The 20-tenants of marketing

Jun 6

SECRECT STRATEGIES FOR GROWTH

I. Unguarded Niche: (Or The Superstar Effect)

Most of the time it’s not enough to be better - you need to be different. Let’s take the example of Michael Silverman, a student from Paradise Valley, Arizona who got into Stanford even though his G.P.A. put him in the bottom 10% of accepted students. His SAT scores fell similarly short. Perhaps more surprising, Michael avoided the crushing course load that diminishes the will of so many college hopefuls, instead taking only a single AP course. He kept his extracurricular schedule equally clean — joining no clubs or sports and dedicating his attention to no more than one outside project at any given time. Despite this heretical behavior, no exotic genealogy, and no rich parents, Michael was still accepted into Stanford. How is this possible? Let me turn your attention to an obscure 1981 economics paper published in the American Economics Review.

The economist Sherwin Rosen worked through the mathematics that explains why superstars reap so many more rewards than peers who are only slightly less talented. He called the phenomenon, “The Superstar Effect.” Though the details of Rosen's formulas are complex, the intuition is simple: Imagine a million music fans who each have $10 to spend on an album. They're trying to decide whether to buy an album by the Beatles or the Byrds. Rosen's theory predicts that the bulk of the consumers will purchase the Beatles album, thinking, roughly: "although both bands are great, the Beatles are the best, and if I can only get one album I might as well get the best one available." The result is that the vast majority of the $10 million goes to the Beatles, even though their talent advantage over the Byrds is small (yeah I like the Byrds, fight me). This same principle is found in endorsement deals for athletes to sales of opera tickets in Italy.

Heading back to college now, this principle was found to apply even in settings that have nothing to do with financial transactions. In a particularly compelling example, a researcher named Paul Atwell, publishing in the journal Sociology of Education in 2001, studied the Superstar Effect for high school valedictorians. Atwell imagined two students both with 700s on their SAT tests. The first student was the valedictorian and the second student was ranked number five in the class. Rationally speaking, these two students are near identical — the difference in G.P.A. between the number one and number five rank is vanishingly small. But using statistics from Dartmouth College, Atwell showed that the valedictorian has a 75% of acceptance at this Ivy League institution while the near identical fifth-ranked student has only a 25% chance. So, how do we hack this psychological oversight?

Taking an even further step back, we likely agree that it's an interesting but obvious finding that being the best has a hidden advantage. If reaping this advantage, however, requires becoming class valedictorian or creating a revolutionary band— both staggeringly difficult feats — it doesn't seem all that applicable. This is where Michael reenters the picture. The details of his story reveal a crucial addendum that makes the power of the Superstar Effect available to most people. I call this addendum The Unguarded Niche Corollary because I have low intellectual esteem & need to use big words to validate my intelligence - and it's here I turn your attention next.

You can trigger the Superstar Effect without requiring a rare natural talent or years and years of grinding work. For example, consider the details of Michael's story. Starting as a freshman, he focused all of his extracurricular energies on a serial string of environmental sustainability projects. He started by submitting a model of a greenhouse to a competition. This led him to discover that a local energy company offered a grant program for local high school students. With the help of a retired engineer from his hometown, he retrofitted a golf cart to run on biofuels. Leveraging this success, he earned a grant which he used to install solar panels on his school's maintenance shed. This earned him press coverage, and the resulting Superstar Effect helped wow the Stanford admissions department into overlooking his below average scores. Notice that nothing about Michael's rise to stardom required a rare natural talent or overwhelming workload. His projects required, on average, less daily time investment than participating in a highschool sport. Yet, he was the best at what he did among all applicants to Stanford, and the resulting Superstar Effect earned him a disproportionate reward.

Being the best in a field makes you disproportionately impressive to the outside world. This effect holds even if the field is not crowded, competitive, or well-known. In other words, becoming valedictorian or a sustainability guru both generate the same Superstar Effect, but the former is much harder than the latter. Beyond that in the case of Michael is the need from Stanford and just about any media outlet for good stories; interesting students to talk about in promotional materials and alumni magazines. Michael is one of these interesting students who exhibit passion and an ability to take advantage of opportunities they come across.

For anyone looking to increase his rewards-to-effort ratio it’s important to hack this principle, not by becoming the best - but the only. This can be helped by sloganizing your conquest to transform it into an easy-to-describe and immediately interesting quest. For example, Chris Guillebeau, sloganized his goal of adventure travel writing by focusing on the catchy goal of visiting every country in the world. A similar example is of a web programmer mastering a new open source technology, she might sloganize her efforts by writing a definitive eBook on the subject. To say that she literally "wrote the book" on the technology gives the expertise extra power.

When conquering your uncontested niche, it can be tempting to divide your attention. Here is where diligence is key. The bonus reward you get for being the best far outweighs any small benefit that a shiny new side project can provide. On the large scale, therefore, maintaining a relentless focus on your conquest maximizes your total overall reward. We're wired to be disproportionately impressed with someone who is the best at what they do. This effect, however, is blind to the competitiveness of the pursuit. The writer who is traveling to every country in the world, for example, can earn as much attention as the Rhodes Scholar with a PhD in international relations. It’s better to create a category than to fight in one. Being first and then striving for perfection — instead of fighting to be best in a crowded space — is the fastest path to mindshare.

An easy way to avoid being pigeon-holed is to create a more appropriate label (i.e Filmmaker vs. Actor) or create a new one which offers the ultimate calling card: one you dominate as you define it. Produce a simple and understandable label for both media and people looking for an alternative to the current options. Create instead of imitate. From an SEO standpoint it’s more effective, and from an intellectual and explicative standpoint, it’s more accurate. The current collection of labels are often too broad to encapsulate an innovation you want to turn into a movement.

Seth Godin says in every field, extraordinary benefits go to those seen as being in the top five percent. One out of twenty. Sure, the biggest prizes go to the once-in-a-generation superstar but that’s largely out of reach. It turns out, though, that if you’re thoughtful and diligent, the top 5% is attainable typically within 3-6 months. The approach is to pick the right set to be part of. Not “top 5% of all surgeons,” but perhaps, “top 5% of thoracic surgeons in Minnesota.” Be specific. Find your niche and fill it. That’s challenging, because once you set out to be specific, you’re on the hook. The standards are more clear. No room to waffle. Which leads to the second half of the approach: The hard work. The work of leveling up and being honest about the choices that those you seek to serve actually have. If they knew what you know, would they choose you? What would it take for you to learn enough and practice enough and invest enough to truly be one of the top 5%?

The smaller the niche or target, the bigger the bullseye. For marketing, let’s look at the example of an erectile dysfunction pill. If you put an ad on national television it will get a lot of views but not a high ratio of purchases. How do we increase the ratio? What if we targeted cable channels for men, or men's health shows or men's health shows on sexual desire. That's a tighter focus which will bring greater rewards. Selling erectile dysfunction pills on Oprah won’t sell as well as that small show on men's health for that niche. In the immortal words of Peter Theil “competition is for losers” . Instead of battling numerous competitors in a contested market, it is far better to seek fresh unguarded niches. So ask yourself, can you redefine or create a category, rather than compete in one?

2. Know thy audience: Must think marketing while writing

Below is a principle from Paul Graham that, although in reference to start-up companies, can easily be applied to filmmaking:

“Most startups fail because they don't make something people want, and the reason most don't is that they don't try hard enough. A surprising number of founders seem willing to assume that someone—they’re not sure exactly who—will want what they’re building. Do the founders want it? No, they’re not the target market. Who is? Teenagers. Or ‘business’ users. What business users? Gas stations? Movie studios? Defense contractors? Whenever I am considering an idea, I picture the seats rising from second base at Yankee Stadium. Can I sell that many tickets? Half that many? Twice that many? What if you can identify a perennial problem and solve it? If you can create something for an audience that renews itself each year (like college grads or people turning 50)? Then you’ll have something that can last and sell by word of mouth. Life is short, and we can read only so many books—by choosing one, I’m choosing explicitly to not read another. That weighs heavily on consumers.” - Paul Graham

The “marketing” is then finding people who most resemble the friends you wrote the movie for in the first place. Get specific enough so that this “audience” comprises no more than 2,000,000 people nationwide. Next, find the few curators for this niche audience and only talk about your movie content if you’d be willing to bet $1,000 on fit. Fit = they’d definitely watch a recommended scene or read a specific section of script in the subsequent 24 hours. Anything less is, in my opinion, just in-person spamming. Know thy audience.

A macro example of this is the Will Smith method, recently stolen by Dwayne Johnson to great success. Smith would do weekly meetings discussing the top ten box office results. “Listen, if we're going out to L.A., we probably should have a goal,'" Smith says. "I said, 'I want to be the biggest movie star in the world.'" Lassiter (his agent), took his friend seriously and found a list of the 10 top-grossing movies of all time. "We looked at them and said, O.K., what are the patterns?" Smith recalls. "We realized that 10 out of 10 had special effects. Nine out of 10 had special effects with creatures. Eight out of 10 had special effects with creatures and a love story." This ties into the tenant of knowing thy audience when writing.

For Indie movies, Netflix would find 3-similar film titles and promote the indie movie that was showing locally within 10-miles of individuals who liked 2 out of the 3 films most similar to it. This also helps in marketing as your methods should be based on the target audience (i.e kids don’t read newspapers, teenage girls don’t read business magazines, adult males don’t buy romance novels, it doesn't make much sense to pitch life insurance on tik tok, so on and so forth). Go to where your audience is. Great example of this was Solar companies wasting money pitching to talk shows, but when they went to Star Trek conventions did crazy numbers. Know thy audience.

3. Overcoming Icky: Sales Strategies

There is this notion that some people have that artists must toil in obscurity and never search for an audience, but wait to be discovered. Fuck that. A creator’s job is not just to make something useful; it’s also to get it to people who can use it. If you aren’t willing to promote your idea why would anyone be willing to pay for it?

Some avoid sales & negotiations for the same reason that a fat guy avoids the gym: They don’t know what the hell to do. For negotiating, it often evokes similar feelings of discomfort resembling an impromptu dance of haggling. However, it doesn’t have to be this way. A dealmaker meticulously choreographs his sequence, plotting several moves ahead, maneuvering his opponent into a checkmate. Below are some of those maneuvers:

He who cares least wins (i.e have options): Maintain the upper hand by cultivating an air of nonchalance. Possessing alternatives strengthens your negotiating position.
Fear-set (identify worst-case scenario and neutralize it): Confront the fears associated with potential losses head-on. Render them toothless to diminish their impact on the negotiation.
Approach at deadline: Use time constraints to your advantage. As deadlines loom, leverage the pressure to secure favorable terms.
Have them start: Shift the burden of initiating the negotiation onto the other party. Frame it as an opportunity for them to set the stage, while positioning yourself as a willing collaborator. (“You’ve done this before, how about you put something on the table for us to discuss?”)
Flinch & Counteroffer: Express mild dissatisfaction with the initial offer (the "flinch") before swiftly presenting a counterproposal that aligns more closely with your objectives.
Call back and meet in the middle: If initial negotiations stall, suggest talking to your “boss”. Use this time to recalibrate your approach and find common ground, facilitating a mutually beneficial compromise.

In a sales context, below is the straight-line method in a heavily condensed version. This is the system that was used by the famed Wolf of Wall Street who would train a staff of high school drop-outs in the system, turning them into millionaires almost overnight. It goes as follows:

Intro: Give intro presentation where you appear enthusiastic, sharp, and an expert in your field
Questionnaire: Gather intelligence & build rapport by asking a series of targeted questions.
Ask for the sale: They will say no - prepare for this. The sale begins at no, you want them to say no.
Objections: Obliterate objections through airtight logical and emotional cases to get them to understand they should buy now
Ask for sale:
Loop: Loop back on other objections, make sure they love you, the product, and the company.
Ask for sale:
Loop: Loop back again, boxing them in through logic, emotions, lowering action threshold, and raising beliefs.
Ask for sale:
Close: Either part mutually or close sale. Ask for a referral if close, give them recommendation if not.

Another effective strategy revolves around the paradox of choice—a concept observed in everyday scenarios like gas stations. Presenting three options—Gold, Silver, and Bronze—typically results in a significant majority favoring Gold and Bronze, leaving Silver neglected. Applying this principle to our strategy, we'll offer choices between domestic and international markets, each tiered as Gold, Silver, and Bronze. To succeed, we must master the art of:

Crafting a concise and compelling benefit message tailored to our ideal 1,000 customers.
Securing and prominently showcasing testimonials and case studies to build trust and credibility.
Providing a straightforward trial option to large enterprises, albeit with a charge to ensure they value the service.
Delivering exceptional customer service to our most valuable customers, while avoiding being derailed by the demands of those with more time than budget.

Leverage your existing skills and view social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram as vital communication channels. Maintain perspective—there's no need to respond to every comment or criticism, just as in your personal life. Focus on what truly matters and allocate your resources wisely. By mastering these strategic maneuvers, you can navigate negotiations with finesse, guiding them toward the desired outcome.

PR at best gives you credibility and at worse gives you name recognition. You can often get cheaper deals on your ads or trailers by targeting local slots of large publications. Instead of Time Magazine, just do the El Paso version. Remember, rate cards are fictional starting points. Always shop regional, a 30-second ad can do as much as 60-seconds, and but last minute in non national targeted locations. Always look for circulation & page visit numbers for blogs, and on aggregate magazines are better than newspapers as they have a more focused readership.

4. 1,000 True Fans

Below is a dissemination of the article 1,000 true fans by Kevin Kelly. I’d recommend reading the entire article but for internal documentation purposes I’ll include an abridged version below.

Target: 1,000 superfans. First, you have to create enough each year that you can earn, on average, $100 profit from each true fan. That is easier to do in some arts and businesses than others, but it is a good creative challenge in every area because it is always easier and better to give your existing customers more, than it is to find new fans. This ties into the Seth Godin principle of permission marketing which basically means that you don’t carpet-bomb everyone with your ads; you actually ask your fans for permission to tell them about the things you are doing. The most obvious permission marketing tool is an email list. Works great if you only send out something like two emails a year or a weekly newsletter - but always make them highly relevant. He uses his FB fan pages in the same way; people “like” them in order to get info about him and things he’s doing, and he only posts when it’s highly relevant.

This is a pretty simple but powerful concept. Once a fanbase is established through permission marketing, you can use your fanbase to launch products ala Kevin Hart/Dane Cook who, at each and every show, would have an assistant put a business card on each seat at every table that said, “Kevin Hart needs to know who you are,” and asked for their e‑mail address. After the show, his team would collect the cards and enter the names into a spreadsheet organized by location. For four years he toured the country this way, building an enormous database of loyal fans and drawing more and more people to every subsequent show.As his name grew, Hart began to take television gigs that he thought would allow him to grow his platform. In 2011, he hosted the MTV Music Awards and snagged, by his count, more than 250,000 Twitter followers in one swoop. Across social media and e‑mail, Hart’s fan-by-fan ground game—in his words, “years of me building and building and building and reaching out to my fans on the personal level”—built up a platform of more than fifty million people, people he can launch each of his products too. Got this method directly from Dane Cook who built his following by responding to every DM on myspace and literally calling fans up out of the blue to talk. If someone asked if it’s really him, he’d call them.

Questionnaire:

What type of ____ do you ____?
Two main reasons you ____
Would you want ____?
Age/Gender?
What ___ do you read/watch? What's your favorite ___ page?
What of work do you do?
Where else do you go for ____?
Comments?

Kevin Kelly goes on to say the following: Second, you must have a direct relationship with your fans. That is, they must pay you directly. You get to keep all of their support, unlike the small percent of their fees you might get from a music label, publisher, studio, retailer, or other intermediate. If you keep the full $100 of each true fan, then you need only 1,000 of them to earn $100,000 per year. That’s a living for most folks. The actual number has to be adjusted for each person. If you are able to only earn $50 per year per true fan, then you need 2,000. (Likewise if you can sell $200 per year, you need only 500 true fans. Or you may need only $75K per year to live on, so you adjust downward. Or if you are a duet, or have a partner, then you need to multiply by 2 to get 2,000 fans. For a team, you need to multiply further. But the good news is that the increase in the size of your true-fan base is geometric and linear in proportion to the size of the team; if you increase the team by 33% you only need to increase your fan base by 33%.

Another way to calculate the support of a true fan, is to aim to get one day’s wages per year from them. Can you excite or please them sufficient to earn one day’s labor? That’s a high bar, but not impossible for 1,000 people worldwide And of course, not every fan will be super. While the support of a thousand true fans may be sufficient for a living, for every single true fan, you might have two or three regular fans. Think of concentric circles with true fans at the center and a wider circle of regular fans around them. These regular fans may buy your creations occasionally, or may have bought only once. But their ordinary purchases expand your total income. Perhaps they bring in an additional 50%. Still, you want to focus on the super fans because the enthusiasm of true fans can increase the patronage of regular fans. True fans not only are the direct source of your income, but also your chief marketing force for the ordinary fans.

This new technology permits creators to maintain relationships, so that the customer can become a fan, and so that the creator keeps the total amount of payment, which reduces the number of fans needed. This new ability for the creator to retain the full price is revolutionary, that the most obscure node is only one click away from the most popular node. In other words the most obscure under-selling book, song, or idea, is only one click away from the best selling book, song or idea. Early in the rise of the web the large aggregators of content and products, such as eBay, Amazon, Netflix, etc, noticed that the total sales of *all* the lowest selling obscure items would equal or in some cases exceed the sales of the few best selling items. Companies like Google, Bing, Baidu found it in their interests to reward searchers with the obscure because they could sell ads in the long tail as well.

1,000 true fans is an alternative path to success other than stardom. Instead of trying to reach the narrow and unlikely peaks of platinum bestseller hits, blockbusters, and celebrity status, you can aim for direct connection with a thousand true fans. On your way, no matter how many fans you actually succeed in gaining, you’ll be surrounded not by faddish infatuation, but by genuine and true appreciation. It’s a much saner destiny to hope for. And you are much more likely to actually arrive there.

A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author—in other words, anyone producing works of art—needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living. It’s a small empire and one that must be kept up, but an empire nonetheless. Like Latvia or Romania.

Does 1,000 true fans sound too difficult? Fine - start with 10. Find ten people. Ten people who trust you/respect you/need you/listen to you…Those ten people need what you have to sell, or want it. And if they love it, you win. If they love it, they’ll each find you ten more people (or a hundred or a thousand or, perhaps, just three). Repeat. If they don’t love it, you need a new product. Start over. Your idea spreads. Your business grows. Not as fast as you want, but faster than you could ever imagine. This approach changes the posture and timing of everything you do. You can no longer market to the anonymous masses. They’re not anonymous and they’re not masses. You can only market to people who are willing participants. Like this group of ten. The timing means that the idea of a ‘launch’ and press releases and the big unveiling is nuts. Instead, plan on the gradual build that turns into a tidal wave. Organize it and spend money appropriately. The fact is, the curve of money spent (big hump, then it tails off) is precisely backwards to what you actually need.

It also pays to keep clients instead of hunt for new ones. More than half of marketing should be devoted to current clients. Don’t make the mistake of always targeting new. It’s not a new client, it’s a new relationship. 70% of business is lost due to after sale apathy. It costs 6x more to sell to a new person. So send that fucking follow-up email! Give them a chance to upgrade like car dealerships do. Increase the size of transaction, frequency and referrals. When you encounter a superfan, either through email or in-person , ask them if they’d be willing to be contacted by the press at some point and have a testimonial on record.

5. Super-Connector: The Jesus Method of Service

Never underestimate anyone—every interaction holds the potential to shape your journey. Treat everyone with the reverence you'd afford someone who could thrust you onto the front page of The New York Times—because one day, they just might. Adopt a long-term mindset—relationships aren't about immediate gain, but rather about cultivating connections that can mutually benefit both parties down the line. Approach each encounter as an opportunity to extend a helping hand.

Consider this scenario: a reporter declines to cover your story. Rather than dwelling on the rejection, seize the chance to be of service. What's occupying her mind? Perhaps there's an untapped trend in a particular industry, and she's on the hunt for a founder with a unique angle. By connecting the dots and facilitating an introduction, you're not only assisting her but also aiding another individual—a win-win scenario that amplifies good karma

As time progresses, you have the opportunity to establish yourself as a pivotal connector within your industry. Connectors serve as a journalist's secret weapon, providing leads on untapped ideas or facilitating crucial introductions for insightful interviews. This position of influence ensures you remain at the forefront of their minds—a priceless asset in a world inundated with content. With professionals bombarded by pitches every minute, it's imperative to make yourself known. Embrace the role of the helper—any assistance rendered to enhance someone else's job performance earns you valuable startup karma. In a landscape where time is a precious commodity, your willingness to aid others sets you apart, fostering enduring relationships and solidifying your reputation as an indispensable ally.

When it's time to present your pitch, remember: it's not about pitching—it's about establishing personal connections. Prioritize individuals with whom you already share rapport, aiming for a genuine connection. If you must cold-email, keep it concise—aim for fewer than five sentences. Precision with impact is a potent writing skill.

The key to securing coverage lies in not overtly pitching your product. Journalists are human—they're not solely there to showcase your big idea. To capture their attention and goodwill, offer value. Pitch by not pitching—be genuinely helpful. Share links to breaking yet underreported stories, or facilitate introductions to fellow founders in their sphere of interest. Demonstrate your understanding of their preferences—inform them of relevant sales or events. When the opportune moment arises for a formal pitch, execute it with finesse. Until then, prioritize building relationships through meaningful engagement.This Bodes Question: How to become a super-connector? You can use cold emails or swag bombs but the least crowded channel will always be face-to-face.

In-person interactions remain the least crowded and offer the highest rewards, but they require skills that many lack. Once again, understanding your audience is paramount, and standing out often yields greater results than striving to be better. Visionaries like Tucker Max and Tim Ferriss allocated their entire marketing budget ($10k) to attend target-rich environment festivals, where they engaged with journalists and industry professionals at after-parties over casual drinks.

Their approach was simple yet effective: join a group and casually inquire, "Are y'all from xyz festival? Mind if I join in?" Then, engage in genuine conversation for a few minutes before offering to fetch drinks. Return, seamlessly integrate back into the conversation, and wait for curiosity to spark. Avoid the urge to pitch—instead, share your story naturally. If there's mutual interest, suggest exchanging cards and follow up with an email, maintaining the cool demeanor that initially drew them in. Remember, it's about fostering genuine connections and leaving a lasting impression as a cool, approachable individual. Another way is to approach the moderator of Q&A segments at festivals about topics on the panel until they ask what you're at the festival for. Again, do a quick spiel and say you're “trying to figure out (insert problem) Do they know anyone you should meet or would be interested in talking?” Now you have an in to your next person.

If possible, get guys to go to lunch the following day. Build relationships with people who can help you, and vice versa: Basically what people like Tucker Max, Ryan Holiday, and Tim Ferriss did was go to every conference and meet-up they could in the year or so before there books came out, made it a point to meet and befriend everyone who had an online audience that they thought might like their book–diverse groups, ranging from people like Robert Scoble to Robert Greene–gave them all copies of there book, established relationships with them, and learned everything they could from them. Then when their book came out, they had all their knowledge at their disposal, and had hundreds of very influential friends who were willing to talk about it to their specific audiences, both because they thought their audience would like it, and because they liked them as people. The brilliance of this strategy was that they met these people FACE-TO-FACE and created real human bonds with them. It was something no one was, or is, doing at the time, and they did it very well

This is why learning to elevator pitch — how to deliver your message in 60 seconds or less — is one of the most important skills to develop if you ever plan on interacting with real players. For meeting VIPs in crowded settings, the goal should be to do 3 things in an introduction of no more than 60 seconds:

Establish credibility. Cite 1-2 examples of social proof like media or association with reputable companies/organizations. Do not speak quickly during an elevator pitch. Slow and calm.
Make it clear you are not looking for money (unless you are) but have something of interest to discuss after much research, and then ask how you can follow up in a less hectic environment. Give them your card with below #3 handwritten on it.
Mention something very, very hard to forget about you that separates you from the rest. It doesn’t need to have anything to do with your reason for wanting to meet them. For Tim Ferriss, tango is his default. He’ll close with something like: “Just so you remember, as I know you’ll meet a million people today, I’m the world record holder in the tango. Happy to give you and Astrid a lesson sometime if the stars align.” Referring to this odd fact will be important when you follow up. Do not follow up within the next 3 days, as everyone else will. Give at least one week and then cite the reason in the previous sentence as your reason for waiting. Take notes on your conversations so follow up has some merit. Attempt for lunch the following day but don’t expect it.

So if you have lead time go to festivals, meet in person, hang out, and don't pitch. Below are some good questions to come preloaded with:

What do you do?
Where are you from? Say it as a statement or guess. It’s more fun and this isn’t a fucking interview. “You’re not from here are you? I can tell, lemme guess.”
1. How did you decide on your project? What ideas did you consider but reject, and why?
2. What were your biggest mistakes, or biggest wastes of time/money?
3. Key production, launch, and marketing lessons learned?
4. If you were to do it all over again, what would you do differently
5. What’s next?

6: Flexibility

As Eisnhower said “Plans are worthless, planning is indispensable”. People who demand concrete plans don’t understand that life is not a static process and that any written plan would have to be amended as circumstances swiftly change - making the written plan time consuming and ultimately useless. The big giants are stuck in release dates years in advance and rush out crappy work. We maintain maneuverability throughout. This also allows us to attack our enemies on multiple fronts which will spread their resources thin. Big corporations also can’t engage with fans on a personal level, we can.

7. Virtual Assistant & Team

Do not run a campaign (or your life) without a VA. They will save you countless hours of work so long as you remove any decision making bottlenecks (i.e I’ll let you figure it out, go for it, try it, etc.). To properly incentivize assistants, create teams that compete against each other with a bonus for high performers. A classic way to burn through cash though is by hiring a lot of people. This bites you twice: in addition to increasing your costs, it slows you down—so money that's getting consumed faster has to last longer. Most hackers understand why that happens; Fred Brooks explained it in The Mythical Man-Month. So for hiring assistants, as well as the rest of the team (a) don't do it if you can avoid it, (b) pay people with equity rather than salary, not just to save money, but because you want the kind of people who are committed enough to prefer that, and (c) outside of assistant, only hire people who are either going to make the film (crew) or go out and get viewers (sell), because those are the only things you need at first. What if I hire bad people? That’s a double edged sword as most people don’t know what to look for in good workers and most good workers don’t want to work for someone else's vision. This is a skill to be honed so be slow to hire, but fast to fire.

TLDR: Hire a virtual assistant to handle email follow ups, festival outreach, marketing posts, schedule management, booking speaking engagements, doing research, and more

8. Antithesis: Adversity to Advantage

Every challenge holds within it a hidden opportunity. This concept, often referred to as the inverse relationship principle, originates from the startup ecosystem. Consider this: companies with less funding frequently outperform their deep-pocketed counterparts (think Nike & Alibaba). Investors find themselves perplexed. Shouldn't more capital equate to greater success? Surprisingly, it's quite the opposite. Scarcity breeds ingenuity. Limited resources force every expenditure to be meticulously scrutinized, spurring founders to innovate rather than emulate their financially superior rivals. It fosters a mindset of first principles thinking. Conversely, an excess of funds breeds complacency, fostering a false sense of security. The saying goes that when start-ups get large rounds of funding they move to the suburbs and have kids. In other words, they lose their edge.

Similar dynamics apply to other constraints faced by underdog companies. Have no press? Fantastic! You're a blank canvas, unencumbered by past missteps or expectations, poised to chart your own course. Lack connections? Even better! You have the freedom to set trends rather than follow them, don’t owe anyone favors, and have ample time to hone your skills. Rushing in prematurely, without adequate preparation, only leads to obscurity. But don’t believe knowledge is the end all be all. Let us heed the wisdom of Orson Welles who said "The greatest thing I can bring to film - is ignorance”

Ask yourself - have individuals of lesser intellect or facing graver circumstances than myself conquered the odds? Almost invariably, yes. Playing it safe doesn't propel progress; it merely stagnates it. It's the daring souls who defy convention that rewrite the script of possibility. History reverberates with the echoes of the audacious, those who dared to dream the impossible into existence. Life hinges on the shoulders of the unyielding, the ones deemed unreasonable by societal standards. So, embrace the irrational, for therein lies the path to greatness.

9. Big & Historic Attracts Investors

People like to be a part of history and it’s easier, or of similar work, as lesser goals which go uncontested as no one bothers to show up as they overestimate the competition. Author Tim Ferriss found this out when he offered a round-trip ticket anywhere in the world to his Graduate class at Princeton. In order to know what the challenge was they were to stay after class if interested. As he told the roughly 60 students who stayed after, the trip would be rewarded to whomever could get in contact (phone, email, letter, carrier pigeon, whatever) with the most impressive person (politicians, celebrities, athletes, etc.). The deadline was next week and the students who remained signed up for the challenge. With a class of roughly 60 of the smartest minds that academia can produce one could expect some impressive results - right? Wrong. Of the 60 students, NOT A SINGLE ONE even submitted! They all complained of either no connections, not enough time, or a litany of other excuses.

Depressed, Tim offered the same challenge to an undergraduate class later that year, but with one caveat - he informed them of the prior class's failure to submit even one submission to the challenge. By his own rules, if someone would have sent him an email conversation with their dog he would have been forced to award the trip to them. This second class, in the same amount of time, produced correspondences ranging from Jay-Z to President George H.W Bush. Now, was the second class smarter or better connected? No, arguably they were lesser in both ways but they had one key advantage - a trigger finger.

DON’T OVERESTIMATE THE COMPETITION! Especially for big goals which most people are too busy, dumb, lazy, fearful, or weak willed to even contemplate let alone attempt. Understand the urgency of the situation. Half-measures simply won’t do. This leads back to the original point of people wanting to work on large projects. No one wants to help you raise $1,000 dollars for your hamsters bar mitzvah, but you can raise millions of dollars fairly quickly for a mission to put a tree on Mars, which is what Elon Musk did to help fund Space-X in the early days - even before ever having a prototype. Big goals inspire and you aren’t serving the world by playing small anyways. People like to be a part of history, so to gather investors - make history. Doesn’t have to be hard (see unguarded niche section) but it’s important to have a large inspiring goal to lean on when the inevitable set back occurs.

Let’s use a flat tire example. Say you are taking an expenses paid trip to Paris. You wake up and go out to your car and you see it has a flat tire. Let’s use this same scenario, but instead of Paris you are going to your nephews soccer tournament which you promised your sister you’d attend. In both scenarios you have a flat tire, but in one instance that might be enough to just stay home for the day and for the other it is but a minor inconvenience on an otherwise glorious day. Perspective drives performance so thinking big isn’t some buzz-feed tactic, it’s mandatory to draw in others, as well as yourself. This is also a key mistake that front-runners make, they don’t take risks in order to preserve their lead and thus slowly fall into decay. If you can get the lead dog to punch down, that validates your position and raises you up.

It’s important to focus on big-picture and not get married in detail. Details will change but the vision will remain. Reagan was a big picture thinker in politics, as was FDR & Obama. They never gave details, just a vision. Similarly Woodrow Wilson was the originator of this in modern terms and we still follow he foreign policy 100 years later. However, this does lead to a quick side tangent on Investor Management which is one of the major reasons companies fail. (You may skip over this section if Investor Management is of no interest to you)

Notes on Investor Relations:

Famed Investor Paul Graham advises startups to set outside standards low, initially: “spend practically nothing, and make your initial goal simply to build a solid prototype (read short film). This gives you maximum flexibility. Some key issues are going to be spending too much and raising too much money: When you raise a lot of money, your company moves to the suburbs and has kids. Perhaps more dangerously, once you take a lot of money it gets harder to change direction. He advises founders who go on to seek VC money to take the first reasonable deal they get. If you get an offer from a reputable firm at a reasonable valuation with no unusually onerous terms, just take it and get on with building the company. Who cares if you could get a 30% better deal elsewhere? Economically, startups are an all-or-nothing game. Bargain-hunting among investors is a waste of time.”

As a founder, you have to manage your investors. You shouldn't ignore them, because they may have useful insights. But neither should you let them run the company. That's supposed to be your job. If investors had sufficient vision to run the companies they fund, why didn't they start them? Pissing off investors by ignoring them is probably less dangerous than caving in to them. Err on the ignoring side. A lot of energy gets drained away in disputes with investors instead of going into the film. But this is less costly than giving in, which would probably destroy the company. If the founders know what they're doing, it's better to have half their attention focused on the product than the full attention of investors who don't. When you raise VC-scale money, the investors get a great deal of control. If they have a board majority, they're literally your bosses. In the more common case, where founders and investors are equally represented and the deciding vote is cast by neutral outside directors, all the investors have to do is convince the outside directors and they control the company. If things go well, this shouldn't matter. So long as you seem to be advancing rapidly, most investors will leave you alone. But things don't always go smoothly in startups. Investors have made trouble even for the most successful companies. One of the most famous examples is Apple, whose board fired Steve Jobs.

So, how do you get investors? Create a pitch deck & use an anchor tenant. An anchor tenant is a person who draws in others. You’ll usually have to buy them. This can be done as simply as saying to them or their representation “I’d like to donate $10k in your name to XYZ”. It’s a win-win. They get to donate to a good cause and you get a prestige name attached to your project. View super-connector & swag bomb sections for further examples.

The failed startups you hear most about are the spectacular flameouts. Those are actually the elite of failures. The most common type is not the one that makes spectacular mistakes, but the one that doesn't do much of anything — the one we never even hear about, because it was some project a couple guys started on the side while working on their day jobs, but which never got anywhere and was gradually abandoned. Be willing to pivot and launch quickly. One reason to launch quickly is that it forces you to actually finish some quantum of work. Nothing is truly finished till it's released; you can see that from the rush of work that's always involved in releasing anything, no matter how finished you thought it was. The other reason you need to launch is that it's only by bouncing your idea off users that you fully understand it.

Several distinct problems manifest themselves as delays in launching: working too slowly; not truly understanding the problem; fear of having to deal with users; fear of being judged; working on too many different things; excessive perfectionism. Fortunately you can combat all of them by the simple expedient of forcing yourself to launch something fairly quickly. Launching too slowly has probably killed a hundred times more startups than launching too fast, but it is possible to launch too fast. The danger here is that you ruin your reputation. You launch something, the early adopters try it out, and if it's no good they may never come back. So ask, what's the minimum you need to launch?

Another key issue is running out of money: Startup funding is measured in time. Every startup that isn't profitable (meaning nearly all of them, initially) has a certain amount of time left before the money runs out and they have to stop. This is sometimes referred to as runway, as in "How much runway do you have left?" It's a good metaphor because it reminds you that when the money runs out you're going to be airborne or dead. Too little money means not enough to get airborne. What airborne means depends on the situation. Usually you have to advance to a visibly higher level: if all you have is an idea, a working prototype; if you have a prototype, launching; if you're launched, significant growth. It depends on investors, because until you're profitable that's who you have to convince. So, we need a prototype (i.e short film)

10. Convenience is King

There’s another cost that creators tend to miss: How much does it cost for people to find your work? To read the reviews or read an article about it? How much time does it cost to download, wait for it to arrive, or set up? How long does it take to actually watch the move? These costs—discovery and transaction costs—exist even when your work is free! Think of the free concerts you haven’t attended, the samples you didn’t bother to walk over and try, the products you didn’t buy even though they were 100 percent risk-free, love it or get your money back, no money down. When you think about it this way, it’s really amazing that people buy or try anything at all. So, we need to make the entire process as easy & seamless as possible. The more you reduce the friction of purchasing, the more people will likely try your product (i.e Amazon one click ordering). This means price, distribution, and other variables are essential marketing decisions to be serviced. Ease of access is also ease of payment (i.e accept all payment types). Take the famed grocery store experiment where they wrapped $20 bills on the bottles of pop at the bottom of the shelf. The result? They still undersold the middle of the rack sodas as simply put - no one looks down there. Eye level is buy level. Run your business in a way that’s convenient for customers. Confidence, quality, and convenience are the core of any business.

TLDR: Eye level is buy level so it is paramount our films appear on the home or main screen of streamers.

11. #1 Metric: Profits

THE cornerstone metric? Profit. Keep your eyes fixed squarely on the bottom line. Sales are easy, anybody can do those. The skilled turn a profit. Deals will incessantly flutter around you, demanding attention. It's imperative to discern your core metric amidst the whirlwind. Let's delve into a literary example: consider a book priced at $20, where the author pockets a mere $2-3. Now, ponder this scenario: with a $50,000 advance, a $20 cover price, and a 10% royalty, they’re now tasked with moving 25,000 copies to surpass the advance ("earning out"). Achieving profitability hinges on efficiency and savvy, not mere temporal investment. The startup's financial compass should unfailingly point towards a singular aim: maximizing profit swiftly and effortlessly. It's not about amassing more customers, revenue, office spaces, or staff; it's about optimizing profitability. Thus, in deal-making, let profit be your North Star. Profits, not brand awareness, visibility, likes, followers, or other fools metrics. Results: Money. Don’t spend (waste) a lot of money on image, brand, and presence. Try putting views or likes on a bank deposit slip. It’s important to note that in 2017 Facebook caught misreporting viewership on ads so always just use profit as key focus.

TLDR: Don’t focus on reviews, customers, sales, revenue, etc. - focus on profit

12. Perception Drives Performance

Success is often a matter of perception. We must be perceived as professional and high status in all BA Production endeavors. Success hinges greatly on perception. Let's keep it simple: would you invest in a lackluster movie? With a staggering 17,000 movies hitting the screens annually, professionalism becomes the minimum required for entry. Professionalism isn't just a suggestion; it's the baseline. Every aspect, from cover art to trailers, scenes to posters, must exude an aura of prestige, encapsulating the essence of our narrative feature. Crafting a compelling movie description is paramount, offering viewers a glimpse into what awaits. Quality is so important that it is the ticket to admission to even be in the game. A high quality success frame is key throughout business and personal relationships. Rock Stars have groupies because they’re stars, not because they’re good looking.

ROGER STONE RULES:

This also goes into fashion. Life is a performance so always be in costume when representing BA Productions. This tedious work is necessary as the face of the brand. Is this vital for our assistant editor? Not necessarily, but for the CEO & CFO it is mandatory. Different roles require different responsibilities. Key to great dressing is to think carefully about it but make it look effortless and natural. Think carefully through what you’ll wear on TV. Dress like a preppy even if you aren’t one. Dress british. Savile row tailoring comes from the military tradition of full chest and tapered waist which fits business meeting & legal conferences. Italian tailoring is softer & slouchier, ideal for nights out. Know your shit. In meetings where you are well dressed, use a cigar. It gives you time to think. It also helps in the “he who speaks first loses'' notion. Only when you feel great can you crush those who oppose you on the battlefield. White shirt + Tan face = Confidence. JFK would tan for 30 minutes before debates. You think you're above JFK? Looking good inspires confidence and people buy you before they buy the product.

Internally dress yourself the same way. Understand you are the man, right now. Act like it. If that means doing drugs & drinking all night - then do it. If it means waking up at 4a.m to do a marketing meeting. Do it. You must show graceful, easy carelessness throughout. Never reveal calculation or effort. Nonchalance is the goal. Think Big. Be Big. That was the Trump slogan from the 80’s. Sinatra said “The big lesson in life, baby, is never be scared of anyone or anything”.

13. Inverse Monetary Theory

You don’t have to make your money back the same way you lost it. It’s a common principle in the investing world to avoid dumping your money in a dying industry or brand. This thinking helps for diversification of assets and limiting downside - what I’m proposing is that the inverse is also true. You don’t have to earn all your money from the way you make it. Let me explain.

Say you publish a book and now you are in the public light going around promoting your work. Most people will focus on making as much money as possible on the sales of that book, but what if you did the opposite? What if you sold the book for a discount to increase the amount purchased. For the sake of example, let’s say you drop the price from $10 to $5. What would this do? For the book, although profits would go down, the total sum of people who read it would go up and your name recognition would increase. With increased recognition, you begin to be invited to events to be a guest speaker. You are already well tuned to speak on the topics of your book and are prepared having gone through an entire book tour so you accept the offers. Person A who sold his book at $10 bucks may have sold 1,000 copies netting him a nice $10,000 (not to mention fees he’d have to pay to managers & publishers). We’ll say person B sold 40% less books which netted him $6000 bucks. Here, Person A is done and onto other pastures to go through the whole brutal process again. Person B is just getting started.

Now at the conference, Person B will be paid a speaking fee and sales of his book will invariably go up as well. Say he gets $500 for speaking and sells 100 books. Now he is at $7000 net. From here he gets signed to do a few more speaking engagements at a price of $500 for each. He thinks to himself, since he’ll be at these events anyways, he should make some shirts for his fans. At the end of these other speaking arrangements he hones his craft and gets 10% better each time, but now he has additional sources of revenue - speaking & merchandising on top of book sales. He makes $1000 at each subsequent event. In total, he now has $11,000 dollars. He also has a growing fan base by collaborating at different events, a merchandising funnel, the emails of those who purchased a shirt from him for permission marketing, and a larger fan-base than person A does. Person B is just getting started. He has multiple ways of making money, equally diversified so no one can tank him. It also allows him to have more control over his next project. He can even branch into podcasting, films, whatever he pleases as his money isn’t tied to one industry. He has leverage, room to grow & expand. Person B is free in all the ways Person A isn’t. Person B is in the driver seat, Person A is in the backseat.

14: Business Outlook

Why

Let’s start with a story. One day a man was walking down a street and came across three guys making bricks. He asked the first guy “What are you doing?”

The first guy responded “Making bricks”

He asked the second guy what he was doing, who responded “Making bricks for a wall”

And he asked the 3rd guy, who said “I’m making bricks to build the wall of a glorious cathedral that will be used for the worship of god”

Of those 3 guys, who has the greater alignment of purpose? Yes, all of them are making bricks but the third guy understands why he is making bricks and the significance of it.

Why give purpose and alignment to the team. People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. This also allows for the company to diversify without being limited to typical mission statements about targets, goals, and objectives. Starting with Why gives flexibility key to startups. This is also the key in hiring. Hire those who believe in what you believe, not just hire people who need a job. Those who just need a job will only work for the money, not in what you believe.

How (3-Year Vision)

3-years is the magic number. It gives you time to accomplish something big, which may require trial and error, and it gives you time to go down rabbit holes even if they don’t work out. The reality is that 10-years away is too foggy to visualize which gives a built in excuse to ignore it becoming at best a day dream and 1-month is too short to make any seismic changes or see the results of your work. Plus, new technology will come into play so it’s imperative we have time for innovation. Think about the difference from 2006-2016. Or from 2016 until now. 3-years also gives marketing time to do its job. Like a pool slowly filling with water.

3-years may seem far away but by backwards engineering it actually allows for the perfect amount of time for the realization of a project to come into fruition if the focus is on quarterly goals, year 2 objectives, and the overarching 3-year vision. Don’t get bogged down in minutiae, focus on the outcome, not the action. Actions may change, but the outcome will stay the same.

It’s important to have a clear vision as people can’t read your mind. Imagine you want to build a house and you tell the contractor you want 6,000 square feet with a deck in the back. How could anyone build a house from that description? It’s so vague it’s useless. A good vision allows for others to take control of the wheel for a bit in times of hardship. Say a family is on a road trip from New York to LA. They can take turns driving because everyone knows where they are heading. Same for business.

This also promotes stability as well as fosters a relationship with customers who feel excited and secure in purchasing based on reassurance that we thought through the products on a long term horizon with plans for improvement and are not a fly by night operation. Customers make decisions based on what company is going to look like in the future. It’s our job to share that information with them. Same with other businesses. Simply having a 3-year plan can increase the market capitalization of a 4-million dollar company to a 10-million dollar company just by having a clear future target, timeline, and experience which will help in the acquiring of a bank loan if needed or with vendors who may give better pricing terms as they start to see us as a larger company based on those valuations.

Furthermore, it helps the media understand more accurately what we do which will inspire the people bored of the same old stories. They can come along for the journey. Media is a necessary watchdog of society filtering out truth from fiction (for the most part) so it’s important they buy into us (News, magazines, newspaper, etc.). The more you convince the media, the more you convince the public who see the collaboration as a form of social proof and validation of your abilities. The media, eager to share the next big thing, will create a self fulfilling prophecy for your vision. It also allows us to control the narrative as in the absence of facts, people make up their own. Once the media disseminates our vision, marketing can leverage that by posting on X or FB links to our interviews with local news stations or articles. On a smaller scale it allows our team to attack projects on our timeline, not burden by the responsibility of an encroaching deadline and to take advantage of new opportunities in alignment with our goals.

What (Goal Setting)

Start with the desired results, then find others who have done it, create a blueprint, and work it. Adjust based on feedback which is garnered by weekly measurements. This means goals must be measurable, an often overlooked but critical point. How do you know if you got there if you don’t even know where the fuck there is? Cross off in green highlighter completed goals and highlight in yellow ones being worked on. Maintain a 3-6 month focus in alignment with 3-years vision. Always have the next 5-steps plotted out, as in chess.

Here's a simple rule: If you're not willing to bet $1000 on your success within 6 - 12 months, then either your goal is quixotic or you don't know enough about the field yet. In both cases, you're not ready for the project. A blind adherence to the flawed idea that getting started is the most important step is best left to cheesy motivational speakers — winners make plays with confidence.

15: Testing

Split test, judge one variable at a time. No opinion- not even yours. Results only. If you can’t clearly track money in the bank from something, stop doing it. Be committed to results. Failures arise from confusion, mixed agendas, and loss of focus on what produces results. Beware of the marketing world invaded by 20-30 year olds pushing clients to untold sums for online resources to social media they claim defies measurement from the old standards. They speak an invented language, new media gibberish, that confuses and intimidates their senior bosses. This mysticism is not new, it's as old as the ouija board. Old as wizards enriched by kings. It is a rerun. To avoid this, always test! Test the ad copy, the trailers, the poster, the name, everything! Fucking test everything!

16: Guerilla Marketing

“It’s not me, it’s you” - that would be a terribly great way to break up with someone but is also the key to guerilla marketing which is not me marketing, it’s you marketing. This means regular follow ups and getting people to visualize life after purchasing your product as being even better. Talk about how they will feel. People buy benefits, not features. Present a clear offer, an element of urgency, tell them exactly what to do, and plan the sale when you plan the ad. Your competition is not other movies, but any other person or thing advertising. So you must be creative, and creativity comes from knowledge. A writer just explains ordinary things in an extraordinary way.

Some lesser notes are that if you are giving ad reading to a professional (Podcaster) just give them outline of benefits and let them riff as it’s more natural. Print the most important sentence in a different color to stand out and restate the main offer. Sales copy needs an exciting benefit and call to action. Does someone want a 30-min sales presentation? NO. Do they want a free 30-min in home consultation? Sure. It’s the same damn thing. Remember to get referrals after sale as that moment immediately after purchase is the moment of highest satisfaction. Give them the sales copy and ask for a couple recommendations as that’s how you keep costs down. However, the only expensive marketing is one that doesn’t work. Cost has nothing to do with it. Although marketing means nothing if the work is of no quality.

17: Direct Marketing

Presentation of a very specific too-good to refuse offer. That's the main difference, not asking them to go to the page and like, asking them to go to the page to buy. Fire the wimps. Incorporate a direct offer each and every time you put out a message, of any kinds, by any means. Send thanksgiving, christmas, new year greeting cards to all customers, past & present, and include some form of offer in it (i.e gift with purchase, gift for referral, etc.) include it in a separate gift card to preserve some separation between the thank you and gift. Not a fan of discounting (buy one, get next free) as it lowers value. Gift with purchase better. Discounting trains them to only respond when a great deal is offered. It also limits it to only those available to purchase now, eliminating those who are able to purchase in the near future. It also allows them to comparison shop based on price. If they are interested, say you can send a dvd and brochure kit. (Just include email). Low threshold resistance. A key is low threshold offer which is sending free information to them to be accessed online. (Other examples are books, free reports, DVD’s). Mattress store doesn’t advertise itself, its mattresses or some sale of the century. It advertises its free guidebook. Karate school doesn’t advertise itself, its lessons, or a free lesson, it advertises a free report by its owners: The parent's guide to cyber bullying & bullying. “Will be sent by email. No cost. No obligation.” There will always be offer or offers. Offers are in the form of a hybrid where you offer a high barrier or medium barrier to entry offer like a $59 consultation of a free gift with purchase. So sometimes do all three but test.

Must be a reason to respond now. “Limited supply, countdown clock”. Can even use early-bird discounts and extended pay tied to a deadline if you can’t actually limit stock. Also use bonuses, entries into prize drawings, backstage-pass opportunities, preferred seating, closed-door limited table luncheons,. Door buster sales like starting at “7a.m.”. Bring movies out of the vault just until Halloween - then goes back in the vault and can’t be had” (Live timed auctions) Only 47 of whatever product will be sold at this price, in this color, with this bonus, etc. Most powerful is only having one available (Maybe run an auction?). Again, the notion of a high priced item to draw attention appears. Rent a local athlete for a bar and craft an afternoon of activities around their presence. Meet and greet photos, autographed footballs, jerseys, photos, etc. Watch the game with them is the private offer for 12 lucky people. A plane offer won’t move these lazy fucks out of there seats.

Give clear instructions. Confused customers do nothing. People rarely buy anything of consequence without being asked. “No postage stamp needed. We’ve paid the postage. Just drop in the mail”. Do not presume knowledge by the customer. Switch button form saying buy now to “click this button to buy now”. Include a “what to expect at your first appointment” email. Take great care in the ordering of a form for completeness and clarity.

Everything ad wise must be tracked and measured for accountability. Permit no freeloader or slackers. This is because management by objective is the only type of management that works. Vagueness must be vanished. Do not shrug this off as too complicated. Think. Set up systems to capture the data you need and set aside time for analysis. If it’s difficult in the beginning the fog will clear, the difficulty will abate. Grow business without growing marketing. Key thing to track is offers & which media

No money to be spent on “Brand Building”. Not against it, but most startups don’t have the patient capital and luxury of time needed to brand build. Prove you have something to sell, prove you can craft a message that people will respond to. Healthy device, not just a kitchen appliance (used often). Must follow up! Each point of contact costs something. When doing it for recommendation, send them shit with the label mentioning Betty’s recommendation. Follow up on newly acquired customers. They need to become frequent and habitual repeat purchasers or ascend to higher levels of membership. Or move from the first transaction to a committed relationship. That means they need to be quickly thanked, welcomed, and brought back, moved up, or otherwise committed. Indifference to customers leads to easy seduction elsewhere. There is a schedule where they should come back (Diner every morning, Car dealer every three years, clothing store once before each season). Here is pacing for follow up: Re-state, Resell, and extend same offer > Stern or humor 2nd notice tied to onrushing deadline. > Final notice > Change Offer. Can be done via email or elsewhere.

Yelling isn’t selling (curbside sign swingers). Sales and subtly rarely go hand in hand. In this environment the ordinary and normal are ignored. The cautious and calm message goes unnoticed. Most great sales copy is written backwards from the customer's interests, desire, frustrations, fears, thoughts, feelings, and experiences, journeying to a revealing solution or fulfillment tied to your business. Customer focused position. Don’t make your copy about the company, service, feature, comparative superiority, price, or guarantee. Each line (sentence) represents a complete idea. Don’t write professionally, but rather emotionally, with enthusiasm, and conversationally. Don’t be timid or bland in advertising (hit ball farther - than you ever had in your life) Remember to have copy direct them exactly to what to do. Don’t market yourself as timid, ordinary and uninteresting.

Ignore all advertising which isn’t mail order. Create swipe files of examples well done. What business you're in (deliverables) then realize you're actually in the marketing business…then realize you're actually in the money business. No opinion counts - not even yours. Only results. Split test to test positioning. Test one variable at a time. Only ballots counted are checks cashed. Will to win. Not try to not fail - win. Thick skinned toward criticism, tough minded about money invested, extremely disciplined in thought and action, and adherent to a winning game plan. Be alert to hazards and scams that lead you astray. Slogan “Bargain to those who can afford it, and out of price for most.” Results triangle: Message, Market, Media. Most marketing product centric not customer centric. Who are you marketing too and where can they be found? Know your prime market, don’t care about offending the others. Information first marketing. Match bait to critter. Website not a fancy show off my kids, golf trophy, and here's my product and how great it is. Needs to be and act now page. Design an automated sequential follow-up. Buy one get one great offer.

18: Growth Hacking

Instead of bludgeoning the public with ads, use scalpel on the target audience - work backwards from the customer. Hit NYT for your scene. Clever stunt that puts you on the radar of taste makers who care. Use a demo video for a waitlist sign up and do a solid start that builds over time, not a huge opening weekend. When posting to niches, reference jokes from that community. Who are our early adopters and where can we find them? Start with no budget, if starting with budget and strategy isn’t one of growth on a dangerous treadmill you can’t get off. No TV ad or celeb endorsement, try to get that for free. Marketing is not worthless, just not worth the premium most people pay for it. Brand building in the first year or two is a total waste of time.

Have you made it easy for them to share it? Anything shared cannot be seen as a favor. Built for sharing, sample at scale, viewers stake in distribution. Keep them here! Retention is easier than acquisition. 10% Increase in retention leads to 30% increase in revenue.

To help with this, write FAQ for products before release to identify issues. Use CrazyEgg heat maps on your site or Survey Monkey or Wufoo. However, matrics are relative to what you’re trying to accomplish. Vanity metrics are easy metrics. Disney doesn’t measure itself by daily visitors that’d lead them astray. Use other networks to your advantage (Airbnb & PayPal did with Craigslist)

19: OPM

The breakdown of OPM stands for other-people's-money. A crass concept that is used mainly to locate strategic partnerships for win-win situations. This is very similar to fusion marketing. Some examples include trading 400 copies of a film in return for a full page ad, co-oping ad money from studios for movie releases, and inserting coupons for free dvd’s inside of Sony sold electronic devices. For film, you can even utilize dvd manufacturers & retailers to use their marketing muscle. As long as there is some incentive in it for them, OPM is an amazing opportunity for bartering.

20: PIVOT

You do not have to make your money the way you spent it. This is a subtly key point. For example, if you spent your money making a movie, you’d expect to make your money back on said movie sales, right? Wrong- in fact, the majority of your long term finances will come from authorship (blogs, books) which leads to (Speaking Engagments) which leads to increased sales in your merchandise which leads to further opportunities for jobs in adjacent niches (Commercials for example). All of these together will be more than the money you make on film. Take a page out of George Lucas book, he didn’t want control of movie - he wanted control of merchandising (Which actually helps movie gain notoriety).

Cory Beardsley