If you build a great product and no one knows, did it happen?

@mkobach
@JunaeBrown
@AmandaMGoetz
@JuiceboxCA
@KyleTibbitts
@jenalyson
@tobydoyhowell
@ThatChristinaG
@markritson
@TheCoolestCool

10 LESSONS from 10 of the BEST Marketers👇🧵

I devoured 50 years of Warren Buffett shareholder letters.

The result?

12 timeless principles from the greatest investor in the world.

Here are the golden nuggets🧵

The Orangutan Effect

"If you sit down with an orangutan and carefully explain to it one of your cherished ideas, you may leave behind a puzzled primate, but will exit thinking more clearly yourself."

Teaching others actually teaches yourself.

2022

The Faulty Premise Framework

“A horse that can count to ten is a remarkable horse - not a remarkable mathematician.”

Beware your comparison set.

Are you judging crappy relative performance or absolute results?

1985

Pick the Right Business Boat

The business boat you get into is more important than how effectively you row.

“When a brilliant management team tackles a business with a reputation for poor fundamental economics, the reputation of the business usually stays intact.”

1985

A Rising Tide Doesn't Lift All Bonuses

"Good performance should be rewarded whether Berkshire stock rises or falls.
Average performance should earn no special rewards even if our stock soars."

Judge for individual performance or risk free riding on group success.

1986

Improve by comparing small.

“To improve, compare little things

• marketing strategies
• exercise technique
• writing tactics

To be miserable, compare big things

• career path
• marriage
• net worth

Comparison is a teacher only when applied narrowly.”

@JamesClear

There are over 30 million podcast episodes.

and you don't have time to listen to them.

So let me save you time with 7 that will make you smarter today🧵

My First Million with @ShaanVP + @theSamParr

Best Episode: #171 How to Generate Millions from Paid Events

Sam made $100k in 8 weeks hosting paid events with without any previous audience.

He gives a play by play to print money.

The @tferriss Show (the OG)

Best Episode: #341 with @nickkokonas

The most important concept in the damn world is asymmetric risk.

This episode was my first exposure to it.

Been a huge Kokonas fan ever since

20VC with @HarryStebbings

Best Episode: Jan. 4th, What happened in 2020? What can we expect looking forward to 2021?

He got Bill Gurley and Howard Marks... for the same episode.

Need I say anything else?

The @naval Podcast

Best Episode: First 25 episodes which are 2-5 minutes each

Ok, I'm cheating here

but when Naval breaks down the most popular twitter thread of all time: "How to Get Rich wIthout Getting Lucky"

...you stop and listen

I've interviewed 5 founders of billion dollar startups.

Here's what I learned:

CTFU

"Catch the F*ck Up"

Startups are about speed.

If you don’t have urgency, you lose.

Successful people don't find hard things easy to do.

Instead, they've trained themselves to be better at hard things.

Create habits so small that they are painless.

h/t @JamesClear

Be short and to the point with important people.

Co-founders aren't people you meet at networking sessions.

They're your friends.

Get your smartest, hardest working friends and convince them to start a company with you.

I don’t want to put anyone on blast, but I’ve seen a few people saying, erroneously, that superhero comics sell more by the numbers, that they have the biggest sales overall and (most wrong of all) that they are the best selling comics globally. And, uh...Shounen Jump called. 📞

I’m not saying this to detract the historical and global importance of B2 comics... they were once huge. They are also old, so as far as historically, yeah they have decently big numbers. They are not doing those numbers now, or anytime in the past decade.

The best selling series, ever, by a Big 2 is Spider-man, selling 650 million since 1963. You can tally up all their series together but that’s a bit unfair so let’s stick to individuals. 650 is VERY respectable.

One Piece, Japans top selling collected manga, has sold 470 million....since 1997.

But that’s collected volumes...manga magazines are really a more equitable competitor to floppies, although not exact because, in fairness, they contain several series. That said, shounen jump has sold 7.6 billion. There are several other shounen magazines in that range.

The best marketing affects a human's behavior.

It leverages psychology to impact people's perceptions and decisions.

Understand it and you'll influence consumer's buying decisions.

Use these 12 psychology tips to influence your audience 🧵

1. Theory of reciprocity

As humans, we’re more likely to do something for someone after they’ve done something for us.

When you consistently provide value to your audience -- they’re more likely to reciprocate by supporting you.

This builds brand advocates.

2. Too many choices

Too many choices means too much confusion.

This affects a consumer's ability to make a decision and demotivates them from doing so.

Reduce your options.

Increase your conversion rate.

3. Decoy Effect

Perspective influences decisions.

With the decoy effect, you alter the consumer’s perspective by making the highest ticket item look like a deal.

Ex:

Small Popcorn: $3
Medium Popcorn: $6.50
Large Popcorn: $7

The large feels like a great deal.

4. The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon

This phenomenon is when you see something for the first time then feel like you start seeing it everywhere.

Once you become aware of something you start to look for it unconsciously.

This then convinces you that it really is everywhere.

Based on my many years experience, I’ve developed 24 laws of ad tech product management. These are “laws”, meaning they are always true, everywhere. Thread...

1. If you add something to targeting, it also must be in reporting.

2. The answer to the question “Do you need to forecast this?” is always yes.

3. The answer to “Is this forecast working well?” is always no.

4. If you give an agency customer two options, they will always choose “both.”

Marketing isn’t a scam

Marketing makes change happen. Marketing makes your creations known

I'll share some tactics & frameworks I use

How to get lucky in marketing in 2021:

How marketing has evolved:

Marketing used to be a contest for attention

But now, marketing is a contest for CONNECTION

Whoever owns the connection, wins

Turn your product into a social statement

Products that make you feel good or defend you from being cancelled, spread fast

Ex: Make clothes out of recycled plastic

Point: People want a chance to show they stand for something

Are you working with creators?

Some of the world’s biggest brands were catapulted in the 1960s via TV

Brands bought TV ads. Captured attention

Working with creators is like buying TV ads in the 1960s

Point: Co-building with the right creators is like fishing with dynamite

Avoid ads. Build media companies

Prediction: every public company will own a media arm

It’s a magical shortcut to building true fans

Ads just don’t hit the same way

There really isn't enough sociology in advertising nowadays...

"I am Myrtle, Goddess of logistics and distribution..."

"Look at what you could have won..."