Archive of posts from April 2024

When everyone communicates on one shared channel (like Twitter),

We need algorithms to jump in and help. Otherwise it’s too much.

When everyone communicates in their own small communities (like a Discord server, message board, or Slack group),

We don’t need algorithms anymore. We can enjoy every, messy interaction. The group can manage itself.

When algorithms get involved, silly games emerge, and value isn’t rewarded.

When the many separates into the few, value is what we value most.

This is...

It’s a lie.

Perpetuated by online gurus:

“The ONE method to need to grow your biz”

Buy their product → ____ → Profit?

There’s no one method. They all work!

I’ve personally seen growth using:

• organic social
• direct mail
• cold email
• cold calls
• paid ads
• seo

It’s not about the channel.

It’s about being on-narrative (their words),
giving more than you ask (a resource),
and being enjoyable (vs boring).

Do more of what works.

DM chat going well?
Don’t force a Calendly link on them.

Unscaleable outbound working?
Don’t break it at the altar of scale.

Product churn rates low?
Don’t force a 2.0, let them keep 1.0.

Your tech stack works great & fast?
Don’t dream of grand rewrites.

Your quirky GTD system works well?
Don’t download that shiny new app.

A big reason why things don’t work,
is you stop working...

Edutainment is not:

• adding cringe jokes
• dancing on TikTok
• novel distraction
• just being silly

Edutainment is:

• increasing ‘attention quality’
• easier user deplatforming
• sustainable acquisition
• higher ROAS potential
• higher CRO potential
• brand moat building

Brands are only starting to notice.

The status quo wants developers writing JS, Rust and Go.
But there are plenty who want your Ruby, Swift and Python.

The status quo wants writers pumping out more volume.
But there are plenty who want less but better.

The status quo wants good artists for cheap.
But there are plenty who pay for great.

If the status quo doesn’t suit you,
Go to the edges.

You’ll find your people there.

Those who have no expertise, do not know.

Those who have expertise, know.

Those who have expertise, but choose not to know, know most of all.

Those who have no expertise, but think they know, are probably social media influencers.

Do you have a 'system'?

Everyone has a 'system'.
A 'too good to be true' offer.
An erudite triteness masked as 'intellectual property'.

Well. Not everyone.
But look at modern advertising. It feels that way!

Can reason compete with this?
The answer lies in truths:

• People like things that give more than they ask.
• People like enjoyable things more than boring things.
• People like well-made things more than regurgitated trash.

Best...

Go all in.

But don’t forget:

Don’t believe everything you hear online.
Don’t buy into the hype on your timeline.
Don’t trust too-good-to-be-true offers.
Don’t take shortcuts, they’re bear traps.
If it’s taking a while, but it’s working, don’t break it.

“Post 64 times a day”…

“Inbound is better than outbound”…

These ‘takes’ are missing the point.

Here’s the point:

• You don’t pick friends based on ‘who went first’
• You don’t connect the loudmouth or the mute
• Everyone’s best friend was once a stranger
• So many would-be-great-friends still are

So whether you do inbound or outbound,
Whether you post every day or not at all,
Remember what two wise men said:

“Be excellent to each other.”

Social strategy:

Step 1: Do cool stuff

Step 2: Talk about it in cool ways

Step 3: Ensure it’s valuable & enjoyable

If it won’t fit into a scribble on a napkin, it’s too complex!

“Post 64 times a day”…

“Inbound is better than outbound”…

These ‘takes’ are missing the point.

Here’s the point:

• You don’t pick friends based on ‘who went first’
• You don’t connect the loudmouth or the mute
• Everyone’s best friend was once a stranger
• So many would-be-great-friends still are

So whether you do inbound or outbound,
Whether you post every day or not at all,
Remember what two wise men said:

“Be excellent to each other.”

After gardening all day…

And now I write this while everything aches (ha!)…

Some product design observations hit me while riding around cutting the lawn:

• Everything takes longer than you think it will
• Rushing can make the lawn shorter, but not nicer
• Everyone has a short lawn, not everyone has a nice lawn
• The difference between ‘short’ and ‘nice’ is patience and care
• You can’t do everything in one go, but you can make progress
• Ship progress, and enjoy...

Yesterday’s newsletter issue generated a lot of positive responses.

That’s great!

One concern I hear when people are challenged to be great is this:

But that takes a long time. Everyone is moving so fast, I don’t have time.

I think that’s sad.

If you don’t ‘have time’ to be great, you certainly won’t have time to be mediocre. After all, mediocrity is a crowded space, and diffcult to win in for long.

Great work, on the other hand, does...

This week’s issue of The Productoon newsletter dug into how we don’t need to be limited by social media platforms and their algorithms.

But to be free, we need to be great. Here’s an excerpt:

Make things so good they’ll
randomly check elsewhere for you.

Ever flick over to your favourite store or channels?
Just to see if there’s something new or interesting?
Most of us do.

Great experiences live rent-free in our minds.
Optimise for...

3 ingredients of great content.
Which are you missing?

A) Know your audience’s tastes
B) Have great ideas for those tastes
C) Implement them

Not easy…

But at least it’s simple!

So no more researching.

Execute your ABCs + partner with those who can help.

What great videos & driving a car have in common:

You need these 3 things for both to work:

1. Eyes. See what’s ahead, develop good taste

2. Brain.
Process opportunities based on what you see

3. Car.
Systems & teams used to act upon opportunities

No eyes? You fly blind. Who knows what’ll work.
No brain? You just copy others. No advantage.
No car? You can’t strike while the iron’s hot.

Get all 3...

Can you advertise without Meta?

Yes… If you do it right:

You’ll struggle if:

• You’re chasing eyeballs
• Your content isn’t missable
• We won’t de-platform to see you
• You don’t induce enthusiastic shares

You’ll thrive if:

• Your work is worthy of interest - We’d miss you if you were gone
• We’ll de-platform specifically for you
• Sharing your work makes us look good

You can’t trust Meta (or any ‘platform’).
They are not your friends.

Your best lifeline...

Some say it’s the best ad ever made.
Why?

No one was offended.
No one was alienated.
No one was pushed away.
No one connected with it.
No one clicked or purchased.

But at least no one was excluded!
…Right?

Wrong. Everyone was excluded:

• You didn’t help anyone.
• They’re still suffering/stuck.
• They needed you. You weren’t there.

Don’t play it safe.
You owe it to them to push the wrong ones...

It feels like a weekly occurence at this point.

Each week, I see behind the scenes of a ‘super-successful’ business that’s silently suffering.

Or I wonder where they went, seemingly on top of the world, but quietly liquidating.

Or I get a message asking to solve the very problem they outwardly proclaim to be a master of.

It’s everywhere, all of the time.

Nothing is as it seems.

Don’t believe what you read.

Commit to your craft and elevate your...

AI generated images impress at first sight.

When DALL-E and Midjourney revealed a year ago, the world gasped.

“This will change everything!”

And it did… if you were a stock photographer, relying on mass orders of average images.

To the rest of us, it hasn’t really changed much.

“Impressed at first sight” doesn’t always translate into a substantial long-term relationship with a brand or technology.

Even ones that are supposed to ‘change the world’.

And so it is with our...

16 May 2023, when Clear announced thir app was returning…
The market was a totally different place.
We weren’t celebrating the leader.
We were cheering the underdog.
But why were were cheering?
After they’d vanished?

Three reasons:

Clear invited us on a journey.

They announced they were back. Their first email started with thanks. For following. For caring. For believing. Then they showed what they were working on.

They made it clear they couldn’t...

Your content says more about you than you think.

It’s easy to spot:

Those who sell mediocre products:

• Post overly sensational content
• Tease ‘success secrets’ all the time
• Trade on scarcity, not value/enjoyment

Those who sell great products:

• Give abundantly more than they ask
• Make those gives & asks enjoyable
• Trade on reciprocity & brand equity

Easy to spot when you know what to look for.

If you’re going to create,
Create the second kind...

Ignoring community = business on hard-mode.

It’s not hard:

• Find where your people hang out
• Hang out with them there
• Become a (real) friend
• Give 10:1 Ask ratio

It’s not hard because it’s fun.
Making friends + making their lives better?
What’s not to love about that?

Clear (a to-do list app) launched in 2012.
Debuted #1 ‘top grossing’ in the US App Store.

I remember using it on my 4S, thinking to myself,
“This actually makes grocery shopping…enjoyable.”

Then it went quiet.
No updates.
No news.
Quiet.

So 16 May 2023, when they announced it was returning…
The market was a totally different place.
We weren’t celebrating the leader.
We were cheering the underdog.
But why were...

Not growing as fast as you’d like?

Remember:

In nature, things that grow quickly,
Tend to die quickly.

Also in nature,
Things you regularly feed and water,
In time, will still be standing
for your grandchildren to enjoy.

Maybe you’re not building a weed.
Maybe you’re building a Redwood.