Sell the worldview, not the product (4/7)
Help people see the world in a different way, and understand it better.
In our previous posts, we discussed the value of seeing growth as "systems, rather than hacks", and "front-loading value" to your audience.
There are multiple ways to provide value to an audience: education, entertainment, free product offerings, and so much more.
But there is an even more profound way to provide value:
To help people see the world differently, and understand it better. To change their worldview.
Some of our perspectives and beliefs help us be successful, whilst others are maybe secretly holding us back. Yet other perspectives turn out to be flat-out mistaken.
For instance:
Galileo helped us understand that despite the illusion to the contrary, the earth rotates around the sun, rather than the other way around.
That was—at the time—a shocking shift in perspective.
Darwin provided value, by bringing us the theory of evolution. Again, a shocking change in perspective. A different worldview.
Einstein brought yet another change in perspective: what if everything with a mass is actually just energy, convertible under E=MC2?
But it's not only people like those that provide a new perspective. A few more examples:
Gary Vaynerchuck provides value by showing young people that hard work and hustle are essential ingredients for success.
Tesla helped the world understand that fast and performant electric cars are the future.
Steve Jobs helped us understand that design is not an afterthought, but an essential component to how well a product works.
Warren Buffett offers a specific perspective on how to do value investing and acquire wealth
Hubspot popularised the concept of "inbound marketing"
Here at Double… we believe we can also bring some changes in perspective, and offer a new worldview on marketing which we wrote down in 38 succinct points, in this manifesto.
Ultimately, value is created when you help someone solve a significant problem, or fulfil a meaningful desire. Oftentimes, you do that by giving people a new perspective—a reframe—to frame their situation.
The examples above, show you how certain reframes and perspectives stack together, and become a new worldview. And each of those perspective shifts help people be more successful in their life.
Not every company is deeply driven by a vision and philosophy the way companies like e.g. Tesla, Signal or Patagonia are.
That’s fine. Rather, companies can confine themselves to their product vertical and niche. For instance: if you’re building an email marketing tool, your worldview doesn’t need to change the way people look at the whole world, rather just the world of email marketing.
Loom popularised a view where we communicate more actively with videos in a business setting. Substack changed how we think about high-quality journalism. And La Creuset just focuses on the beauty and delicious cooking of retro cast-iron cookware.
Each of them takes a perspective that’s wider than just their product.
So do you remember when we mentioned "anti-repulsive marketing", in the previous email?
Here's the simple cure for anti-repulsive marketing:
People hate it when a marketer is pushing a product, but they love it when they can get a new perspective on how the world around them works. And once they subscribe to your worldview, buying products from you will feel obvious.
Think about that.
.
.
The heuristic here is simple:
Sell the worldview, not the product
As long as you sell the worldview, you'll always have something interesting to talk about.
You'll always have something to contribute. You'll always be invited to the party, because you help people succeed.
– – –
Did you know this:
Most buyers are slow buyers
As it turns out, only about 15% of people who buy within two years make a purchase in the first 90 days. Everyone else—85% of people who buy—don’t make a purchase until after 90 days.
What's going on with those people? Well… Maybe they don't have the money. Maybe they don't have time. Maybe they don't have the problem, right now. Maybe they don't trust you enough, yet.
Instead of pushing your audience to make a sale that’s unlikely to happen (and almost certainly undermining future sales), we recommend another approach:
Show genuine empathy
Establish credibility, authority and trust
Invest in nurturing
Sell the worldview, rather than the product
Prioritise relationships above transactions, and…
… the money will come
Of course, all of the above is a shift in perspective, too. In showing you this path, we are also offering you a new pair of lenses, a new perspective, and a new worldview.
In sending you these emails, we are eating our own dog food.
So far, we've gone through some growth essentials that we, at Double, believe matter most:
Systems — Growth marketing is about systems, not hacks
Value — front load value to your audience to get them on board
Worldview — to build a brand, sell the worldview, instead of the product
Up next is a topic that ties all of the above together: how to create messaging that sells, and drives people to conversion.
Because revenue matters.
A lot.
So that's for the next post.
Cheers,
—Team Double
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