Got a reply the other day:
“You put a * next to AMERICAN* in your TikTok email a couple days ago. Why?? Did you forget to explain?”
Shoutout to Jorge Curioso for keeping me honest.
For our new converts, here’s the line in question:
“I watched the 100% AMERICAN* grown bean fuel drip-drip-drip from its white funnel into a steamy mason jar.”
Why the asterisk?
Because these beany boys were birthed in Puerto Rico…
Which, while TECHNICALLY America… wouldn’t be the first place to pop up in your brain wrinkles.
In fact, the only “American” regions with any coffee industry are Puerto Rico and Hawaii. (Both territories, last I checked in 1937.)
But here’s the kicker:
That little “Made in America” nudge was enough to make me buy.
The Power of a Single Line
“I don’t buy sweatshop coffee beans,” says my Facebook post.
😏
You see, in marketing, you never know which single feature will be the one that takes a casual browser and turns them into a frothing, credit-card-whipping customer.
Sometimes it’s obvious. (Price, speed, brand recognition.)
Other times?
It’s the sneaky little details.
Which brings me to the most elegant objection-handling FAQ I’ve ever seen:
Q: Where is this product manufactured?
A: Ships from Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
Goodness gracious, the gumption.
This one’s slicker than a summertime sorority mixer slip-n-slide slathered in Kentucky jelly.
At first glance, it almost reads like an afterthought.
“Oh yeah, it ships from AMERICA or whatever, are you going to buy yet?”
But in reality?
That one line pushed a bunch of fence-sitters over the edge—buyers who didn’t want to fill their homes with more chintzy Chinese contraptions.
This is where most marketers fail.
They either:
- Say “made in China” without a second thought.
- Skip the detail entirely, leaving buyers to assume the worst.
But guess what?
If you’re selling to an older, conservative crowd?
Bet your Peking Duck they care.
And yet…
I’ve never met a business owner whose old marketing agency drilled this deep into customer research.
Research: The Most Important (Ignored) Step in Marketing
That’s… unfortunate.
Because research is the most important part of any marketing campaign.
Research wrong—or not at all—and you might as well be playing Pin the Tail on the Phoenix with that nice budget you’ve got there.
And yet, most businesses rush past it.
They’d rather tweak a logo or redo their website colors for the third time instead of actually figuring out what their customers care about.
This is why great marketing doesn’t come from sitting in a conference room throwing out random ideas.
It comes from knowing your customer inside and out.
- What frustrates them.
- What excites them.
- What tiny detail will tip them into action.
Every time you ignore research, you’re leaving sales on the table.
And if you want more insights like this, where we dissect what actually makes people buy?
You should probably be on my email list.
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Home of the original Kentucky Jelly Sandwich,
Nick
