Adam Fairhead
Are you “supposed” to market your business in a certain way?
I’ve had this conversation a few times this last couple weeks, so time for a post about it!
Every industry has a way you’re “supposed” to do marketing. A standard that players aspire to, strive to mimic, and copy at any cost. There’s one in your industry too. If you don’t see it, just compare it to a totally different industry to yours, and the differences will become clear.
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Adam Fairhead
The World Economic Forum covered a survey (led by Microsoft) that revealed 41% of employees (across all ages) are thinking of quitting their jobs.
41%.
That’s a huge number.
One answer to this could be to faff about with corporate vision statements in an attempt to intoxicate a workforce into contributing more time and energy.
The other answer could be to create an environment people actually want to be in.
Our teams have been WFH, ‘pick your own hours’, ‘pick...
Adam Fairhead
When I first noticed, it was inconceivable to me.
Then, I realised, I’d been missing the point.
I’m typing this on a Keychron C1 mechanical keyboard. Big. TKL layout. Double-shot legends. Hot-swappable Gateron brown switches.
And wrong.
The lights don’t line up perfectly with the keys. The keycap legends aren’t perfectly straight.
Every keyboard I’ve used since 2005 (other than this one) have been Apple keyboards, where nothing is out of alignment with anything.
Here’s where I missed the point....
Adam Fairhead
Some mistakes must be avoided – or remedied – at all costs.
For the rest, we get to choose:
The perfectionist in us wants to choose Option 1 every time.
But Option 1 isn’t always the best option.
Here’s how I’d choose between them:
Is there a typo in a book you published years ago? ‘Oops, ah well.’ The costs exceed the benefits.
Is there a typo in a blog post...
Adam Fairhead
If only these mistakes were as painfully obvious before we do them:
“Our marketing needs to stand out from the crowd! Let’s see what our leading competitors are doing.”
This doesn’t work, of course. Copying what’s out there feels like a safe path to progress, but when the goal is to stand out, blending in is the last thing you need!
“We need a product design that’s a cut above the rest! Let’s look at the most popular design trends.”
...
Adam Fairhead
Does your product monetise?
If so, you have a problem.
Real quick: “monetise” (or “monetize”) means “to earn revenue from an asset or business.”
What’s the problem with that?
Businesses that monetise create something, then wonder how on Earth it can earn revenue.
The problem is the “then”.
The problem is that how the huge amounts of work produced by one or more people can, in retrospect, do what businesses are supposed to do.
So what’s the alternative to monetising?
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Adam Fairhead
Quit negotiating with these terrorists:
The one who tells you the challenge is too big, too difficult. It’s a voice in your head that came from somewhere. Who knows where. Who cares where. It wants to terrorise your potential. Don’t negotiate.
The one who tells you you’re not worthy. This terrorist flips things upside down on you. It’s not about if you’re worthy of if, but if it’s worthy of you. So don’t negotiate.
The one who tells you you’re...
Adam Fairhead
What makes your work seem more reliable?
Clarity:
Clarity over who you’re talking to. If you’ll do anything for anybody, how can we rely on you to be good at doing thing particular thing for people like us?
Clarity over what you will (and won’t) do for them. We trust those who understand their craft with specificity and confidence. So be specific and confident.
Clarity over the terms and times. Ambiguity around your deliverables makes you seem less reliable, even...
Adam Fairhead
Knowing a lot about your space can be a curse.
You know all the intricacies… that can slow you down. You know all of the options… which can make decisions harder. You know all of the potential… which can make you doubt your work.
Take something at work, like marketing:
Think of all the things you could do. Think of all the options you’ll agonise over. Think of all the successes you’ll compare yourself with.
Or take something for fun, like playing a...
Adam Fairhead
There’s a lot to do, isn’t there.
So many areas of the business or product that just aren’t quite there yet.
That’s fine. You’re on Version 1:
Version 1 isn’t the end. It’s fine for now. It may not be fine for later, but it wasn’t made for later. Version 2 can’t happen before Version 1 does.
Version 2 isn’t the end, either. It’s better than Version 1, but it sure isn’t as good as Version 3 will be. Let...
Adam Fairhead
You’ve read the productivity blogs.
“Don’t multitask, you’ll get less done!” “Get into flow with a single focused task!”
They’re not wrong, but they’re not complete, either.
If your goal is distraction-free concentration that pushes your cognitive capabilities, don’t multitask. You’ll withdraw from your limits and your skills won’t improve to the same degree.
Deep work (as Cal Newport calls it) is better at producing those results.
But if your goal is having the ability to “see around corners” when...
Adam Fairhead
When you read about successful endeavours and entrepreneurs, there’s a lot of certainty in the stories.
Much more than in reality.
“They knew what to do and took decisive action”. No they didn’t. They knew what had worked for others, and what the unknowns are. The future remains an unknown for us all. The best we can do is take decisive action wit the information we have, to accelerate the learning process.
“They knew the venture would work.” No they...
Adam Fairhead
There are rites of passage everywhere in business.
Résumé expectations. Behaviour modification. Career ladders.
But these passages hide opportunities for innovation, if only we’d look for them:
A rite of passage could be assuming the only way to be good at producing a certain result takes a decade of experience, or that the hardships you experienced should be experienced by others too.
An opportunity for innovation could be to suppose that decade of experience could become process documentation that enables...
Adam Fairhead
Making is part of the selling process.
Selling is part of the making process.
I loved making and selling things since I was really tiny. I’d cut up my drawings and try to sell them as jigsaw puzzles.
I’d learn which pictures people liked and which they didn’t. I’d learn why packaging is important, and to make sure there aren’t all-white pieces!
Making and selling should be connected.
Making without selling means you can’t make your work objective better. There...
Adam Fairhead
There are tons of marketing activities you could be doing today.
And most can be effective if implemented effectively.
So how do you know what to focus on?
Answer these two questions to find out:
#1: What are you the best in the world at? This isn’t lots of things. It’s one thing, maybe two. If you’re amazing at how-to videos but stink at technical writing, for instance, those are things to keep in mind!
#2: Who is your audience...
Adam Fairhead
Sometimes, it feels like stealing.
I’m fortunate enough to have created products that I first designed years ago, that continue to sell today, and will continue to do so tomorrow…
Thats the funny thing about making a large investment of time and energy into a body of work that can’t compensate you for your efforts today… that you get compensated long after that investment was made.
All while creating real, actual positive change in the lives of others.
It can...
Adam Fairhead
Did you cast yourself a role in business theatre?
Let’s find out. Do you…
Study your ‘elevator pitch’? Shooting clichés from the hip makes us feel others think we know what we’re doing. Business theatre favours pat answers over the discomfort of not knowing what you’ll say until the context is clear.
Fill your calendar with things because “busy means important”? Nobody’s calendar is as full as they’d have you believe. People have time for what’s important to them, business...
Adam Fairhead
How important is familiarity in marketing?
In Cleese’s book, “Creativity”, he cites a psychological experiment where volunteers were shown various Chinese characters.
A week later, Panel A they were asked to recall the ones they’d seen. They failed.
Panel B we’re asked which they liked better. They recalled the characters they’d seen before.
They not only remembered more, but liked them more.
These familiar characters didn’t need to shout and scream to be remembered. They certainly didn’t benefit from being...
Adam Fairhead
Being absolutely certain on something has some real downsides:
It means we don’t look for evidence for or against something. Because we already decided what we think. Whether we’re right or wrong, we’re blind.
It makes us continue down a path that may not be right for us. Because we want to be coherent with past decisions, or because we feel led by the market or the divine.
It makes us liars. Because saying “I don’t know” doesn’t make us...
Adam Fairhead
How do your principles come across in your marketing?
Some say cold email is always bad. Others say that to suppose it’s always bad is to suppose marketing is always bad. There’s a way of doing outreach that’s “right” for your team, that reflects your principles.
Some say product discounts always cheapen a product. Others say they’re a great incentive for helping people move forward. You may be somewhere between the poles – that “right place” should also reflect your principles.
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Adam Fairhead
Most of the entrepreneurs I’ve met struggle in some way. In secret. Emotionally.
With something.
You wouldn’t know it by looking at them. Or probably even by asking them.
It’d break the facade of professionalism, success, accomplishment. It could “damage their personal brand.” It could hurt.
You struggle too, I’m sure. Also in secret. And you might think you’re the only one.
You’re not.
Keep going. You’re not alone.
Adam Fairhead
We could make a long list of rules for outbound marketing, couldn’t we.
Let’s make it simple: Two rules.
Rule #1: Make things better for others. This can include “providing value”, but only if it makes things better for others. It can also include simply being a nice person in the process.
Rule #2: Don’t waste people’s time. This includes communicating clearly and specifically. It includes not messing around with silly hacks and tricks or being a nuisance in your...
Adam Fairhead
We know what ‘hustle’ is.
It’s spending an unhealthy amount of time working on something that interests you.
It’s creating calculated goodwill to induce reciprocity in others.
It’s what you say you’re doing in picture-quotes to get more likes.
So what’s anti-hustle?
It’s spending a healthy amount of time working on something that makes things better. Doing important work, then resting.
It’s creating value for others without expectation of reciprocity. Nobody likes to feel hustled, but anti-hustle feels great to...
Adam Fairhead
Ooh, the next hot trend – know what it is yet?
Every year we have forecasts popping up all over the web covering what trends we should be chasing next.
Every trend contains a secret to making them work, and every forecast seems to miss it.
If the trend is chat bots, the focus shifts to leverage: “How can it be automated so I don’t have to talk to people personally?” The secret is, you don’t. Personal connection is the point.
...
Adam Fairhead
“I need people to see me online, so I must make lots of noise.”
Ever said – or thought – this before?
Seems logical. But it sells you short and assumes the value you bring to the market is nil. It also distracts you from your work of serving your audience. What if we swap the statement to this instead:
“I need to serve people so fully that they can’t help but make lots of noise for me.”
Ever said – or thought...
Adam Fairhead
What’s the downside to being great at the details?
You might not learn how to master the basics.
We often become OK at the basics in our pursuit of being great at the details. Perhaps it’s being OK at email while pursuing full-featured marketing automation skills. Or being OK at HTML while pursuing the latest client-side javascript framework technology.
Mastering the basics usually happens after someone gets great at the details. When you realise that one excellent email can generate...
Adam Fairhead
Know what’s impossible?
A perfect product or campaign launch.
Here’s why.
To be perfect, it would need to meet the needs of its chosen audience, perfectly…
To be perfect, it would need to speak the language of its chosen audience, perfectly…
…Except it just launched and they’ve not experienced it yet, so the data needed to perfect it hasn’t yet arrived.
That comes next. That comes from a relentless pursuit of those you wish to serve, and a perpetual re-expression...
Adam Fairhead
Here’s a (potentially) uncomfortable fact:
You do not find saying ‘No’ to people difficult.
I hear people say all the time, “I’m not very good at saying no” or, “I’m find it awkward telling people no.”
Every ‘Yes’ is a ‘No’. A no to something else you could have done with that time. You could be saying no to advancing a project that would benefit your customers in a real and meaningful way. You could be saying no to a...
Adam Fairhead
You know what you’re making next.
Probably, something that makes things better for customers than the thing you currently sell. Something that we might have fixed our hopes on, because it’s our target.
What if we looked further to the future?
What about what we’re making after the thing we’re making? Something that doesn’t just make things a bit better for our customers, but make things unrecognisably better. Something not so bound by today’s foundational work. Where we aren’t fixing...
Adam Fairhead
The hardest sale for most businesses isn’t new customers.
It’s existing customers.
The company you didn’t pay much attention because you thought they were “easy money”. So you didn’t try your hardest. You didn’t communicate often. You didn’t look after their interests. Wait, they’re leaving?
The company you sold something to then forgot about. Because they’re done. Because you didn’t have another thing to sell them right this instant. Wait, they’re not interested anymore?
When someone gives you their trust...
I create a newsletter called GrowthCandy. Each issue shares one idea to help build and spread your work, delivered as a short comic. Fast to read. Easy to apply. Hard to forget!