. Following Satan allows consumers to make a statement about who they are: What they value, what they reject and what they hate. It’s the politics of personal association, but with a nihilist twist – and it works. The Devil has long known that humans are so innately desperate for a sense of belonging, we’ll literally sell our souls to achieve it.”

The Second Coming: A Love Story is available as a Kindle e-book and as a paperback, exclusively online at Amazon.com. For exclusive story excerpts, please visit http://www.secondcomingishere.com. For interviews with the author, please email pr@secondcomingishere.com or call 727.871.3204.

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