Cursed content

Effective marketing isn’t complex.

It only needs two things:
#1: To give more value than it asks for,
#2: To be enjoyable.

Without #1, people feel sold to.

They put up their buyer defences.
They interpret your creation as a ruse,
To make them do something they don’t feel like doing.
A selfish cry from a selfish person.

Without #2, people feel interrupted.

They ignore you. Skip you. Scroll past you.
Then they forget you.
If we’re doing something we enjoy and want,
Why would we want to be interrupted,
By something we don’t?

You can plot this on a graph really simply:

This applies to all of your marketing:

Need more attention?

Post videos that give more than they ask, and are enjoyable.
True for successful ads. Social content. Explainers.
Even long-form episodic YouTube videos.
Great content, with a postage stamp attached.

Need more conversions?

Publish landing pages that give more than they ask, and are enjoyable.
An experience they’re glad they found.
Rare in the wild, but masterful in practice.
These are pages people share with others.

Need more user retention?

If you’re in SaaS, modify your UX to give more than it asks,
And is genuinely enjoyable to use.
We never unsubscribe from these.
Not in spirit, affections, and enthusiastic referrals.

I go into more detail on this topic in this week’s issue of The Productoon Newsletter. Check it out!