Writers' block

I get bored with my own marketing advice...but it should be about you, not about me!

Sometimes it happens: you just don’t really know what to say anymore.

It’s not that there is nothing to say, but rather that nothing in particular seems worth saying.

Such is my impasse this week. 

It’s not that I have nothing to say anymore, but rather that none of these ideas stand out as particularly worthy of sending you an email about.

For instance:

I could tell about focus. That a few things matter a lot, and most thing don’t matter at all. That you’re better off pursuing one or two channels at scale, rather than five at non-scale.

But that’s boring. 

I have already said that before.

I could tell you about ambition. That probably the problem is not that you’re taking too much risk, but rather that you’re taking too little risk. That the payoffs are bigger than you think, and the downside consequences lower than they feel. 

But that’s boring. 

I have already said that before, too!

I could tell you about …

.

.

… you get the point.

Sometimes nothing seems particularly worth saying.

It’s not that it’s boring to you. 

It’s that it’s boring to me.

I have already heard my own marketing advice a thousand times!

But therein also lies the crux to writer’s block:

What matters is whether you need to hear the message.

It’s not about me, the writer. 

It’s about you, the reader.

Just because I’ve written about it a year ago, doesn’t mean you have fully internalised the message.

We marketers get bored with our own message all the time. 

We switch it up, just because we got bored with it.

But that’s the wrong approach.

That’s hurting ourselves.

Strong brands and strong marketers repeat the same few messages, over and over again. 

People want to know what you stand for.

They want to know what you believe, and that you still believe it.

They want a clear picture of who you are.

Which means you need to repeat it.

To reinforce it.

To repeat it.

To reinforce it.

To repeat it.

To reinforce it.

To repeat it.

To reinforce it.

Repeat yourself more.

Go at the same point, but from a different angle.

Repeat what you’ve already repeated before.

Repetition works. 

At the risk of repeating myself, here’s what we believe at Double:

1. Growth solves (nearly) all problems

Bigger is truly better, actually. You should focus more on driving growth.

2. Systems, not hacks

Growth marketing isn’t about trickery. It’s about finding a predictable machine to generate revenue and scale your business.

3. Lead with value

Tell people what you believe. Tell them the truth. Teach them how the world works. Teach them how to be more successful, happier, richer, better if they know those truths.

4. Speed matters

You won’t get it right on the first try. Doesn’t matter. What matters is how quickly you learn which parts are wrong, and how quickly you can improve them. Darwinian natural selection, but for your own business. The faster you go, the faster you’ll go.

Each of these points are points that people deserve to hear.

So there you have it.

My 2024 resolution:

• To repeat myself more

• To be more consistent

• To provide more value

Best,

—Pieter