Selling The Dream: How to Market Something That Doesn’t Exist—Yet

Let’s face it—marketing agencies aren’t all the same. Some are boutique, nimble, and specialized. Others are massive, with global reach and deep pockets. Many thrive on big national clients with big budgets, while others stretch tiny budgets into powerful results through earned media and creative ingenuity. Some agencies buy ads. Others drive coverage. Some are thinkers. Some are doers.

So what makes COHN different? What makes us the “right fit” for clients?

At COHN, one of the things we do best is we sell what’s possible—and selling mere possibility is an impossible task for some agencies. It’s where our passion lies. This is what we call dream selling, and it’s how we approach marketing any idea.

Selling Possibility Requires Storytelling in Marketing

Marketing a product or service is one thing. A beer is a beer. A casino is a casino. A shoe is a shoe. People already understand these things, so marketing them is about making them more appealing, more exciting, or more top-of-mind.

But what if the thing you’re selling doesn’t exist yet? What if you’re trying to convince people to believe in something still forming in their minds? A new concept. A vacant lot that a developer envisions as a thriving urban hub. A startup still searching for its market fit. A public policy shift that could change lives.

Selling possibility isn’t about features and benefits—it’s about belief. How do you get people to believe? It’s about taking an abstract idea and turning it into something so real, so compelling, that people feel like it already exists. That’s where we excel.

Bringing Possibility to Life

We’ve helped people envision and want a future where homes generate more energy than they consume. This wasn’t just about selling houses—it was about shifting perceptions of what’s possible in sustainable living. We didn’t just market eco-friendly homes; we made people believe in the idea of self-sustaining communities.

We’ve driven organ donation sign-ups with campaigns that made the unthinkable feel personal, urgent, and heroic. Organ donation is an abstract, emotionally complex decision. It’s not something people wake up thinking about. So we told stories that made it real—stories of lives saved, of families changed forever by one selfless act.

And when it came to changing daily habits, we helped commuters reconsider their environmental impact. No easy feat. People are creatures of habit, and convenience often wins. But through research, strategy, and compelling storytelling, we made sustainability a choice people actually wanted to make.

The COHN Method: Transform Ideas into Reality

Selling possibility requires more than a great tagline or a flashy ad. It’s a mix of deep research, sharp strategy, and boundary-pushing creativity.

Want to know our secret? Here’s what we can share for free, but if you want to know more, just hit us up:

• Understanding the Mindset – Before we sell a vision, we have to understand what’s stopping people from believing in it. Are they skeptical? Apathetic? Simply unaware? Research helps us define the mental and emotional barriers to adoption.
• Framing the Narrative – People don’t buy ideas—they buy stories that make those ideas real. We craft narratives that don’t just educate, but inspire. We show the problem, the solution, and most importantly, why it matters now.
• Creating Proof Points – A bold idea with no credibility won’t get far. We find or create proof points—data, testimonials, expert endorsements, early adopters—that give weight to possibility.
• Building Momentum – Selling possibility is about more than awareness; it’s about momentum. We use a mix of earned, owned, and paid media to turn early believers into advocates and scale belief into movement.

So What?

Anyone can sell a product. But selling an idea before it’s fully formed? That’s different. That’s what moves industries forward, shapes communities, and changes behaviors.

We aren’t just helping clients market something. We’re helping them build something. The dreamers. The changemakers. The visionaries who don’t just want to sell something now, but want to create something lasting.

So if you have an idea that’s hard to sell, if your vision is still taking shape, if you need people to see what doesn’t yet exist—COHN is the right agency for the job.