The Growth Vault

Justin's mention of Anaphora was a great example of the Frequency Bias: When you learn about something obscure, then immediately start seeing it everywhere, falsely thinking it's becoming more common.

I didn't hear about this phenomenon until I started researching my own post about literary devices, then BAM! There it was the next morning. Figured it would be a nice segue.

Here are five more literary devices you can use to make your writing more engaging.

For each, we'll modify the phrase: "The founder is stressed."

#1. Tricolon

A series of 3 parallel words, phrases, or clauses to enhance rhythm and create emphasis.

"The founder is stressed, strained, stretched."

Tip: This is also another literary device “Asyndeton” that leaves out conjunctions (and/or).

#2. Paradox

A statement that contradicts itself but still seems true.

"The founder is a calm storm."

The above can be interpreted as the founder being stressed (storm) yet maintaining composure (calm)—saying a lot in few words.

#3 Catachresis (don't ask me to pronounce this one)

Purposefully using a word incorrectly, for effect. 

"The founder drinks from the well of stress."

Works well to invoke a mental image.

#4 Paraprosdokian (nor this one)

The latter part causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part.

"The founder is stressed—an understatement equivalent to calling the ocean a puddle."

Done right this can be fun and playful.

#5. Pleonasm

Use of more words than necessary to convey meaning and emphasis.

"The founder is stressed, full of stress, a picture of stress."

This is also a tricolon as it repeats the idea 3 times, and asyndeton as it lacks conjunctions.

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For a few more, and prettier design, here's the carousel version.

Justin Welsh's one-person business is pacing toward $2M+ in revenue in 2023.

He's one of the most impressive copywriters and systems thinkers I've seen.

He shared one of his copywriting formulas recently that he calls "VFCA." He used it in the following tweet:

The VFCA framework is: 

V: Visceral Opener

“I escaped the rat race…”

To stand out in a world of infinite content, use strong language to elicit a strong response.

Instead of:

1. "I left my job" say "I escaped the rat race."
2. "Most companies could onboard employees better" say "Most companies suck at onboarding." (credit: Wes Kao)
3. "A lot of Twitter users think LinkedIn is lame" say "Twitter hates LinkedIn."

F: Fresh Perspective

"My secret sauce is not playing status games"

People browse social media seeking dopamine hits and novelty. Anything but the same old, same old. A fresh perspective provides that.

In Justin's case, he's hoping to make people feel relieved, hopeful, and emotionally invested in his decision not to play "status games."

C: Challenge

"I don't:..."

Justin challenges the conventional definition of success. His goal was to connect with like-minded people who reject the common narrative and build affinity with them. 

He highlights his own personal values while attracting his community by slinging mud at a shared enemy.

A: Anaphora

Repetition of "I don't want" and "I want"

Lastly, Justin uses a literary device called Anaphora—repetition of the beginning part of successive sentences—to emphasize his message and create a sense of progression. 

The message—"I want X" or "I don't want Y"—gets stronger with each repetition.

With mobile commerce sales hitting $387 billion in the US last year, nailing the mobile buying experience is key.

So make your product-page CTAs sticky.

That way, it's easier for shoppers to add to cart—no scrolling back and forth to find what they’re looking for.

The luxury brand Baume & Mercier saw clicks on its “Add to Cart” button rise by 78% after making this change.

Consider the difference between these product pages from Sephora and Missha:

Let’s look at Missha first. Once someone has scrolled down to learn more about Missha’s product, they have to scroll back up to find the “Add to Cart” button again and make a purchase.

Meanwhile, someone shopping on Sephora’s mobile site has constant access to the “Add to Basket” button. They even have the option to adjust the quantity they want.

Once someone has decided that they're ready to buy, let them take action immediately. Every bit of thought and effort could make them change their mind.

This tactic can 2x the likelihood that someone says "yes" to your requests.

And it's hilariously simple. At the end of your request, just add:‍

"...but you are free to accept or refuse."‍

Studies have shown that adding those words can significantly increase the chances of a "yes."

For instance, in one study, strangers were asked to give someone money for bus fare. They gave twice the amount when those words were part of the request. 

Why do they matter so much?

We hate being told what to do. In contrast, we like to feel understood, respected, and in control.

Paradoxically, acknowledging a person's right to choose is enough of a nudge to increase the likelihood that they do what you want them to do.

Brains are weird.

So give people choice by using either the above phrase or a less-formal variation of it. Some places you can do that: 

• "But it's totally up to you"
• "It's your choice"
• "Take it or leave it"

Ever realize you’ve been browsing Instagram or TikTok for over an hour?

Or find yourself checking them whenever you’re bored? (ie 50 times per day)

That’s because those companies have developed the perfect system to get you completely hooked.

They've nailed the Hook Model, a concept from Nir Eyal. It's a four-step process to get people to use a product habitually.

The four steps are: Trigger → Action → Variable Reward → Investment

SaaS products that benefit from frequent use stand to gain a lot from the Hooked model.

Just make sure to use it ethically :). These are the same tools that companies use to get people addicted to gambling. So use them for good to get them addicted to things that benefit their lives.

If you want to hear Nir Eyal speak more about it, check out our interview with him.

Don't you hate it when you hit a site and you're immediately asked for your email address just so you can access the content?

A lot of companies still think that gating all of their content is the only way to grow their list and get leads.

This is generally a terrible experience. You're being asked to give something up before getting any value. It makes users feel “disempowered and disrespected.”

So consider ungating your content. Visitors will be more likely to share it with their colleagues or on social media, and will have a much better opinion of you and your brand.

One case in point: After removing lead capture forms from its site, the agency Aha Media Group saw its page views jump up by 143%. Newsletter signups grew by 55%, and its social media follower growth by 45%.

(This will only become more true with AI and the proliferation of content.)

Some tips and considerations for ungating:

1. Try giving before asking. For example, we make our playbooks open to the public. But our playbook pages also include an optional subscribe form. Anyone who’s enjoyed our playbooks will be more inclined to give up their info to find out about future ones.We've also toyed with making the first half ungated and the back half gated.‍
2. Add "content upgrades." Ungate your content but include embedded forms that offer some complimentary piece of content you can only get via email. This can be email-based mini courses, templates, or ebooks.‍
3. Add a timed modal. If someone has been on your page for several minutes and has scrolled down a decent amount, you can assume they've probably been reading and are engaged. At that point, you can trigger a modal popup asking for them to subscribe. Even better if it's with a content upgrade.

Most cold emails are terrible.

Effective cold emails share these characteristics:

1. Concise. People will archive an email at the sight of a wall of text. Keep it to 80-120 words and 5-7 sentences. If you have a hard time editing to shorten it, use ChatGPT or Notion AI.‍
2. Targeted. After getting a cold email for a newsletter sponsorship tool, I signed up immediately. Why? Because it was the solution to the exact problem I was facing—and they knew I likely was because they did their research and saw we have sponsors. Do your research and make sure you're emailing the right people.‍
3. Personable. Be informal and open. Don't be stiff or formal.‍
4. Authentic. You can flatter recipients a little bit, but don’t claim to be “blown away by their work” if you haven’t read it. You should be able to back up everything you say.‍‍
5. Focused. Stick to only one goal. Is it a call? A referral? A demo? Define your goal before sending your email. This will inform your CTA.‍
6. Original. Stand the f*ck out. Avoid all the cliches like "I hope this email finds you well" or "quick question."‍
7. Clear. Don't include anything that your reader might not understand. Assume they don't know about your company unless you know they do. Don't include references that they might not get. Be crystal clear.

Do these 7 things and you'll drastically increase response rates.

To make it even easier, use ChatGPT or Notion AI for help with copywriting. Ask them to make your email shorter, more casual, and remove any jargon.

To increase response rates even more, make it a warm email. 

For his birthday, MrBeast got 12,491,044 new followers on Instagram in 72 hours.

Hell of a b-day gift if you ask me.

He didn't do it with Instagram Ads. Instead, he did a giveaway of $10,000 to 5 winners:

Around 20M people liked and commented. Meaning around 20M people added the post to their stories as well—which feels a lot more organic since it's normally where your friends just post photos/videos about their daily life. 

On top of that—you had to follow him to actually claim your prize. 

In short: $50,000 to acquire 12.5M new followers or $0.004 per follower. To contextualize that, Twitter recommends a target CPA of $2 per new follower for their Follower Ads.

(Note: The post was eventually taken down because you need to explicitly declare that the giveaway is not endorsed or run by Instagram itself. Keep that in mind!)

No matter how well you understand psychology, you're affected by it. Here are five psych principles to leverage in your marketing campaigns:

1. Halo Effect

What it is: The tendency to attribute positive qualities to someone (or a brand) based on a favorable first impression or single positive trait.

Example: Patagonia is known for its commitment to sustainability, ethical manufacturing, and corporate social responsibility. So consumers feel good about shopping there, since they believe they're supporting a brand that contributes to the greater good.

2. Primacy Effect

What it is: People are more likely to remember and give greater importance to information at the beginning of a sequence.

Example: When a salesperson starts their pitch with a product's most impressive benefits, that info is what's top of mind for customers.

3. Negativity Bias

What it is: The tendency to give more weight to negative experiences than positive ones, leading to pessimism and risk aversion.

Example: A cybersecurity firm talks about the horrors of being hacked in one ad, and the cozy feeling of security in another. According to the negativity bias, the first ad would leave a stronger impression.

4. Framing Effect

What it is: People's decisions and perceptions are influenced by the way information is presented to them.

Example: A subscription-based service highlights the cost per day instead of the monthly price, making it seem more affordable.

5. Priming Effect

What: Exposure to a stimulus influences a person's thoughts, feelings, or behaviors in response to a subsequent, related stimulus.

Example: A nonprofit uses emotionally charged language and images in their fundraising campaign, eliciting empathy and increasing the likelihood of donations.

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Like these? Check out seven more.

People seek groundedness—in their daily lives, and when they shop.

• Place: We like buying locally. Near our homes and communities.
• People: We like knowing who we’re buying from. And relating to those people.
• Past: We like things that connect us to the past, like traditional production methods.

A Journal of Marketing study that brought groundedness into the realm of marketing (rather than its typical domains, philosophy and psych) uncovered some notable findings in the process.

• People who are more affected by digitization, urbanization, and disruptive events seek groundedness more. Including:
• People who are on their computers a lot for work
• People who live in big cities
• People who felt more affected by the pandemic
• Groundedness increases willingness-to-pay. In one experiment, consumers were willing to pay a ~60% premium for a product that provided more groundedness.
• Our need for groundedness might increase during birthdays and holidays, and it might even be higher during colder seasons. More research is needed to validate those points, but if they’re true, they could mean it's worth adjusting seasonal campaigns to focus more on the who and the where, not the what.

Takeaway:

In your messaging, consider ways to build connections to place, people, and the past. Particularly if your customers work from home or in big cities.  

That might mean emphasizing your product’s local origin, going with a more traditional design, finding local distribution channels, talking about who your founders are and what they value, or even having your team focus on building their personal brands.

One of my favorite UX and marketing philosophies: "Don't make me think." 

When you vividly describe your product and the value it brings, you're helping people to imagine it and realize how it benefits them. You're doing the thinking for them.

Visuals make that value even more obvious. Especially if you use those visuals to compare and contrast.

For hims, the contrast of a balding head and a full head of hair paints a clearer picture than just a man with a full head of hair. You need to know the alternative. The before/after, or the "with vs. without."

For Ridge, that visual is a lot more powerful than saying, "Our wallets are 70% thinner." Because you see what "us vs. them" looks like, the comparison leaves an impact.

Make your product's value obvious by showing what life is like without it.

Instead of having an influencer come up with an entirely new concept for your brand, ask them to recreate one of their best hits.

But make just one tweak: feature your product.

Example:

• Here’s an original viral video from Michael Incognito, which first appeared on TikTok.
• And here’s the version posted on Reformation’s Instagram, featuring Michael in the brand’s clothing.

There's no script, no testimonial, not even a brand mention. But the recreated content went viral just like the original—except this time, on a brand account.

This is a clever way to partner with influencers to get more impressions and engagement in a fairly risk-free fashion. Viral hits often stay as viral hits.

Look for high-performing content that shows products like yours, even if the product itself isn’t the main focus. For example, a furniture brand could recreate a creator speaking to the camera in one of their showrooms, rather than the creator's studio.

Author James Clear was an early adopter of some interesting content marketing techniques—such as click-to-tweet for nearly every part of his newsletter.

Recently, he turned an entire article into a chain of Instagram Stories.

The Stories ended with two links: one to the complete article on his site, the other to his newsletter signup page. See the last two slides below:

Now remember, most people on Instagram are looking for dopamine hits of cats being silly.

So many will not be bothered to read each image—which means that the folks who do click through and subscribe are genuinely interested.

James uses the same strategy as a featured Stories highlight on his profile, where he shares the first chapter of his book Atomic Habits for free. It’s a simple showcase of his work for anyone new to his writing.

Execution here is pretty easy. Use Canva or any other basic image editor to break up an article into separate images. This is worth trying if your product is content and you’re building (or already have) an audience on Instagram.

Here’s a quick tactic for you. It’ll take about as long to implement as it will to read. 

Ever find yourself mesmerized by a GIF or Instagram Reel, only to realize you've watched it like 10 times in a row?

Well, that's actually a solid way to ensure an algo boost on social platforms.

If you make your video loop seamlessly (and keep it interesting and engaging throughout), you'll have a chance of hitting a retention rate over 100%. That signals to platforms that it was a really good video and increases the chance of it going viral.

How not to do it: Send out recorded webinars and events to attendees and registrants.

How to do it: Repurpose, repurpose, repurpose. 

A few ideas for how to repurpose webinar and event recordings:

1. Transcribe interviews and post them on your blog. You could publish the transcript itself or a narrative write-up featuring transcript snippets.
2. Karbon publishes its podcast transcripts as well as blog posts summarizing each episode’s takeaways.
3. Create short sound bites for social media.
4. MarketMuse shares short clips from its video interviews on Twitter.
5. Consolidate insights into a shorter video.
6. Besides offering full replays on Wistia, MarketMuse creates highlight reels summarizing its video interviews. It includes these shorter videos in its blog.
7. Turn lessons and quotes from the event into a LinkedIn carousel.
8. If you have a podcast, turn the event into an episode.
9. Shaan Puri turned his session on our Growth Summit into an episode for his own podcast, My First Million.

Your brand doesn’t have to be the event host to take advantage of video content.

If someone on your team speaks on another company’s webinar or podcast, it's fair game for you to use—as you can see with our Growth Summit example above. The host will love it if you share it (assuming you credit them).

Emotions drive decisions—including the decision to buy.

But consumers still have to understand what it is they’re buying first.

Which is why Arielle Jackson—who’s helped hundreds of startup brands—recommends that early-stage startups emphasize practical benefits over emotional ones in their value props. Especially if they’re introducing a new category.

Don’t aim for the next Nike's “Just Do It” or Apple's “Think Different” yet. Everyone already knew what they sold before they did that.

First, make sure consumers understand what you do.

Here’s an example Arielle shared:

“Peloton’s early headline literally said, ‘Join studio cycling classes from the comfort of your home.’ That was the functional benefit they needed to reinforce before they could stay stuff like, ‘Together, we go far.’” 

So ask:

• What are the functional benefits your product/company provides?
• What are the emotional benefits?
• What’s in between?

Focus more on the functional if you’re early-stage.

That doesn’t mean you have to neglect emotions in the process. You can convey what you do and still inspire.

Here’s an example from ahrefs:

From the first two sections you know exactly what they do: software for SEO. And they inspire people with the dream of more traffic (and therefore more sales).

Last week we shared a tactic about having a brand enemy. A reader (Tim Herbig) reached out to tell us Louis Grenier highlighted an evolution of the same idea.

Don't just fight a brand enemy, fight one of society's monsters.

Because it's clearly a better way to look at it, I thought I'd share that here.

In "Eating The Big Fish," Adam Morgan says:

• Instead of Hinge's "enemy" being Tinder, the monster is endlessly using a dating app instead of actually finding love. Which is why their motto is "Designed to be deleted."
• And for Chipotle, instead of Taco Bell as the enemy, the monster they're fighting is the decline in society's health due to the proliferation of unhealthy food options.
• Or for Liquid Death, instead of the enemy being Dasani or Fiji, the monster is plastic water bottles that end up in landfills because they don't recycle nearly as easily.

Instead of focusing on how you're different from a specific competitor, think about the troubles in society caused by your competitors, and position your brand as the solution.

As Louis said: "Enemies come and go; monsters tend to be more lasting."

PS: If you ever have comments or suggestions about our insights, please respond to the newsletter at any time. We read and appreciate every reply.

In nearly all aspects of life, communication is the most important skill. And writing is the most efficient and effective method of communication—particularly for driving sales.

Here are 10 writing tips to improve your conversion rates:

#1. Make it about them

Don't just talk about your product's features. Instead, talk about what’s in it for your audience.

"Get paid back by friends instantly. No fees."

#2. Make it relatable

Shortcut comprehension—relate your product to something that they already understand.

"Send money like you send texts." 

#3. Cut the fluff

Remove words that don’t add value. Hook their interest as succinctly as possible. 

"Miss the bus? Grab a Lyft." 

#4. Use simple words

Don’t use a $10 word when a $0.05 word will do. Don’t use industry jargon either.

"Get more done in less time."

#5. Be specific

Don't make them do the work. Spell it out for them and make it easy to picture.

"Relax with plush bedding, a spa-like bathroom, and stunning city view."

#6. Use active voice

Active voice results in shorter, sharper sentences. Making it easier to follow and finish. 

"Your client will adore your accurate edits."

#7. Tell a story

Stories are relatable, interesting, and real. Don't make them do the work. Illustrate.

"Little Johnny was failing math. After working with our tutors, he's graduating with honors."

#8. Make it punchy

Steal concepts from poetry. Use literary devices. Chop up sentences. Add rhyme and rhythm.

"One scoop. Once a day. Every day."

#9. Handle objections

Identify the most common objections that come to people's mind and proactively handle them.

"Build a custom website in 20 minutes. Without code."

#10. Be bold

No one identifies with wishy-washy statements. Take strong stances to find your tribe.

"Most companies suck at onboarding."

Implement these in your writing and you'll increase both comprehension and sales.

ChatGPT has proven itself to be amazing at both research and overcoming blank-page syndrome. It's an amazing tool to jumpstart copywriting.

Emphasis on jumpstart. ChatGPT can struggle to come up with completely novel ideas (and can be a bit cringe unless you put in a bunch of work). That’s because ChatGPT was trained on a giant dataset of existing (not necessarily good) content like articles, books, and sites.

That means it can synthesize ideas really well—but it's not the best at imagining (yet). 

So another way to leverage ChatGPT is by using it to identify unoriginal ideas.

Brand strategist Tom Roach tested this out by feeding ChatGPT a variety of prompts asking for unique positioning statements and slogans—all to no avail. 

But by generating those answers, generic ideas became clearer. Tom and his team could eliminate obvious cliches and focus instead on their truly creative ideas. 

Use ChatGPT to cull the herd by identifying and filtering out unoriginal ideas. 

Having trouble positioning your brand in a crowded market?

Here's a tip: Find yourself an enemy.

Basecamp did this for its project management tool. They identified Microsoft Project as its arch nemesis which led to their focus on collaboration—something Microsoft didn’t do well.

Having a brand enemy is more than just identifying a competitor. It's about finding the very antithesis of your company so you can:

• Sharpen your brand’s messaging and positioning,
• Which will help your audience understand your main differentiators.

By positioning your brand in direct contrast to another, your key value props become much more memorable. And you instantly align yourself with their detractors.

A few examples of companies with clear enemies:

• Hinge: Tinder. Hinge’s founder revamped its branding after being put in the same category as "casual" Tinder. Look at Hinge’s tagline: “Designed to be deleted.”
• Chipotle: Taco Bell. Chipotle emphasizes quality over cost with its “food with integrity” message—the total opposite of Taco Bell’s fat- and sodium-heavy menu. This also comes across stylistically in its clean and minimal aesthetic.
• Liquid Death: Dasani, Ozarka, and just about every other mainstream plastic bottled water brand. Liquid Death nails all of these enemies with its “Death to plastic” motto and recyclable aluminum cans.

A tiny mistake cost $100,000 in lost ticket sales.

Two-time Tony Award-winning Ken Davenport was releasing a new play.

As he entered the prices for the seat tickets on Telecharge, he forgot a zero. instead of $169.50 per ticket, he typed in $16.95. (Less than a movie ticket these days.)

The mispriced tickets went on sale, and it took over four hours to find and fix the mistake. Hundreds of tickets sold for over $150 less per ticket.

“We will, of course, honor any tickets purchased at the lower price,” he announced.

However, this was no mistake. It was a clever tactic.

It’s common practice for Broadway producers to give out loads of free tickets to promote a new show. The idea is people go for free and rave about it to friends.

Ken wanted to avoid this.

He remembered reading a story about American Airlines accidentally selling £6,118.92 tickets for less than £100— and it got a ton of publicity. Obviously.

“What if I do this ‘mistake’ on purpose?” he thought.

So he did. And instead of giving those tickets away for free, he sold them for $17 each, AND got a ton of free publicity. 

This same tactic will likely never work again. But, this is a lesson to question your restraints. Work from first principles. Let the world inspire you. And be creative.

(And yes I fed a photo of Ken Davenport into Midjourney and told it make him 3D and cry.)

Not all backlinks are created equal.

Here are seven types you should prioritize building for better off-page SEO.

1. Editorial links—the most valuable: When other sites cite you as a source. Apart from earning them organically, you can get these via HARO or connecting with journalists directly (discussed last week).
2. Guest posts: These are best to do on authoritative sites that your target audience would read. And make sure you make them really good.
3. Relationship-based links: Say you’ve received a link from a reputable site. If you reach out to the site owner with an offer to contribute more info it could lead to more links in the future. The point isn’t to negotiate for links, but to become a reliable source for journalists and writers.
4. Business profiles: Links from business directories and social media profiles (think Crunchbase and Yelp). You can create these links yourself, but don’t go so far as to get them from irrelevant, unheard of directories.
5. Public speaking: Taking part as a guest on podcasts, webinars, online courses, and conferences not only creates natural linking opportunities—it also builds your expertise (important since Google’s algorithm looks for EEAT).
6. Embedded asset links: Think tools, widgets, awards, and badges that other site owners embed onto their sites.
7. Reverse backlinks: This is a concept Brian Dean from Backlinko talked about. Instead of reaching out about backlinks, create content that people can't help but link to. Original research is the big lever here—other articles will cite your findings.

And avoid:

• Link farms or other low-quality sites.
• Posting on forums without meaningfully adding to the discussion.
• Paying for links (against Google's ToS).
• Sites that add "nofollow" tags to their external links. No real point since it won't count!

Like most advice we'll give, focus on quality.

We process images upwards of 60,000x faster than text. (That range varies hugely depending on the paper. So let's say... much faster.)

Yet the most common marketing mistake we see is:

Focusing on features and tech specs, rather than the outcome.

Show don't tell. Show your customer what life looks like when your product has solved their problem. They're not dumb—they can figure out what's better about it.

For example:

This video from True Classic's website does it perfectly. It shows you immediately how much better you'll look with a better-cut shirt.

They could have said:

• Flattering fit
• Hugs arms & shoulders
• No-stretch collar

Oh, wait they do. But they do that on the product page—after you've already seen the transformation and you know how much better the shirts look.

You want people to go "ohhhh, I get it."

Yes, I know, this is harder for service-based businesses and intangible products. You can't show them saving money with cheaper accounting software. This is one of the reasons testimonials are powerful. People share their transformation story.

So focus on the transformation and the outcome—use imagery if you can.

Most startups ignore branding. It keeps getting punted because, frankly, other things seem more important.

Things like: quick-win ad campaigns and social posts. Things you can point at and say, "Look at all the clicks/views this got."

The problem with that thinking is that, while you might get short-term sales activation, without a brand strategy, you’ll miss out on long-term sales growth.

Besides thinking brand strategy isn’t urgent, people put it off because they think it's not attributable.

That’s the performance-marketing mentality: If I can’t measure it, I don’t need it.

Yes, brand is harder to measure than email open rates and sales. But there are metrics you can use to gauge the success of your brand strategy. 

Here are five that we think are solid indicators of brand performance:

• Branded keyword search volume: If, before doing any brand work, you had ~100/month Google searches for your brand name, and all of a sudden you've got 1000s, then your brand work is paying off.
• Organic social mentions: If people are shouting you out or recommending you, that's a pretty good sign that you're building brand awareness.
• Click-through rates: An improvement in CTRs could mean that people are already more familiar with your brand—and more likely to click through on an ad by you.
• Sales timeline (for B2B): If people are already aware of your company when they come to you, you should have a tighter sales cycle from first contact to close.
• Conversion rates: As your brand builds trust and affinity, it'll be easier to convert more of the people who come across your products.

Track those five metrics for clearer brand attribution. And if you can improve those, you'll improve your CAC and CPA as well ;)

Links from high-authority domains continue to be a positive signal to Google. So getting a quote and link back to your site in a Reuters article can have a positive impact on your SEO.

A good way to get quotes and links used to be HARO, the marketplace where reporters get questions answered in exchange for quotes. Unfortunately, HARO has become inundated with spammy link builders.

So reporters often turn to other channels (like Twitter & LinkedIn) to gather quotes.

Here's a strategy to connect with reporters directly (and for free):

1. Create a list of journalists. Study the top publications in your niche, and check out their employees' portfolios on LinkedIn. 
2. Send personalized messages to them. Ask a question, or give a compliment related to a recent article. Do not pitch your expertise. The goal is to start a conversation. 
3. Either DM them on Twitter/LinkedIn or email them. (If their email addresses aren't public, you can try using tools like Hunter or Voila Norbert to find them.)
4. If they respond (some won't), send a reply that:
5. Thanks them for their time.
6. Gives a brief summary of who you are and your qualifications. Things that make you seem like a baller.
7. Mentions that you’d love to act as a source for future articles if that would be helpful. Include your phone number and email address.
8. Be responsive. Reporters need to publish things quickly, so you'll need to act fast if they follow up.

This strategy requires some sweat equity—but it is free. You can also hire a VA to do the manual parts.

The team at Pixar uses a simple framework to help develop their story lines: 

Once upon a time, ___________________. Every day, ___________________. Until one day, ___________________. Because of that, ___________________. Because of that, ___________________. Until finally, ___________________.

Let's use our Un-ignorable Challenge as an example:

1. Once upon a time, Alice, a founder of a creative agency, was on top of the world.
2. Every day, she'd do sales calls for inbound leads and crush her client work.
3. Until one day, a recession hit and cut inbound leads by 2/3rds.
4. Because of that, she needed to increase leads, or else she'd have to lay off staff.
5. Because of that, Alice started posting on LinkedIn and Twitter. Most of her posts flopped—but a few did well and brought in leads, but she had a tough time running a business and creating good content consistently.
6. Until finally, she joined the Un-ignorable Challenge to learn how to systematically create content that resonates with her audience.

The result: She's increased lead volume and humanized her brand by becoming the face of her agency. She's made interesting and valuable friendships and partnerships.

This framework explains the value of your product. It helps you think through the exact person you're helping and problem you're solving. 

Try it out for your brand!

And if this story resonates with you, enrollment is open for the Un-Ignorable Challenge!

From April 6th to May 5th, buyer's psychology expert Katelyn Bourgoin and I will be teaching founders and creators how to build an audience of future buyers. And how to get into a publishing habit and stick to it. 

Enroll today. Enrollment closes tomorrow at midnight Pacific Time.

We love nuance. But nuance sucks when you just wanna take action. Here's an 80/20 way to land on an influencer marketing strategy.

First, ask these four questions:

1. What exactly are you looking for from an influencer partnership? Choose only one: content, revenue, or brand awareness.
2. What’s your main KPI? $$$, subscribers, demos, eyeballs?
3. What’s your budget?
4. If you’ve got an influencer in mind, do they have a record of delivering on what you’re looking for?

Use these answers to choose which influencers to partner with for the best ROI.

Three guiding principles based on your main objective:

• If you’re looking for reusable content, prioritize nano-influencers and small-time creators who can create TikTok-style ads for $200-$350.
• If you want to drive revenue, identify macro-influencers with strong engagement—take a look at their comments to find this out. Expect to pay $10-$15k for 100k views on YouTube or Instagram.
• If you want to increase brand awareness, you’ve got two routes:
• Parade: Send your products to a lot of nano-influencers. This is ideal for companies that don’t have much budget but have low product costs.
• Revolve: Identify a few big influencers (600k+ followers) for long-term partnerships requiring content creation. This is best for companies with big budgets and products that are too expensive to give freely in bulk.

There's a ton more nuance to every bulletpoint, but this is a great place to start.

What doesn't work: Just dumping a link to your newsletter in a post or your bio. 

Mix up your strategy by trying one or more of these three creative methods.

1. Newsletter ad break – Twitter

Threads are all the rage (see the Something Fun today)—and they often end with a signup CTA. But people often leave before they get there.

So instead of making this CTA your final tweet, try plugging your newsletter in the middle. Example here.

2. Before-after – LinkedIn and Twitter

Share a new issue of your newsletter on these two occasions:

1. The day before you send it: Give a sneak peek of what it’ll cover. Tell users to sign up so they can find out more.
2. The day after sending: Broadly recap what your email covered. Then encourage users to sign up so they don’t miss the next one.

Here’s an example from Justin Welsh:

3. Leverage social proof – everywhere

Whenever you get a nice review/testimonial, take a screenshot and use it to promote your newsletter (or product!). Often, this causes your biggest fans to flock and give you even more reviews/testimonials to use too.

Katelyn Bourgoin does this a lot:

Here, let's just start with an image:

“I see you started an order but didn’t get around to completing it. Here’s a free one to try...”

When asked whether this tactic worked, KetoneAid's founder Frank said:

“The cost of posting a can is $10. People get hooked and buy subscriptions. And the lifetime value of a subscriber is $3,000.”  

For a kinda strange new product that people aren't sure they're gonna like, they definitely want to try it before committing to a $79 12-pack. 

This tactic does a few things:

1. Handles buyers' biggest objection—knowing if they'll like it.
2. Surprises and delights people—and as we've said, delight is the best way to build brand loyalty.
   
3. Gives them a coupon for free shipping to sweeten the deal further.
4. Humanizes the brand. Frank's upfront about it costing $50 normally. It uses his name and is written in first person (even the coupon code uses his name).

"If you sell to everyone, you sell to no one." – Common saying remixed many ways.

Most startups get a bad case of shiny objective syndrome: trying to collect a bunch of wins, and sacrificing focus in the process. Examples:

Product: They want to have a “rich feature set.” Which turns into a feature dump.‍

Messaging: They want to make as many sales as possible. Which results in distilled messaging that connects with no one. 

The almost-inevitable result: The team spreads itself too thin, employees feel lost, and growth suffers.

Three ways to overcome shiny objective syndrome:

#1) Define your core persona. Make it niche—almost scarily so.

Lenny Rachitsky calls this the “super-specific who.” Examples he shares from companies’ early days:

• Substack: “successful veteran online newsletter writers”
• Cameo: “B-list athletes in Chicago”

#2) Define your north star metric and the levers that move it.

Examples:

• Monthly active newsletter subscribers
• Orders
• Number of transactions per week
• Percentage of paid subscribers

What levers affect active newsletter subscribers?

• New monthly subscriber rate
• Unsubscribe rate
• Email bounce and spam rate
• Open and click rates

So, if active newsletter subscribers is the North Star Metric, every one of your growth initiatives should be centered on those levers.

#3) Try fewer channels for more concentrated growth.

Don't invest in Twitter, TikTok, SEO, influencers, Facebook Ads, and cold emails all at once.

Look for the one or two channels that have the greatest chance of success, given your specific goals and constraints.

The seven criteria we recommend considering are: scale, targetability, effort, time to results, intent, context, and cost.

Nail one, scale it up, systemize it, and only then move on.

Imagine you own a mountainside rental property and want to attract more applicants. Which of these statements do you find more useful when writing the listing?

1. George is a single 32-year-old software engineer in Philadelphia. He has a bachelor’s degree, earns $120k/year, and lives in a one-bedroom apartment with his pet dog.
   
   
2. George is feeling cooped up working from his downtown apartment—with very little green space for his energetic border collie.

We’re guessing #2.  

Knowing that, you would emphasize that your property is dog-friendly, has a yard, and has many nearby nature trails and excellent Wi-Fi.

Then why do we all build customer personas that sound like #1? Focused on demographic details like age, education, and profession.

It’s not that this info is irrelevant—but you’ll attract more of your ideal customer when you focus your messaging around your customers’ frustrations and motivations. Not their demographic and firmographic details.

Otherwise you get this:

 When developing personas, prioritize answering these questions:

• What are prospects stressed about?
• Where are they looking for solutions?
• What solutions are they trying, and what are their shortcomings?
• How do prospects describe success?
• What are they nervous about?

These questions follow the jobs-to-be-done (JTBD) framework, a customer-centered approach where companies focus on meeting users’ real-life needs, aka jobs. Use it to pinpoint where and how your product provides the most value.

You likely have oodles of sales pages on your site, but do you have an “Objection Smasher?” 

This is a landing page that lists the top 5-10 reasons why people don’t buy your product or why they churn.

Seems like a potentially bad idea telling people how you don't live up to expectations, right?

So, what’s the point of creating an Objection Smasher? 

I bet whenever you buy something, you almost always consider multiple products or vendors. And so do your leads.

And since every company is trying to sell to them, they’re usually wary when companies claim that their "the best," or that they're for everyone. 

An Objection Smasher builds trust and credibility with potential buyers since it acknowledges upfront why others churn or choose another business over yours.

And you can even weigh in to explain why certain customers aren’t a good fit for your product, or what you’re doing to improve your product further.

Here are a few examples of Objection Smashers:

• Drift’s article, “4 Reasons Customers Quit Drift in 2017,” lists their top customer complaints and then explains how they’re tackling these issues.
• Monday.com chooses a slightly different angle by naming Salesforce as its best alternative.

The Objection Smasher addresses common objections and builds trust—so chances are the leads who see it yet still continue to move down your marketing funnel will actually convert.

In April, I'm joining the final cohort of the Part-Time YouTuber Academy from Ali Abdaal (a YouTuber with nearly 4M subscribers clearing about $5M/year in revenue—nuts).

In preparation for that, I've gone through Ali's "YouTube for Beginners" course. 

Here are 3 things I've learned about content creation: 

1. Be an archaeologist, not an architect

There are two ways to approach creating content:

1. Be an architect. Have everything perfectly planned before breaking ground. For example, scrutinize your topic, audience, offer, and format before ever posting.
2. Be an archaeologist. Just start digging holes. When you find treasure, put all your focus there. For example, start making things that interest you, and when you find something that resonates, double down.

Most successful creators got there by just getting started and fumbling around. It took Ali one year and 50 videos to hit 1,000 subscribers. It took MrBeast years. They figured it out along the way. 

As Ali says: "The first 50 videos are for you. The next 50 are for your audience." 

2. Don't create for algorithms. Create for people.

Sure, we write about tactics every week. But what really makes a product or piece of content outpace others is by being exceptional.

So to grow your YouTube channel (or Instagram, or Twitter, or blog):

1. Create an enticing thumbnail and title so people will watch/read it.
2. Make the content interesting and engaging throughout.
3. Leave people satisfied so they click on your next post.

It's simple in theory, but incredibly hard to actually do. It takes a ton of practice, and so...

3. The reps are more important than anything

When you're getting started with a new skill, the quantity and frequency of practice are more important than the quality of each session. Whether that's creating videos, crafting Twitter threads, writing newsletters, or building a product—it's better to do it often and consistently.

Focus on developing the habit first. Then double down on getting good. 

As Ali puts it: "Get going → Get good → Get smart."

–––

Now, if you want to join me in the April cohort of the Part-Time YouTuber Academy to learn how to build a channel to 100k subscribers, make sure to sign up this week. Enrollment closes this Friday—and it's the last cohort they're ever doing.‍

(In full disclosure, I got to join because I promised to write about what I learned!) 

– Neal

To continue the trend of 3's...

Duolingo is famous for perfecting the art of gamifying something that’s good for you.

As the Duo team was figuring out how to gamify language learning, they looked to a logical source for inspiration: games.

Including Gardenscapes, a Candy Crush-esque mobile game the team was hooked on.

One thing Gardenscapes had that Duo didn’t was a “moves counter,” which showed users the dwindling number of moves they had left to complete a level.

After months of work, Duo launched their own moves counter—then “expectantly waited for an unmitigated success,” according to Duo’s former Chief Product Officer Jorge Mazal. 

But what actually happened?

Pretty much nothing. Retention and DAUs stayed the same. User feedback was…well, there was hardly any.

As you know, every experiment is a chance to learn. So here’s what Mazal learned from it:

“Now when looking to adopt a feature, I ask myself:

1. Why is this feature working in that product?
2. Why might this feature succeed or fail in our context, i.e. will it translate well?
3. What adaptations are necessary to make this feature succeed in our context?”

Asking those three questions led the Duo team toward gamification gold, with features like a FarmVille 2–esque leaderboard and irresistible streak rewards.

When you find a feature you love in another product, ask those questions before trying to implement it in your own product. They’ll lead you to what Mazal calls “the right balance of adopting and adapting.”

In honor of the less hyped-up 3-leaf clover ☘️, here are 3 rules of 3 we recommend following. 

The rule of 3 in advertising:  

Never include more than three pieces of information in an ad. Example: This ad from Biddyco has: 1) a before & after, 2) product features, 3) a review. Brand awareness magic!

The rule of 3 in copywriting:  

Three is the minimum number that makes a pattern, and people are pattern seekers. Group items in threes to make them more memorable.

The 3 (science-backed) rules of good writing (via Ariyh):

1. Use short, common, concrete words.
2. And short, simple sentences with active voice.
3. To keep your readers’ attention, keep your tone excited, anxious, or hopeful. People are more likely to continue reading if their emotions are stirred up, versus language that’s less stimulating—or just sad.

Each of those rules is pretty straightforward, right? A nice reminder that simplicity packs a powerful punch.

(Btw, there are a LOT of threes in marketing. There’s also the 3% rule and the cult of three clicks! Are there other rules of 3 you use and love?)

When we think of product gamification, we usually think of B2C apps and referral programs—Duolingo being one of the shining examples of gamification done right.

Turns out gamification can also work for B2B SaaS products.

Just take a look at the B2B scheduling software company Deputy. It gamifies onboarding tasks as part of its free trial:

What do users earn for completing tasks? Extra days for their trial.

It’s a total win-win: Users get to extend their trials and along the way, become more likely to reach the “aha” moment of product activation. Aka the turning point where the odds of becoming a paying customer spike—because they saw actual value from the product.

If you offer a free trial for a SaaS product, consider giving this strategy a shot.

Nat Eliason grew his TikTok account from 400 to 55,900 in just six weeks.

The key to his growth? Well, there wasn’t one—you can't easily "game" TikTok.

Instead, here are seven of Nat’s findings that’ll raise your chances of success.

🎯 Choose a niche where you have an "unfair advantage." Think hard about what would make your content hard to replicate. Nat chose non-fiction books since he has detailed notes about 300+ books.

Ali Abdaal's unfair advantage for his "how to get into medical school" YouTube channel was that he was already in medical school.

🧠 Take a SEO-inspired approach to content ideation. First look through the top 5-10 accounts in your niche and see what topics have done well. Then type those topics into the search bar—you’ll see variations appear below, just like Google’s related keywords. Also look at the search results’ “Others searched for” section for ideas.

🐑 Don’t prioritize making videos for the latest trends. Yes, creating for the latest viral trend can help get more views, but these trend-inspired videos often don’t explain why your account is worth following. They often get lots of engagement—but few followers.

Make these vids only if a trend fits your content, topic, and style.

🖥️ Edit your footage on a computer, not your phone. It’s a lot more efficient and powerful. Nat recommends using Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere. But use TikTok to add captions.

🚀 Your videos need strong hooks to actually take off. The first 2-3 seconds are the most important. We talked about hooks last week.

🪝 Also include a hook in the description. It’ll give people another reason to watch in case they read the description first. Example: The description for a video giving three tips on something could say, “The 3rd helped me the most.”

💬 Commenting on other videos won’t help your own account performance. It’s helpful, however, for connecting with other creators. Just focus on making really good videos.

In a previous newsletter, we shared an AI tool that maintains eye contact in videos.

But eye contact isn't always the best option.

Studies show that ads using averted gazes lead to more attention toward the product, and more memorable ads.

We're hardwired to notice faces. And when you see eyes looking over at something else, you're naturally drawn to look, too. 

See for yourself 👀

This same tactic can be used on landing pages and product photos. Use your models' eyes to make people look where you want them to—your product, your CTA, or where you want them to go next.

This can also apply to social media profile photos. The direction your profile photo faces can make it either feel like you've got your back to your post, or like you're facing it.

Which of these looks better? I bet you it's the first one.

‍

"It’s easier to be a critic than a creative." – marketing researcher Flint McGlaughlin 

ChatGPT can’t do all the legwork of content creation. It's still not that good at writing, for example:

So bad.

But it can be great for inspiration and relieving blank-page syndrome.

See for yourself by experimenting with these seven prompts:

1. “Write 5 headlines for [Company] based on the facts below.” Be sure to list at least three of your company’s strongest value props or credentials. They’ll help guide ChatGPT toward better results.
2. “Write 5 more headlines stressing the exclusiveness of [Company]’s services.” Rather than simply using the first few headlines generated, ask ChatGPT to refine them according to new specifications. You can change these new instructions to whatever you’re looking for.
3. “Write 5 more headlines that begin with the word ‘get.’” Continue refining. You can replace “get” with any other word of your choosing.
4. “What do customers want to achieve with [Company]’s services?” Use this prompt to get ideas for reframing your company’s biggest value props—and to clarify whether ChatGPT understands your company. This is a prereq for the next prompt.
5. “Write a headline that emphasizes how customers can get what they want through [Company].” Assuming ChatGPT correctly understands your company’s offerings and your customers’ goals, use this prompt to uncover more copywriting ideas.
6. “Add a sense of urgency to headlines 1 and 2.” If there are any specific headlines you like, ask ChatGPT to hone in on them and make adjustments.
7. “Give me 10 examples of X.” Coming up with examples can be time consuming.

For example, I asked: "What are 20 tactical copywriting tips with before-and-after examples?"

I then chose my favourites, remixed them, and created this design. Check out tips 4 and 5:

MrBeast won't even make a video unless he has the perfect thumbnail and title in mind. 

For written content, we call these "hooks." They:

1. Stop people scrolling (aka thumb-stopping).

2. Intrigue them.

3. Get them to either keep reading or click to see more.

Without a good hook, your otherwise amazing content just won't get seen. 

Shaan Puri lists six emotional reactions you want to evoke in your hooks: 

1. LOL (humour)
2. WTF (surprise/outrage)
3. That's crazy! (surprise/delight)
4. Ohhh, I get it now
5. FINALLY! Someone said it
6. Yay! (celebration—like if someone got a new job)

I'd also add:

1. Uh-oh (fear): "I hope I'm not doing it wrong."
2. Damn, I want that (inspiration)
3. Then what happened? (curiosity)
4. Daaaamn (credibility): "This person knows what they're talking about."

Tap into these emotions, and you'll stop the scroll and get them invested in reading more.

Here's how Wes Kao taps into "Uh oh":