Category Marketing

It’s your email list.   Seth Godin said it best — “Permission marketing is the privilege of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get…

Jason Fried co-founded Basecamp into one of the most profitable software companies most founders have never studied. No venture capital. No IPO. No exit strategy. Just a calm, profitable business…

Most brands play it safe—with vague messaging, inoffensive copy, and trying to appeal to everyone. You know what that gets you? Ignored. Richard Branson built company after company without out-spending…

Charlie Munger never ran a marketing campaign in his life. But this one mental model he lived by will make you a sharper marketer than most “gurus” charging $2,000 for…

“Marketing is a puzzle solved by the real world.”

Jason Fried, the CEO of 37signals (the makers of Basecamp), advocates for a philosophy of “calm” company management that rejects traditional Silicon Valley growth-at-all-costs metrics. According to Fried, running a…

A couple dined at the restaurant about a month ago and had a great meal. At the end of the visit, the restaurant gave them a postcard and invited them…

  Credit: Steve Mouzon  What One Simple Thing This Local Restaurant Does to Stay Top of Mind   A couple had dinner at a restaurant and enjoyed a great meal.…

At its best, marketing is a transfer of enthusiasm.    When you’re truly pumped about what you’re doing, when you’re truly driven by the vision, when you absolutely must make…

“Content is fire and social media is gasoline. Great content alone is not enough. Social media amplifies that content and spreads it to people who would never find it otherwise.”…

Ken shared how his new website makes money without any effort from his side. I just put NewZealandTravel.com online a few days ago, no promotion, no SEO, no ads. It already…

“The Lollapalooza Effect, coined by Charlie Munger, describes a phenomenon in which multiple psychological biases, social forces, or mental models combine and reinforce each other in the same direction, creating…

People who don’t really understand marketing, yet still end up doing well.Examples: indie hackers, content creators. People who understand marketing and also believe that randomness and probability play a significant…

Writing is the most difficult part.   When you start to write, you start to think.   When you start to think, you start to read.   When you start…

Every “learn to code” program ever created was, for obvious reasons, first designed to teach all of the syntax, low level operations, and work your way up by piecing them…

In business, you can create two kinds of wealth at the same time, but in a job, it’s usually just one.  1. Cash flow   When your business earns a…

Steve Jobs once said, “When you ask a random person on the street which products have the best reputation for quality, most will say Japanese.”    Yet Japanese companies rarely…

The “obvious solution” is not obvious when you see through the lens of second-order effects. 1) The “strongest helmet” myth There is a Chinese company that claims it produces the…

Marketing Isn’t Something You Do at the End—It’s Woven Into Your Entire Journey The reason behind your innovation (your story) How you unlock value in your story to matter to…

When Shivaji Kurhe sold his farm-grown turmeric to traders, he received only ₹130 per kilogram. Despite the hard labour he put into farming and the insurmountable challenges he faced, the…

Learning is great, but unlearning is divine.   Unlearning is the most difficult path, where our biases, fantasies, beliefs, and even facts are questioned. Then we let go of our…

To mock Donald Trump’s perennial interest in buying Greenland from Denmark in the name of national security, Danes created a satirical website called denmarkification.com.    It features the tagline “Måke…

In a fast-paced world where everything is optimized for speed, a Dutch supermarket chain chose to go in the opposite direction—“to care for people who simply want to talk with…

1. You learn marketing by shipping   You can’t “study” your way into marketing mastery. You only learn it by launching, testing ideas in the wild, seeing what works, and…

How to Get Landscaping Customers Fast according to @keithkalfas   1. Pick Your Area Choose 1–3 nearby neighbourhoods or subdivisions. Aim for a 3–6 mile radius from your home or…

Questioning – asking “Why did this happen?” or “What’s the author trying to say?” Agreeing / Disagreeing – comparing the author’s ideas with one’s own beliefs. Contemplating – pausing to…

“First-time founders focus on product. Second-time founders focus on distribution. Third-time founders realize both matter.”   Julian Alvarez, CEO Jungleai.com   Let me add this “Fourth-time founders realize the product…

How to learn business? Start a business.How to learn sales? Start selling.How to learn marketing? Start marketing.How to learn writing? Start writing.How to build SaaS? Start building.How to learn design?…

If you have a local business, what are the number one and number two things you need to market your business?   1. Set up a Google My Business account.…

  “Don’t hide behind radio ads or yellow pages. Just knock on doors.” Jason Mauck   The lesson:  Don’t hide behind marketing channels that make you invisible.  Sometimes, the fastest…

Jensen never actually finished his business plan. He tried reading Gordon Bell’s book “How to Start a High-Tech Company” but stopped after a few chapters.   He realized that if…

When Jeep Wrangler YJ changed its headlights from round to square to make it modern, to their surprise, Jeep fans completely disliked the change, and sales dropped.    This, in…

Impulse Buying   At checkout, you’ve already made your main purchase decision. Your brain relaxes its rational guard and mentally “finished shopping.”   This reduces self-control, making you more open…

Buy more vegetables and meat from your local farmers and butchers. They’re usually free from additives and adulteration   When you do that, you won’t have many options left except…

Build Fast, Validate Faster    “Build small. Launch fast. See if people actually pay.”   Don’t overthink. Create a minimum viable product (MVP) in days or weeks, not months. Validate…

Minimalism is a villain to consumerism. Financial literacy is a villain to debt. Home workouts are a villain to gyms. Self-love is a villain to the beauty industry. Health is…

The Purpose of marketing is behavioural change. It’s about getting people to act differently.   Over-focusing on ROI metrics kills creativity and long-term brand value.   ROI obsession makes companies…

These principles (gems) and sales lessons are not set in stone; they were given by sales veterans and entrepreneurs who learned everything through perseverance and accepting reality. They are the…

When Land Rover announced the end of the Defender after 67 years in production, Charles Fawcett from Twisted Automotive forged an agreement with them to buy 240 Defenders at a…

🧠 Identity = “This is who I am.”    People buy to express their inner self ( their values, beliefs, or lifestyle.)   Example: “I wear Patagonia because I care…

People still buy for the same reasons.   Functional Reasons  Solves a Problem – It fixes something I care about. Quality / Performance – It works better and lasts longer.…

Marketing is the act of making change happen. It’s not about ads, hacks, or shouting. It’s about serving people who want to be served. Your product is your marketing. Marketing…

Reasons:   ✓ Unlimited travel for 58 euros per month ✓ Valid throughout Germany on all local public transport (not valid on ICE, IC/EC) ✓ Subscription, possibility to cancel monthly…

Anchoring Effect – Showing the original (higher) price first makes the discounted price feel like a bargain. Loss Aversion – Fear of missing out on a deal drives faster decisions.…

Reasons: You just don’t see the value. You just can’t afford it. You just don’t see any use for it. You don’t trust the result it promises. You think the…

In life and in business, if you are desperate, you can’t help anybody.   Fix your desperation first, then think about helping others.   How to fix it?   If…

1. Cosmetics & Skincare People buy confidence, not cream. 2. Luxury Fashion Driven by status, identity, signaling (“I’m this kind of person”). 3. Sneakers & Streetwear Culture + scarcity +…

How to find a genuine problem to solve?   You won’t know until you ship. Many entrepreneurs advise us to create “must-have” products instead of “nice-to-have” ones.   But indiepreneurs…

You may think offering discounts is the easiest way to attract new customers, retain existing ones, and clear old stock from your shelves.   But if you approach it that…

Going the extra mile is the greatest competitive advantage among all strategies.   Why?   When you go out of your way to delight your customers, it costs time and…

1. Marketing Is the Most Valuable   Skill Marketing is the ability to promote, sell, and retain customers.  Every career path involves marketing either yourself or your product.  The best…

“Our business succeeds because we understand product and marketing.”   Sure.   That’s like saying the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.   Sounds smart until…

1. Unnecessary thoughts that crowd the mind and steal our silence.2. Useless things that hide our real priorities3. Activities that keep us busy but bring no real growth.4. Desires that…

 “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” – Steve Jobs   People still think design is about making things pretty, rather…

“Web users ultimately want to get at data quickly and easily. They don’t care as much about attractive sites and pretty design.” – Tim Berners‑Lee. No fluff and straight to point. 

There’s no need to complicate marketing focus only on what really matters and why people actually buy.

“Ride Your Way” means that with a Honda motorcycle, you’re free to choose your own path not just on the road, but in life.

“Dreaming of a holiday”   Nobody dreams about a holiday more than someone stuck in a soul-sucking job.

Park Assist clearly shows how difficult parking is with a powerful ad.   Parking is one of the most difficult and stressful driving tasks for many people.   How difficult…

NYFA’s line nails it: “Want to write something good for the cinema?”   A red popcorn bucket filled with crumpled paper. Perfect metaphor for every writer’s struggle.

In 2018, Burger King took a playful swipe at its biggest competitor with a creative app campaign.   The Strategy:   Using geofencing technology, Burger King targeted McDonald’s locations across…

Seth Godin: You can’t become attached to the outcome.    Publishing is a weird business. It’s more of a hobby, and it has all these signals in it that don’t…

To promote the Deadpool movie, marketers took a bold, playful approach by bringing the character to life online in true Deadpool fashion.   The Strategy:   The movie team created…

Not varieties.  Not ambience.  Not pricing.  Not serving fast.  It’s taste.  When you make it HEALTHY and TASTY, you give people a real reason to talk about your restaurant with…

Selling is only called selling when you interrupt people to say: What they need to consider Why it matters What decisions they need to make to withstand the challenges of…

“It’s more eye-catching than the usual ‘Made with love’ or ‘Made in somewhere’ at the bottom of your website.   That little touch of playfulness makes your brand memorable and…

It’s not their mission statement. It’s not their vision statement. It’s not their meatless purpose statement.   It’s Trader Joe’s PROMISE.   Once organizations become corporates, they completely forget how…

Speaking the truth is the single biggest form of marketing in the 21st century.   In the AI era, the value of truth is growing exponentially — faster than you…

John Rush, CEO, UnicornPlatform.com Built & sold my first startup in 2009.Over the next 13 years, I invested all that money into startups.Lost money on all 30 founder/invested ventures.Still kept…

“You don’t start with a business idea and then try to make it a reality. You start with your reality and find business ideas that make sense within it.” –…

Everyone says “the offer is everything.” Cool.   But how many of you actually test:   Price anchors Payment structures Guarantees Bundles Upsells The same product, restructured, can double your…

Everyone talks about “great products.”Nobody talks about distribution.   The iPhone wasn’t the first smartphone.Coke wasn’t the best-tasting drink.Facebook wasn’t the first social network.   They just owned distribution.  …

Take one task in your hand and wholeheartedly focus on giving your best without hopping onto other tasks.   Even that one task may drain all your energy, so you…

1. You shouldn’t sell a problem people don’t have. 2. If your market is crowded, you must find a way to make your product stand out, even if it is…

Spotting an opportunity is one thing, but acting on it makes all the difference.   Seth Godin had a small box with items that reminded him of his past.  …

No idea truly belongs to you.   Just because it comes to you doesn’t mean you’re the first to experience it.   But you can be the first to execute.…

Doing marketing is the single greatest way to learn marketing.   You start with what you know—even if you think you know very little, that is more than enough to…

No one plans to:   1. Create a terrible business 2. Launch a terrible product 3. Build a terrible website 4. Design a terrible landing page 5. Write terrible copy…

1. Revenue growth – actual increase in sales over time2. Profit margin – how much money you keep after costs3. Customer acquisition cost (CAC) – cost to get one paying…

Number of social media followers Number of likes or reactions on posts Website traffic (without tracking conversions) App downloads (ignoring active usage) Page views (without engagement or goal completion) Email…

Trial and Error Approach Failed Products Failed Campaigns Poor Landing Pages Poor Sales Copy Poor UX Poor Positioning Low Email Open Rates Posts with 0 Likes Technical Issues (broken links,…

This is what Andrew Gould shared on X.com   On Thursday I posted about a copywriting workshop I was teaching.   It only got 30 likes. Not too good.  …

“Copy is not written. If anyone tells you ‘you write copy,’ sneer at them.   Copy is not written. Copy is assembled. You do not write copy; you assemble it.…

Failure is the new marketing. Thanks, @Mark , for showing us that failure is normal even when you have a multibillion-dollar company.

Life doesn’t ask your permission to bring you here.   So stop asking for permission—start taking responsibility, but never forget the sacrifices you need to make.   Life is the…

Put a price tag on it.   Create a small book to address all the questions.   Create a YouTube video if you have time.   If there is a…

Knowing when to quit is a skill anybody can develop.   As far as start-ups are concerned, founders need to know when to quit  because time is precious. Seth Godin…

Speak with your product development team and ask them to list out all the they think their customers might use their product for.   Now sit with your customer service…

Free tools and free courses are the best way to show your intention to help your prospects.   No one will sign up for or use your service voluntarily until…