Experience

Some brands use marketing to “capture” us.

They snag our emails and phone numbers, harassing us with their “earned attention” like we owe them something. They make you comfortable then jack up the prices because, well, you’re “captured”.

Other brands use marketing to “contribute” to us.

They send goodies to our emails if we want them, and create experiences so valuable we spread the word like we owe them something. They make you feel comfortable and don’t break their promises.

There’s usually a choice, in most markets.

Vote with your wallet.

Recently I’ve been thumbing through artist profiles on Discord.

There are channels dedicated to folks posting their creations, often nervously so, in hope that someone likes them.

They’re often from junior or young talent, working on their craft, hoping someone cares.

They’re often missing one or two key lessons that will unlock a whole new level of skill.

It’s a joy to leave encouraging words. To let folks feel seen. And to message some of them if I think they’re close enough to take on a project for me, with a little training.

If you see someone trying…

Whether it’s an artist in a café or online… a musician on the street or on YouTube… whatever they’re doing… compliment them. Ask to see or hear more. Ask where you can follow along online. Show care. Show them they’re not invisible.

It means more to almost every single one I’ve spoken to than you’d ever think.

Try it. It’s as good for your soul as it is for theirs.

If you fit in and look like the others, you lose.

If you stand out and look very different, you might also lose… or you might win.

Which is it to be, friends?

Great client services require you saying “No” sometimes.

Not to be a jerk, or to wring them for more cash.

But to protect them from themselves.

A wonderful service that does one thing really well, bent out of shape to satiate an individual’s needs, is no longer a wonderful service. All the magic and promise was removed.

And for what, to avoid a difficult conversation that could guide them to a greater impact? Or to make sure you don’t miss out on an extra suboptimal buck that leads them nowhere?

Doesn’t sound like great client services to me.

Sony discontinuing physical media isn’t a war on physical media.

It’s a war on customer happiness.

They invariably saw the outcries when Microsoft made the same decision, and followed anyway.

I’m sure there’s a financial motivation behind the decision, and I don’t fault businesses for wanting to be profitable.

I’m just not sure that going to war with customer happiness is the best path to achieve that goal.

Google isn’t sending as many clicks anymore.

The shift to “zero click search” means many formerly-popular indie sites are losing up to 58% of their traffic since early 2024.

That’s over half in less than two years.

That stinks. The web thrives on open, decentralized effort from enthusiasts. It decays in closed, walled-gardens from corporations.

The only lesson to be learned here is, don’t trust the corporation to do the work of enthusiasts, and don’t expect the enthusiast’s work to look like the corporation’s.

Support your enthusiasts. Remember how your browser bookmarks work. Show ‘em some love. They won’t know you’re there rooting for them unless you show them.

Every day, I watch my son learn and grow.

It’s a delight and a privilege.

But it’s also fascinating to watch HOW he learns and grows.

Despite studying edutainment as an artform for ~20 years now, most of that study has been on adults, and young adults. Because, lets face it, most education for adults is boring, not very memorable, and uncomfortable when done right.

But it’s true for kids too. Most of it is low-effort and void of results.

In my home, my wife and I watch what engages my son, and lean into what works in a big way.

A show doesn’t engage him? Gone. A show really engages him? We go get every season of it and give it to him, while watching closely for what it is about each episode that grips him or teaches him most.

A toy doesn’t help him learn or grow? We stop buying toys like that. A toy really brings him along? We get lots of it, and construct games that unlock more toys for progression and further incentive.

We do it because we love him, of course.

But its fascinating to see how much I’m learning in the process, about using fun for growth in young minds.

It’s really not that different to adults. I assumed it would be very different, and very saturated, but it’s really not.

I love that, 20 years in, I’m still having huge revelations on the topic.

The more you know, the more you don’t know.

Everyone talks about promotion. Promotion promotion promotion. How you should be doing more promotion.

Promotion is important…

But why must we assume it must be you doing all the promotion?

Path 1: Make something good, then promote it forever.

Path 2: Make something great, designed to be spread, and let those you made it for promote it for you forever.

Its a choice.

Google Maps will take you straight “there”.

You’ll never really learn where anything is, but it’ll always take you “there”.

You’ll not notice the details on the road, the trees, the signs, the changes, but it’ll always take you “there”.

You’ll not discover the side roads and country paths that give you ideas for other journeys, but it’ll always take you “there”.

You’ll not encounter the opportunity to get lost, pay closer attention, correct your course, and learn so much more about your environment, but it’ll always take you “there”.

Where is “there”, again?

A linear, efficient path to your destination?

Or a meandering, exciting adventure that may eventually lead to your destination?

What if the latter is the “there” we’re really looking for?

We forgot how to get lost, and lost some magic along the way.

That’s been on my mind lately.

What do we do when “new and improved” isn’t working?

When videogames get ridiculous prices and bloated with in-app purchases, enthusiasts produce gems like “Goldeneye X” to add their favorite improvements to their favorite old games.

When car manufacturers pepper their new offerings with subscription extras and annoying beeping features, enthusiasts turn to renovating their old rides and sharing an appreciation for vintage.

When big tech offerings become ad-laden, ai-stuffed and pricier without any improvements actual customers want, enthusiasts turn to linux distros and build on-ramps to open alternatives.

“New and improved” isn’t a given.

If you stop listening to customers, some will shift to “old and improved” instead.

If you make your price cheap because you think it’ll win more customers, beware.

The moment someone else is cheaper, they’re gone. Because they bought you on price.

Do you want to be bought for price?

Or do you want to be bought for value, novelty, relational equity, contribution, status, or any number of other reasons?

Most of them are a race upwards, to provide more value, more novelty, more contribution, etc.

Only price is a race downwards, to zero.

Are we really going to choose that one?

I wear a wristwatch I was given for Father’s Day.

It was my dream watch when I was in my early twenties.

You can pick them up for about £25 on eBay (depending on condition). It’s priceless to me.
Not just because it was my dream watch. But specifically because of who got it for me.

Other people have different dream watches. Most of them won’t share my dream.

They’ll all tell the time “the right way” for them. Yet “the right way” is completely different to them all.

When you try to create something for ‘everyone’, and they all have differing ideas of what they want…

How can you create for ‘everyone’, really?

Maybe there is no ‘everyone’.

Maybe there’s a much larger number of people in the niche of “someone” you choose, than in the pool of “everyone”.

Better just choose your “someone”, then.

Wired headphones are back.

Breaking into fashion amidst increasing distrust of tech companies and the cost of living crisis.

Let’s keep in mind:

Wired EarPods cost $19. Wireless AirPods (the wire killer) is closer to $250, but we don’t have headphone jacks anymore.

A DVD costs $5 one-time. Netflix (the DVD collection killer) is closer to $20/month, but we don’t have DVD players anymore.

A CD costs $10 one-time. Spotify (the music collection killer) is closer to $13/month, but we don’t have CD players anymore.

But some people are going back to wires, buying adapters to get their headphone jacks back.

And they’re ripping physical media again, so they can use DVDs and CDs with the tech they have.

Perhaps the old pattern of “create new technology, strangle the old way, creep up the price” isn’t working out so well anymore for the Silicon Valley elite.

Perhaps there’s a limit to how far the public can be pushed, before they push back.

Perhaps listening to what customers want, and making that for them, could be a better model than playing games with them until they revolt.

Perhaps thats what companies should have been doing all along.

Perhaps thats what consumers should have voted for with their dollars all along.

Perhaps there’s still time.

Meta declined for the first time since ever, reportedly down 20 million daily active users last quarter.

It could be because people didn’t want to be legless avatars in a metaverse.

It could be because people didn’t want an AI model nobody asked for pushed on them.

It could be because people didn’t want to see back-to-back ads instead of organic posts.

It could be because people didn’t want creepy smart glasses nobody asked for pushed on them.

It could be because listening to customers, and making things they want, is a lost art among the tech elite.

Yeah, it’s probably that.

Old, musty car. No air conditioning. No music. The driver is socially-awkward, but knows the specific route you want to take like the back of his hand, and has taken that sole route every day for almost a decade.

Compare that to a brand new, year-model car. Freshly gassed AC. Chilled waterbottles in seatback nets. Your favorite jazz band on the radio. Friendly driver, who makes his way around with his smartphone’s maps app, joining the same congested route as everyone else because he doesn’t know the local secrets.

Which ride do you choose?

The answer tells us a lot about how much we understand about focusing on what matters.

Making growth fun is a passion as well as a business, for me.

In case you enjoy free comics and insightful takeaways from great books, you might enjoy taking a peek at the latest changes to m newsletter: https://mredutainment.com/growthcandy

Each issue includes a comic skit to remember the lesson, coupled with an illustrated breakdown of a topic, complete with illustrations of the book author being covered.

Take a peek. It’s enjoyed by thousands, and I’d love for you to join them if you haven’t already.

When you have a product to sell, you can either:

One: Photoshop the packaging to make it look more desireable than it actually is.

Two: Improve the product so you need not photoshop a thing.

Fast food companies are renowned for being in the former category.

And you’re welcome to join them, if you’d prefer to make a many sale today in exchange for many disappointed customers.

Or you can be the second kind, disappointing yourself today in exchange for making many happy sales tomorrow.

Both types exist. You can choose which you’d like to be.

Why are shiny new-and-improved things exciting?

Whatever the reason, I don’t share it.

We’re told we’re supposed to want new-and-improved.

But there are a few issues with that:

• new-and-improved may not be better than what you do now
• new-and-improved may not be more reliable than what you do now
• new-and-improved may not be more proven than what you do now
• new-and-improved may not justify the switching costs
• new-and-improved may be change for the sake of change
• new-and-improved is just a story sold as a fact

Sometimes, new-and-improved has a place.

But oftentimes, it’s a distraction.

There are already enough distractions.

Some want to pay less, to get less, while demanding more, and leave for a cheaper option when it comes along.

Some want to pay a little more, to get more than they paid for, while demanding less than they got.

We get to choose what type of people we want to surround ourselves with, when we put our work into the market.

I don’t mind if your email isn’t perfectly formatted. It shows me you cared to write it yourself.

I don’t mind if your website copy has a typo in it. It shows me you cared to keep tweaking it to suit those in your care.

I don’t mind if your newsletter is slightly inconsistent. It shows me it’s a response to your desire to share great things, rather than merely spewing out slop on a schedule.

I don’t mind if your artwork is rough in places. It shows me you’re doing it yourself, committing to growth, and shipping along the way.

I don’t mind if your business model is flawed in the eyes of conventional strategists or economists. It shows me you’re doing it for love, not money.

Please don’t be in a rush to make things perfect, sterile, automatic, the same.

We humans don’t want that. We never wanted that. We thought we did, until we had it, then we realized what we really want is for things to be… human.

Moleskine have been a staple of the creative world for decades.

They claim to have been for hundreds of years but, tales aside… decades.

Writers. Artists. People who want to disconnect from tech and explore their ideas themselves.

So it perhaps comes as no surprise when Moleskine announce their latest LOTR collab is, in part, AI generated, that creatives got upset.

And I don’t blame them. I also thought it was a strangely tone-deaf take on what most of their customer base want from them.

Just because it’s “cool” to some, doesn’t mean it’s “cool” for those in your care.

It’s worth remembering: if you make things that a specific group of people like… don’t forget that you make things that a specific group of people like.

My team was celebrated by a client because of the energy it brought to an emergency.

Not the fact that they dived into someone else’s emergency and fixed it for them…

Not the fact that it was done very quickly and economically…

The energy they brought.

Chill, calm, organized, happy, kind.

Sometimes your competitive advantage is simply being a really nice person.

Our gardeners don’t touch the neighbours gardens.

They used to. That’s how we connected with them in the first place.

But they’re good gardeners. They’re in-demand. So when our neighbor wrote scornful emails about their performance, they simply walked away.

When bad gardeners get bad reviews, they have to scrape around looking for work, and will continue working with bad customers.

When good gardeners get bad reviews, they get to walk away. They’re good, and they have plenty of other options available.

When great gardeners get bad reviews, they get to walk away, or remediate the issue with excellent service, because their communication skills are as good as their gardening skills.

Great gardeners are exceptionally rare. We’ve yet to meet one in our area. We settled for good. Our neighbours settled for bad.

It shows where the opportunities lie, for gardeners, and for us in our own lines of work.

As of last year, 51–53% of global internet traffic was bots, surpassing human activity for the first time.

Social media isn’t social anymore. The timeline is just sensational media, the social fell back to DMs.

Google search isn’t for search anymore. The results are modified and/or replaced with AI, so you never really see the real thing.

The web was social, now it’s just trying to be so clever it’s becoming “dumb pipes”, full of the echoes of voices long gone.

Maybe it’s time to stop playing the same old games.

Maybe it’s time to make remarkable, unusual, special things, and attract the right real people to you.

Maybe it’s time to focus on the quality of your craft: it could be the most social thing you’ve got.

Everyone’s sending cold emails.

There are unquantifiable numbers of them flying around right now.

And the number seems only to be increasing.

What’s the chance anyone will respond to yours?

Very good, if:

• You commit to understanding them
• You commit to sending them things they want
• You commit to doing so without asking for anything in return
• You commit to making it more fun for them than what they were already doing
• You commit to iterating on that until it works, because it’ll take time
• You commit to re-learning how to make it work when it stops working, and it will

Most don’t do any of these things.

They just generate pithy pitches and hope it works out.

You’re not them.

So you’re fine.

Some brands focus on cutting costs in order to cut costs.
Some brands focus on improve experience in order to improve experience.

One gives as little as possible without losing a customer.
The other gives as much as possible without becoming unprofitable.

Which would you rather be?

We can tell when you’re hedging your bets, keeping your options open, or vibe coding in the evening.

Because people who are fully committed to following through, “feel” different.

We can tell whether you’re really in it or not.

Just like a tennis ball can tell if the tennis player made a confident swing or not.

It’s subtle. But we can tell.

If your audience knew everything you knew, would they still pick you?

For many, the answer is “No”. Their work is of smoke and mirrors, maintaining a facade, putting their wellbeing at risk without them knowing, withholding them from better alternatives, or a combination of the above.

For a few, the answer is “Even more so”. Their work is a deliberate act, a commitment, a genuine desire to overdeliver and love upon a chosen few, to make their lives so much better as a result.

Be the latter. Support the latter. Forget the former.

Toyota and Lexus.

MAD and MB&F.

iPhone 17e and iPhone 17 Pro.

Bundled membrane keyboards and hot-swappable mechanical keyboards.

Book and signed book.

Some people want the accessible one, others want the elevated one. It’s not really up to us to decide for them, or what their reasons should be for choosing one over the other.

Take how our StrategyComics product has an accessible option (bespoke strategy, wrapped in a selection of pre-made stories) and an elevated option (same strategy, entirely bespoke story and artwork).

Many want the accessible option. Some want the elevated one. Their choice.

What might your accessible and elevated options be?

What won’t they dare do?

A money-back guarantee? “That’s crazy, we can’t afford that!”

A cheaper option? “That’s crazy, we can’t sustain that!”

A more expensive option? “That’s crazy, no one will pay that!”

A version that lasts forever? “That’s crazy, no one will value that!”

A version that only lasts one week? “That’s crazy, people want longer than that!”

See how every single one has a knee-jerk reaction about how it can’t be done?

Those knee-jerk reactions are lazy. Of course they can be done.

The question isn’t whether or not it’s possible.

The question is which ones do your audience want, that you dare do?