Front loading value (3/7)
People like to do business with those that helped them succeed.
Question:
Why do people instinctively dislike marketers?
Why do we, marketers, have a reputation only slightly better than lawyers and investment bankers?
What have we done?
You think it’s the pop-up ads?
Was it the aggressive newsletter lead capture?
The way we used cookies and “AdTech” to creep on people around the internet?
The cold outreach strategies we use?
Let’s be real:
We behave like a bunch of repulsive assholes, sometimes!
Most people are disgusted by marketers, and you can’t really blame them.
In fact, this email could have been titled "Anti-Repulsive Marketing", because that's truly what we need to talk about. How we can market to people… without disgusting them!
We become repulsive by:
Pushing people to take actions that they aren't ready for
Not being 100% truthful and honest, or twisting the truth
Spamming people, and constantly promoting our products
So, please note this one down:
We become repulsive when we care more about our own interests than the interests of the other
But it’s a choice.
It doesn’t have to be that way.
Shouting louder isn’t the real answer. If it were, drunk Uncle Jimmy at the barbeque would be a billionaire, with followers in the millions.
Instead, we can choose to play a game centered around being valuable.
We can choose to market in a way where we provide value first.
That’s a world where we choose relationships over transactions.
We call this concept "front-loading value":
To provide value means to help people become successful in their lives. People like to engage with others that can help them to be more successful, even if it’s a company.
The cool thing about modern marketing is that we can provide value to millions of people, whilst doing the work only once.
Front loading value means:
To provide value, before money changes hands.
To prioritise helping the other person succeed to the best of our abilities
To build a relationship, rather than seek immediate gains
To make others successful, before yourself
To earn attention, we need to provide value and to provide value means to be useful.
To be useful is to help people solve their problems, and experience the world in interesting new ways.
To be of value is to be useful
If you make other people successful, they will remember. People like to do business with those that have helped them succeed.
– – –
Obviously, inbound marketing—at least in the original idea—is centered around this idea. But there is absolutely no reason to limit these concepts to only inbound efforts:
Freemium business models are a great example of front-loading value (Mailchimp, Figma, Notion, Fortnite, etc.)
The original Ogilvy ads are excellent examples of outbound marketing but with front-loaded value at its center.
These excellent Facebook ads by Sam Ovens provide valuable insights or lessons inside the ad itself
Open source software like Wordpress, provided by for-profit company Automatic (who sells enterprise service offerings around it)
Front-loading value is always the harder thing to do.
It always costs more time, and takes more confidence.
You can't always track exactly how it works.
But remember this:
People like to do business with those that helped them succeed.
That's a powerful force, to have pushing in your favour.
Consider it.
Cheers,
—Team Double
P.S.
Many bosses will worry about how the maths of this plan plays out. You can't provide value for free, forever. You're not a charity, after all.
I get that.
You don't need to give a full sales pitch when you're providing value. But they can always just visit your website, if they choose.
Because who knows? Maybe someone just raised a $30M Series B, and needs a growth marketing agency to help them succeed?
People will know where to find you if the timing is right.
Continue to the next lesson 👉🏼
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