How to Sell Globally Locally

I grew up in Queens, NY. I hated that place at the time. If midwest is the heart of America, Queens was definitely the anus of America. Dirty, dangerous, crowded. Not quite the slums, but not quite what you would call pleasant either. I remember stories of muggings, thefts, in-home invasions, assault & battery, etc. were pretty darn common. If you ever visited NYC in the 80's or the 90's, you'd understand why people had their guard up all the time.

20 years later... I had this urge to re-visit where I grew up. And now, it's changed 180 degrees. CLEAN streets, high rises everywhere, a lot less graffiti, and businesses are sprouting up like there's no tomorrow. People are walking around streets that I would never have thought of walking around after the sun goes down. Starbucks shops everywhere, people actually saying sorry when they bump into each other... I mean, it's like NIGHT and DAY. There was this one particular place I used to frequent: Jackson Heights, NY where the Indian and Muslim immigrants have settled (you can get some amazing Indian food for less than $5).

As I was walking and just enjoying the view, this one guy handed me this flyer:

Here's the transcription (with no edit)

Namaste!Namaste! to all people in New York. I am advertising this advert on behalf of Baba Narasimha. My name is Saraswati. My husband divorced me 7 years ago. I was a single parent taking care of two children. I had no happiness in life. I met with lot of pandits (Astro Spiritualists) but I did not get any solutions from them. As a last chance, I met Baba Narasimha. He changed my way of life using Indian Tantras, Mantras, Prayers, herbs, and roots along with supernatural prayers. Baba gave me few protections & told me to use after few days; I finally got my husband back and I am living a happy life now. I then referred my friend back to Baba Narasimha, her business was running slow. And her husband was suffering from illness. And her son lost his job. After she met with Baba, her business improved within days and her husband is living 70% healthy and her son got a new job. Baba also offers services like Money problem, Love problem, Sexual problem, Court cases, Jealousy, Childless couples. He removes all kinds of Obeya, Voodoo, Black Magic, and gives protection. He will help you achieve happiness. Baba is coming from Hanuman Temple south india with generation of experience. If you have visited many Pandits (Astro Spiritualists) and did not get solutions, I guide you to meet Baba Narasimha and change your life and get rid of all problems. I have recommended his services to many people and they were all satisfied. I am putting this ad not for publicity but for people who have been disappointed with many pandiths & astrologists could get good results from Baba Narasimha.

Now, when I read this... my cynical mind thought

'Who on earth still believes in this astrology crap?'
'Oh right, this person is so happy with this Baba's service that she's spending money on his behalf to advertise his service? Come on Baba Narasimha... no need to lie.'
'What a bogus story. How on earth do you measure health in percentage?'

Then I remembered something. When I used to attend junior high school here, I remember walking here with an Indian friend of mine. We used to get flyers (but written in Hindi) like this, and I remember asking him what it said. He'd say, "It's some voodoo shit. Chuck it." Of course, these flyers would not be given to me back then. Instead of being sarcastic and ignoring it, the marketing curiosity light inside my head went off. I just stood on the street and observed this guy handing out flyers. In the 20 minutes that I stood there, I noticed that he handed these out SPECIFICALLY to non-Indians. Then, I re-read the flyer. When I noticed what he was doing, my brain finally registered the basic components of his copywriting:

Story Telling - It doesn't say "I'm AWESOME, BUY MY STUFF NOW"... it starts out with a story to get the reader engaged.
Social proof - Even though the person is made up, it "provides" 3rd party validation that he's good.
Benefits not features - "He will help you achieve happiness".
Taps into the primal desires of the brain - desire for wealth, sex, and social acceptance.

I did a little keyword research.

Notice how the trend for astrology & psychic is decreasing, while the eastern equivalents (karma & mantra), are taking off. This guy realized there is no profit to be made by competing with every "guru" to the same Indian people in the SAME neighborhood. He realized non-Indians here are interested in this just as much AND there's no competition. He took the same stuff he did and just translated it into different languages and handed them out to different people. Genius.

Takeaway

If you're marketing, I'm sure you have target demographics (country, sex, language, needs/wants, etc.) that you've been going after. Why not make a small tweak and present it to a similar demographic in a different country? Hell, if you live in US, you don't even have to leave the country. Running affiliate campaigns? Try launching to hispanics in US. Got SaaS or info products? If you have product market fit and people here want yours, the odds are that people in other countries want it too. Now, THAT's growth hacking. One a side note.. English, believe it or not, is more widely spoken than you think. In fact, it is THE standard language for international business no matter WHERE you go. Often in emerging countries, English is socially "mandated" and if you want a decent paying job, you pretty much have to learn it. On top of that, the "elites" in these countries are often educated in some form of English, or have studied abroad in a country where English is used majority of the time. So if you are too lazy to localize your products or service, you can always target English speaking people in other countries. Traffic costs can be a FRACTION of what you pay in US.