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Adam’s Daily Post

Join thousands of readers who read my short daily posts on edutainment, product design and running sustainable creator-led business for over 20 years. Blogging daily since 2017.

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Adam Fairhead Adam Fairhead
Post #2699 • May 10 2025

Upside down creation process

If you write books, it’s easier to write for your people, than to find people who want what you wrote.

If you make products, it’s easier to make products for your people, than to find people who want what you built.

If you create art, it’s easier to paint for your people, than to find people who want to buy your work.

Learn them, know them, create for them.

Much easier than creating, then trying to find a buyer.

Adam Fairhead Adam Fairhead
Post #2698 • May 09 2025

Creations vs costs

Do we want to be paid for value created, or effort exerted?

They’re not the same thing:

  • Effort is what it costs us
  • Value is what we created

Are we selling our creations, or our costs?

Adam Fairhead Adam Fairhead
Post #2697 • May 08 2025

The relationship & experience business

What customers don’t care about:

  • Who has the most features
  • Who has the most awards
  • Who has the best story
  • Who runs the most ads

What customers DO care about:

  • Who focuses what they want & enjoy
  • Who focuses on features they need
  • Who understands their story
  • Who cares most about them

We’re not in the “features & benefits” business.

We’re in the “relationship & experience” business.

Adam Fairhead Adam Fairhead
Post #2696 • May 07 2025

Seize attention…?

Marketing gurus tell us to ‘seize attention’…

But great marketing doesn’t do that.

1. When you ‘seize them’:

  • You’re the ad they click to skip
  • You’re the promotional email they ignore
  • You’re the landing page they bounce from

2. When you ‘edutain them’:

  • You’re the content they skip ads to see
  • You’re the email they look forward to getting
  • You’re the landing page they tell others to check out

Choosing #1 is easy up-front, hard over time.
Choosing #2 is hard up-front, easy over time.

What’s it to be?

Adam Fairhead Adam Fairhead
Post #2695 • May 06 2025

Two paths in marketing

Two paths in marketing:

1: Stalk site visitors, wear them down with offers. (the ‘conventional marketing automation’ path)

2: Give people what they want, how they enjoy it. (the ‘make them actually like and look forward to you’ path)

Which would YOU rather buy from? (Do you think your market might feel the same way?)

Adam Fairhead Adam Fairhead
Post #2694 • May 05 2025

Thinking and feeling about the extra mile

There are two types of ‘extra mile’.

The first is when you deliver more of a service than expected. If you buy a small slice of cake, but receive a large, that’s the extra mile. Noteworthy, appreciated.

The second is when you deliver more than a service they expected. If you buy a small slice of cake, and receive a ‘cake pals’ sticker with it, that’s a different kind of extra mile.

The first gives you more of a service, so you think you got good value for money.

The second gives you more than the service, so you feel like you’re a part of something alive and relatable.

The first might look like a mistake, or desperation, or maybe it delights them and they indulge themselves or share it with someone.

The second might feel quirky and unusual, where the sticker is given to a child and makes their day.

Both have an important role to play: one is for thinking, the other is for feeling.

Adam Fairhead Adam Fairhead
Post #2693 • May 04 2025

Remember the ruse

Anthropomorphizing a virtual pet makes the virtual pet experience more enjoyable. There’s a whimsical nature about it, where we know it’s a ruse, but we enjoy the experience all the same.

Anthropomorphizing AI makes the research experience more polarizing. Enjoyable when it’s working, infuriating when it isn’t. We forget the ruse, and so we lose control of our tools.

Anthropomorphizing only works when you remember the ruse.

Adam Fairhead Adam Fairhead
Post #2692 • May 03 2025

Seize vs Edutain

Marketing gurus tell us to ‘seize attention’.

But great marketing doesn’t do that:

1. When you ‘seize them’:

  • You’re the ad they click to skip
  • You’re the promotional email they ignore
  • You’re the landing page they bounce from

2. When you ‘edutain them’:

  • You’re the content they skip ads to see
  • You’re the email they look forward to getting
  • You’re the landing page they tell others to check out

Choosing #1 is easy up-front, hard over time.
Choosing #2 is hard up-front, easy over time.

Adam Fairhead Adam Fairhead
Post #2691 • May 02 2025

Two paths in marketing

Two paths in marketing:

1: Stalk site visitors, wear them down with offers (the ‘conventional marketing automation’ path).

2: Give people what they want, how they enjoy it (the ‘make them actually like and look forward to you’ path).

Do you think your market might feel the same way?

Adam Fairhead Adam Fairhead
Post #2690 • May 01 2025

Good vs Bad ads

What’s the biggest difference between Good vs Bad ads?

It seems to all come down to 1 thing: How much you value other people’s attention.

  • Bad ads think they ‘deserve’ a win.
  • Bad ads don’t try all that hard.
  • Bad ads spray ’n’ pray.

VS

  • Good ads know they deserve nothing.
  • Good ads do something special.
  • Good ads honor the user.

And it’s getting worse, as Meta AI trains to make copy/creative for your competitors.

So now’s the time to do better:

  • Don’t ‘deserve’ attention.
  • Do something special.
  • Do revere your users.

There’s still plenty of room for those who do that.

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