Archive of posts from January 2025

I paid $100 for a plastic tiger-bunny. Twice.

And it taught me about customers churn:

I find that churn’s rarely from:

• Offer/guarantee
• Product range
• Price per unit

It’s more likely to be one of these:

• Insufficient post-sale nurture
• Insufficient value exchange
• Insufficient excitement
• Insufficient loyalty

We buy what engages us…
We stick with what STILL engages us.So keep the flame alive.

For some, that’ll mean sticking with your product for years.
For others, it’ll mean buying more and more tiger-bunnies!

When writing copy for a landing page, here’s a quick thing you can do that I find always results in stronger copy.

When you’ve distilled what you want to say in part of a page, like this example here…

You look at it and think, “yup, I’ve squashed it right down. It’s not going smaller or tighter than that.”

Look at that version, like you’re only half-way done editing.

Because you are.

Write a longer version. Write a shorter version. Write a one sentence version.

Feel out the ‘material’ of what you’re trying to say, and gain control over its most important elements by changing its form in this way.

I know it takes longer but if you want great copy, give it a try – my team does this for all website copy and you would be SHOCKED at the data on how much more performant copy is when you make the time to do it.

Give it a try, see what happens.

Why do you want a “killer offer” anyway?

You don’t want to sound like a hustler…
You don’t want to be transactional…
You don’t want to damage trust…

So forget that. Listen:

Do they like human (non AI) chat? Do that.
Do they study niche topics? Make that.
Do they enjoy 80s references? Do that.
Do they watch fun videos? Make that.

Marketers think buyers want a ‘killer offer’…
When they’re ‘dying’ for someone to listen.So listen.

Marketing is not a skill.

Matchmaking is a skill:

• Knowing your audience well
• Knowing what they want to learn
• Knowing how they enjoy consuming
• Combining the two

‘Marketing’ is just an activity. Like ‘dating’.
People don’t want ‘dating’.
People want to ‘find the one’.

So don’t be a marketer.
Be a matchmaker.

12 ways to retain more customers…

• Replace open rate tracking with reply rates
• Build brand personality with edutainment
• Make pages users genuinely enjoy/share
• Swap scarcity for limited-run goodies
• Never use AI chatbots; humans only
• Talk to customers more, learn them
• Produce more on-narrative content
• Learn what their inner-narrative is
• Make invitations instead of offers
• Make a better user experience
• Show your users a good time
• Optimise for fans, not LTV

Which will you try?

Samsung used edutainment to bring some heat to Apple in a really enjoyable way.

In their ‘Try Galaxy’ campaign, they made it so you can feel like you’re literally using an Android with OneUI literally on an iPhone, with nothing but a scanned QR code.

And all it takes is a webpage with a bunch of javascript on it. Simple!

But it addresses a key market consideration progression-point in a time where no one goes to the store to check out tech anymore.

Now if we were to apply more edutainment frameworks to improve this marketing campaign, we’d give the UI dynamic context to tailor the experience to reveal ways their experience is empirically better than iOS, we’d weave in plot and cause, we’d personify the user and associate them with the Galaxy identity, we’d integrate stronger next steps, and we’d run more satellite content to amplify the experience and bring that identity back to the ‘real world’.

But even with what they did, the video alone got over 1.2M views, with this kind of feedback, so even a little edutainment goes a long way.

Imagine what the campaign could have been if they leaned in even more.

We’re all getting tired of marketing.

And it’s great news for brands. Why?

(Well, some of them anyway)

Because the good ones never wanted to:

• Post low-effort newsletters– AI generate lousy creative
• Harass unqualified leads
• Cut UX to redeem CAC
• Pixel-track everyone
• Copy competitors

The good ones want to create great things.
The good ones want to sacrifice CAC for CLV.
The good ones want to attract (not chase) leads.
The good ones want to delight in every deal stage.
The good ones want customers to be their salesforce.

Be one of the good ones.

Isn’t that better?

Everyone wants a unique differentiator…

And miss the most obvious one:

A better presale+postsale customer experience.

“That’s too time-consuming!”
“That’s too expensive!”
“That’s too difficult!”
“That hits our CAC!”

There’s a reason why:

• Amazon approves almost any return request ever.
• Apple has physical stores when the site works fine.
• Our client strategies are delivered as 24-page comics.

Most brands have a lousy customer experience.
Most brands have lousy, boring marketing.
Most brands are making it worse with AI.
And that’s a HUGE opportunity.

2X your customer acquisition cost (CAC).
↪ 10X your customer lifetime value (CLV).

Isn’t that better?

Why some users don’t try your free trial?

• It’s not the price (obviously)
• It’s not the value you provide
• It’s not the trial’s limits (if any)

It’s because you lack an ‘actual free tier’:

• Pre-product learning
• Pre-product entertainment
• Pre-product progress in their world

The product journey doesn’t start at the ‘free trial’.

It starts when they see you in content,

It continues when they enjoy de-platforming.

THEN, they want your ‘free trial’.

Marketing advice noone likes to hear:

“If in doubt, talk to your customers.”

TikTok is gone.

The good news we can ALL learn from this?

Trend-chasers must start from zero elsewhere.
Trend-chasers must learn fast or be left behind.
Trend-chasers must grind to be discovered again.
Trend-chasers must hope it works again this time.

Brand-builders don’t.

Brand-builders created things we looked forward to.
Brand-builders educated while entertaining their users.
Brand-builders will get searched for on the next platform.
Brand-builders don’t care about ‘followers’ (in a database).
Brand-builders care about ‘fans’ who’d miss you if you were gone.

Not if the platform were gone…

…If YOU were gone.

Build accordingly.

The gurus tell you to create LOTS of content.

And here’s 4 reasons why you shouldn’t:

1. Of >319 billion emails sent in 2021, you looked forward to <10.
2. Of >500K online courses for sale, you look forward to <5.
3. Of >4M books made in 2024, you looked forward to <5.
4. Of >51M YouTube channels, you look forward to <5.

We looked forward to ~0.0000000078%.

We won’t miss the ~99.99999999%.

Quality first. Then scale.

When you copy competitors, you care about…

• Industry trends
• Your growth vs theirs
• Keeping up with features
• What their marketing’s like

When you focus on your audience, you care about…

• Their unmet needs
• What they’re trying to learn
• What quirky things they enjoy
• Combining all 3 in unique ways

Isn’t that (drastically) better?

Every closed deal started with a ‘No’. Maybe not verbally, but internally. No creates Yes.

Every successful marriage started with a a couple who first considered alternatives. Wrong creates right.

Every strong relationship is forged through many difficult conversations. Hardship creates strength.

Every successful business venture is built upon many failures. Failure creates success.

Sometimes, the thing you don’t want is the path to what you want.

There is always more advice to read.

There are always more ideas to hear.

There is always more content to consume.

But what if what you need, isn’t more advice, ideas, noise?

What if what you need, is to act upon the advice and ideas you already have?

Writing process documents today feels slow… but it creates speed later.

Doing preproduction today feels slow… but it speeds production up later.

Taking the time to invest in leads feels slow… but it speeds up sales later.

Braking before the corner feels slow… but you can accelerate through it.

Slow down to go fast.

The quick ‘n’ easy temporary option is the slowest, most expensive route.

Because you’ll build it… not like it… not get traction from it… then have to do it properly anyway.

The proper, remarkable option is the fastest route.

Because you’ll build it, love it, get higher odds of traction from it… then optimize it.

Which sounds better to you?

To decide is a privilege.

To be deciding is a process.

A decision is the end result.

When faced with touch decisions, perhaps they’re only touch because we’re rushing to the end result.

Perhaps they’d be easier if we instead learned to see the privilege, and enjoy the process.

Think about the people you admire in different sectors or industries.

Normally, they’re really good at one thing,

So good, that we don’t even care about all the many things they’re bad at.

They could be bad at literally everything else.

Doesn’t matter.

The one thing is what we remember.

And so it goes with us:

We can be wrong, useless, fall short, fail frequently, slow, lesser… in everything we do.

We only need to be right about one thing.

What if you were to focus less on trying to be seen as pretty good at lots of things,

And focused more on just doing your one thing?

The real reason they’re not signing up?

• It’s not a focus on features
• It’s not a focus on outcomes
• It’s a lack of focus on experience+outcomes

You can solve the problem?
Big whoop. So can your competitors.

You have lots of features?
Whoop-de-doo. So do your competitors.

You can show them a great time
while solving the problem? Oh snap. Your competitors don’t do that.

I smell opportunity.

Creating for the algo =

• Chasing after the noise
• Chasing half-baked ideas
• Chasing content deadlines

Creating for future-fans =

• Building a vault of quality
• Building what they’ll want
• Building how they’ll enjoy it

What’s the real difference?

Future-fans get to become fans.

We don’t love buying solutions to problems.

We love buying enjoyable experiences that solve problems.

The solution is simply the outcome.

So, if you want more enthusiastic buyers, go learn how to:

• Give them what they want
• Give them what they enjoy
• Combine the two together

The combination is where the real magic happens.

I nearly got beaten up by the school bully as a kid.

What actually got was a big business lesson:

He’d been following me around.
He’d been talking to my friends.
He’d been looking at me funny.

“Oi Ad, meet me round the back at lunch.”
Gulp

Something funny happened though, he said:

“I’ve seen the games you’re selling, they’re awesome.”
“We should create a fanclub or something.”
(Paraphrased; it was 25 years ago!)

My lesson: If your work is good enough:

• Your enemies become fans.
• You form unlikely partnerships.
• You don’t get beaten up.

Moral of story: Create remarkable work. It’s way easier.

Go be remarkable.

There’s 2 ways to perfect your product for market.

Option 1: Build & hope

• Assume you know best
• Ship something ‘good enough’
• Get lukewarm response
• Try again & get lucky

Option 2: Ask & give

• Ask what they want
• Ask how they love to receive it
• Pitch solution that combines them
• Ship something amazing based on feedback

I wonder which works better?

Sometimes, the best tool is what you need.

Sometimes, the best tool for the job is what you need.

Sometimes, the best tool for you is what you need.

And they’re not always the same thing.

The best tool is at the top of the review website leaderboards. The best tool for the job is at the top of YouTube influencer ranking videos. The best tool for you might get no airtime whatsoever, possibly an older, boring system long forgotten.

But if it’s best for you, and it equips you to do your best work, does it matter what anyone else thinks about it?

Web design’s on the wrong path at the moment.

Design communities are advocating for “Powerpointification”, where structural elements are swooshing in and moving around without any real reason for doing so.

Bad design says “look at me!”
Good design says “look at this!”

Good pages are filled with story, great writing, great artwork, and great experiences.

Good design’s job is to elevate those things, making them easy to access and experience.

Good design’s job is to make it easier to experience those things, not to compete with them.

The open web - where web pages belong - is full of near-limitless potential. It deserves better.

My 2yo son taught me another great business lesson today.

When we’re playing with his ball run (where you drop balls on ramps and they cascade down to the bottom), he revealed something to me.

When I threw the ball onto the ramp and it landed perfectly, I’d say “Yay!”

A success.

To which he would smile, pick it up, and give it back to me.

When I threw the ball and it bounced off in a random direction, I’d say “D’oh!”

A failure.

To which he would laugh hysterically, say “d’oh d’oh d’oh!”, and give it back to me.

He found the failures far more enjoyable than the successes.

The failures made things interesting.
The failures made things exciting.
The failures made it more playable.
The failures made us laugh more.

Success isn’t the point. Enjoying the process is the point.

Failure has a bad reputation. But it shouldn’t. It’s absolutely hilarious, and makes the game far more enjoyable.

What’s missing on most webpages?

It’s not a product description.
It’s not all features/benefits.
It’s not clever copywriting.
It’s nothing to do with you:

It introduces WHAT they want to learn.
It does so HOW they love to consume.

Example:

They want to learn how to bake cookies?
They love watching silly cat videos?

Put the two together:

“Silly cats baking cookies.”

It requires research.
It requires more effort.
It requires imagination.

But do you want Easy, or Effective?

I’ve been posting a lot of comics on social media lately for the new “Marketer From Space” series.

Like, a lot. 86 comics and counting.

So to make them easier to explore, I’ve added a bunch of here, with back catalog slowly making its way up there:

https://mredutainment.com/marketerfromspace/webcomics

Enjoy!

Brands are dying and don’t even know it.

They just need to remember one thing:

Don’t go overdrawn on Relational Capital.

That means: if a new sale doesn’t…

• make folks ask to buy more,
• create a new fan,
• create referrals,

…then each time you ‘sell’, you ‘spent’ goodwill.

And need to build it back up with value.

But if a new sale causes those things?

You win.

So before you ask, ask yourself: “Is this giving more than it asks for? And is it enjoyable?”

Marketing’s job is to create buyer consideration. Not to make noise or “generate leadz”.

Sales’ job is to create buyer decisions. Not to “close close close”.

When you measure activities by what they’re designed for — rather on external factors — you’re far better equipped to see the critical elements worth optimizing.

If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right.

How to find time to do that:

1. Identify your area of market genius.

• Do you know a topic better than others?
• Do you focus on an area others don’t?
• Do you service a different audience?

1. Identify “wow”.

• Do you give a better experience than others?
• Can you deliver that in novel new ways?
• Do you make it more fun than others?

1. Delegate everything else.

• Your genius+wow combo deserves focus.
• Unless it serves that combo, delegate it.
• If it elevates that combo, recruit for it.

The world doesn’t need more average social media posts, average SaaS products, average service offers.

The world just needs you, in your area of genius, making it wow for us.