My marketing career started in a New York-based sales promotion agency. There, a man named Frank — beaten down by life and lacking formal education — visited daily at 5 p.m. to shine our shoes. He’d charge $2 for one pair and $5 for three, and always got that extra sale … typically with a tip.

I thought about Frank’s strategy recently when I spotted a postcard for The Atlantic magazine, which offers a one-year subscription for $90 and a two-year subscription for $180. Though I’d be a new subscriber, there were no gifts or discounts offered.

As a guy who began his career in sales promotion, I wondered what incentive I could offer to buy a two-year print subscription. Spending twice as much to deal with half the paperwork just didn’t seem worth it.

Wouldn’t I be better off keeping the extra $90 in my pocket until next year, then merely renewing?

Later, I went online and saw a range of offers, including goodies, but none of these appeared with the initial offering I saw. All I got was The Atlantic sending the message, “This is our price; take it or leave it.”

Please don’t misunderstand: I respect them and know their value. However, consumers have been trained to expect perpetual sales on automobiles, BOGO (buy one, get one) promotions at grocery stores, and GWP (gifts with purchase) with cosmetics and publications.

Making it fair to ask: What’s the incentive to buy full price?

Admittedly, pressures on publishing are increasing. Salaries, paper, fuel, ink and postage all cost more. So do my groceries, which encourages me to keep the extra money in my own pocket for now.

Publishers also know that if they deliver the goods, renewing me will be easy. I’ll already be familiar with the publication, and assuming I’m getting value from it, they’ll arguably have me forever.

Frank wasn’t the world’s smartest guy. He spoke little and struggled to get by. Yet he recognized that he needed extra hustle to motivate an additional sale. It’s a lesson that all the MBAs at The Atlantic aren’t communicating properly.

After all, if you ask me to invest in a relatively unknown product, I’ll need a reason beyond “sparks conversation all year long.”

Talk is cheap. The Atlantic isn’t.

With that said, I wish you a week of profitable marketing.

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