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You know the meme, right? “Shut up and take my money!” It’s a gag from the TV show Futurama but it’s an excellent reminder to anyone with anything to sell that sometimes, trying to market something, just gets in the way. You’ve got something to sell and, somewhere out there, is your ideal customer, the one who knows exactly upon hearing about your item, that it’s what they want and they go to buy it. What an easy sale, right? Except that you can actually get in your own way by continuing to market to someone who had already decided to purchase your item. It comes down to two things.

Tell tell them what it is and what it does

There’s a great bit in Muppets Take Manhattan where Kermit the Frog gets amnesia and ends up working in an ad firm. And all the other people at the ad agency keep suggesting all these overly complex slogans for the soap they’re trying to market and Kermit suggests the slogan, “Ocean Breeze soap will get you clean.” This blows all their minds. Why had it never occurred to them to just tell the audience what the product actually did before? (If you want to watch the bit, I queued it up for you here.)

So many marketers make this mistake. They get so involved in trying to get their customers excited or being original or clever that they never really tell you enough about their product for you to really understand what it is or does. If the item is something that they want, just understanding exactly what it is or does may be all it takes to get the purchase. So make sure you’ve outlined clearly what your book is about, your store sells or your app does in a simple, direct way that doesn’t make the consumer wade through a bunch of buzz words.

Let them buy it quickly and easily

I know what it is you have to sell. I know I want it. I’m ready to buy right now.

But there’s a whole world of shiny things that can distract me from the moment I decide to give you my money and when I actually do so. It’s very likely that, if I get distracted before I purchase the item, I won’t still want it later when I remember it later… if I remember it later. That’s why it’s imperative that you make it as easy as possible for your customers to follow through on your marketing easily and right then without a lot of extra complications that give them a chance to forget about you and your stuff. This could be a simple link to buy your book every time you mention it, your items embedded as a widget alongside your social media and even something as simple as a clear and well marked buy button in your store. Checkout is the most important thing if all. No matter how much I want your item, if it’s a hassle to actually make the purchase and a pain to buy, I’m walking away.