Adam’s Daily Post

Is your business growing properly?

Clients regularly ask this about their own businesses.

Here’s how to calculate the answer:

1) Define ‘right-size’
‘Bigger’ is not a size.
Choose an actual size.

2) Define the optimal experience
What do customers want to hear?
What do customers want to receive?
How would customers love to receive it?

3) Is #2 moving you toward #1?
If Yes: stop stressing 😎
If No: change #2

Produce an amazing experience.
Supplies last until you right-size.

Different types of leverage:

Solo operator wants to stay solo, so uses as many time-saving tools as possible to maximise leverage while staying solo.

Solo operator wants a small team, so delegates as many SOP-based tasks to others as possible to buy back time.

Solo operator doesn’t want to be solo, so shares the load with others who help figure out the problems together.

None of these are right or wrong.

But if you don’t know your own goals, you can’t mobilise toward them. You’ll risk choosing the wrong forms of leverage just because someone with different goals told you to.

Do you, champ.

How is creating less… actually creating more?

Creating ‘less’ means you create ‘better’.

And ‘better’ is more highly valued by the market.

If you want your work to be more highly valued…

If you want more from your creativity…

Create less.

We’re told we should be making great offers…

But look at your own behaviour. Is this true?

Here’s what you may notice:

OK offers: no claims, average terms, no bonuses.

Good offers: big claims, great terms and great bonuses.

Great offers: no claims, average terms, no bonuses.

Wait… how can OK and Great be the same?

Let’s find the answer in some examples:

Let’s take a designer toy collector.

If their favourite artist launches a new drop, and they like how it looks, they just need to know the time and place. They don’t need extras or refund policies to convince them. They already set aside the funds.

Or when a new iPhone comes out.

Apple fans know that Samsung will give you a powerful phone with a great screen, 7 years of support, a charger, a free tablet, the list goes on. But they’re already set on buying the next iPhone and it hasn’t even been announced yet.

Why didn’t the designer need a ‘killer offer’?

Because the artist took them on a journey they see their role in (purveyor of fine designer goods, first to back a winning horse, the identity of having a keen eye)
Because the artist gave more than they asked for (showing up regularly at micro-events around the world, limited run drops and gifts for many years)
Because the artist made it enjoyable (collecting scarce goods is naturally addictive and enjoyable for many people)

Why didn’t Jobs need a ‘killer offer’?

Because Jobs took them on a journey they see their role in (1984 dystopian future, which he associated with Microsoft)
Because Jobs gave more than he asked for (fought for tech that cared about design, fought labels for uniform 99¢ tracks, fought for tablet segment to not be geeks-only, etc)
Because Jobs made it enjoyable (the marketing, the unboxing, the setup, the UI, the identity)

And that’s just for designer toys and gadgets.

Nobody ‘needs’ these things.

Meanwhile, my social inboxes are exploding with strangers offering to ‘grow my business’ with huge claims, seemingly-great terms and seemingly-great bonuses.

And yet I just delete them.

It’s not the offer that needs to be irresistible.

It’s the brand.

I explore this topic in more detail in this week’s issue of The Productoon newsletter. Check it out!

Nobody wants to sign up for your product.

Nor refer others to sign up too. How do we fix this?

One way is to gamify your onboarding:

Reward behaviour you want repeated
If you want them to do it and leave, optimise for that.
If you want them to enjoy it and share, optimise for that.

Make them look good in front of peers
If you want them to tell nobody, try bribing them.
If you want them to tell everybody, increase their status.

Make it exciting for them to do
If you want them to become churn, optimise based on logic.
If you want them to become fans, optimise for emotion.

Most marketing ‘investment’ is wasted…

On short-lived assets that don’t work & don’t last.

Except these 3 things are never a waste:

1) Inviting us on the right journey

• Know where users are
• Know where users want to go - The right journey: a direct path between these places

First sell the journey, not the vehicle.

2) Giving more than you ask

• We dismiss ‘asking before giving’ as ‘sales’.
• We engage ‘giving before asking’ as ‘value’.
• We’re more likely to buy from the latter.

So do the latter, silly!

3) Making it more enjoyable

• If it’s less enjoyable than what we’re doing, we skip it.
• If it’s more enjoyable than what we’re doing, we click it.
• This is as true of execs at work as it is kids at home.

All else being equal, we prefer the not-boring option.

The market stopped sweating the details.

‘Good enough’ is normal. Nothing amazes us anymore.
Seize the opportunity while it’s there:

⛌ Run ‘marketing’
✓ Run ‘programmes’ users love & look forward to

⛌ Add product features
✓ Add product experiences users tell others about

⛌ Increase outbound quantity so people delete you
✓ Increase outbound quality so people thank you

⛌ Create more content
✓ Create content that your whole niche looks up to

Everyone’s sick of ‘fast-food’ marketing.
So become your niche’s ‘steak-house’.

If you believe what you read in the news,
You’d think AI will replace creators.

But AI does not replace creators.</br> At least, not all of them.

How do you know if you’ll be one of them?

AI helps average creators stay average.

It makes low-effort work more low-effort.
It makes forgettable work more forgettable.
It makes commoditised work more commoditised.

If you pump out templated content, video ads that look like powerpoint presentations, and ChatGPT-written articles, your days (or at least your marketing’s days) are numbered.

Examples of ways to stay average with AI:

• AI as your replacement (if you think it can replace you, you’re right)
• AI as a text spinner (recycling other people’s content rather than finding your own voice)
• AI as a video generator (if you and your style aren’t present, why should we care about the source)
• AI as your guide (rather than as your sidekick)

AI helps great creators stay great.

It makes remarkable work more remarkable.
It makes shareable ideas more shareable.
It makes masterful work more masterful.

If you thoughtfully produce great content, experiences that people love and look forward to, and use AI as a thought accelerant instead of your replacement, your days have only just begun.

Examples of ways to stay great with AI:

• AI as a brainstorming buddy (to kick ideas around with you 24/7)
• AI as an audience member (let it behave in response to your audience insights, see what it says)
• AI as devil’s advocate (let it poke holes in your work before you publish)
• AI as a time machine (let it show you your work from different angles, so you can see which you like best before you build it properly)

I go into more detail on this topic in the latest issue of The Productoon newsletter. Check it out!

Good marketing and good parenting have a few things in common.

Both require you to be very patient.

Both require giving abundantly more than you ask for.

Both require you make things enjoyable if they’re to be accepted.

Both require a never-ending commitment to them and to being your best.

Both require you to, at times, deal with some crap.

While marketing is nowhere near as rewarding as parenting…
There are still plenty of lessons we can apply to marketing.

LinkedIn / X / etc. are ‘wide’ channels.

But ‘narrow’ channels are incredible for growth.

What they are and how to use them:

1) Social media timelines are busy.

’Cus we’re all on the same channel. That’s why they’re wide: to fit us all in. & that’s why algos exist: to filter the noise.

2) ‘Narrow channels’ are not busy.

’Cus only likeminded fans are there. No algo needed. And everyone gets heard.

3) There are ‘narrow channels’ for your niche.

Small groups full of in-jokes & shared problems. Find some, pick one. Learn the jokes & problems.

4) Contribute meaningfully on that channel.

Give abundantly more than you ask for. Make those ‘gives’ enjoyable to receive.

Now you know:

• Exactly who your buyers are
• The specific problems to solve
• How they enjoy receiving the solution
• Precisely who’ll share what you made

Wasn’t that what you were looking for?