Marketing In The NFT World -

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1 Table of Contents Understanding The Issues 3 The Issues: 4 Solving The Issues 5 1. Increasing Knowledge on Simplicity & Effectiveness 5 2. Rebuilding the Distinction of Marketing & Advertising 7 3. Talking With Your Community 8 4. All About The Benjamins (*Benefits, not $) 10 5. Ser, this table has a $100k Buy-In 12 6. Why Do I Even Buy These NFT’s? 14 7. There’s No Such Thing As Luck; But Moving First Helps 16 8. It’s All Connected 18 **Bonus** Patience, Young Padawan 19 **Bonus** Overcoming Friction 20 The Solutions 21 #1. People Like Us Do Things Like That 21 #2. The Moment The “I Can’t Believe This Is Meat” Revolution Will Begin 24 #3. Would You Rather “This” or “That”? 26 #4. It’s Not Like The Tortoise and The Hare… But It Is 28 #5. The #1 Health & Fitness Podcast in the World 32 #6. The Human Decision-Making Process… as easy as 1, 2, 3 35 #7. The Two Universal Types of Language 39 Affirmations & Negations 40 Soft & Solid Talk 40 Reflections and Projections 41 #8. Master Storytelling & Win the War for Attention 43 In Closing 45 2 Devs, Artists, Creators, and NFT Founders are many things. One thing they’re not though is marketers. And it shows This whitepaper seeks to form the foundation for an in-depth analysis and overview that dives into: 1. Understanding the core issues when it comes to successfully marketing in the NFT Industry 2. Strategies to solve these core problems that you’ll be able to immediately use 3. Strategies & Examples to help you make real-world decisions when it comes to your marketing Understanding The Issues This web3 industry is moving so fucking fast it is hard to keep up. Wolf Game came out 2 days ago at the time of this writing and already there are another 10+ projects modeling the game trying to get fast growth and returns… …people look at this and think the reason for a project that achieved success like this one success has something to do with what they did in the marketing, development, and build-up to launch (*note: we’re two weeks gone from when Wolf Game began and it’s now a distant memory for most) Honestly, 99% of it is just noise. That’s the Truth The principles that lie at the foundation of success like Wolf Game is the fact they were the first mover in the space. They gamified the experience, utilised fantastic game theory principles and managed to time things correct They did not get lucky… But they were in the right place, at the right time, with the right product and the right message (*note: these are two separate things) Most will look at a project like this, BAYC, Cool Cats, HeadDAO, Olympus and more and think it’s the systems that they have in place and the kind of marketing they did that created their success They see the noise and miss the key aspects that generated success - especially when it comes to marketing Put simply, there are 8 key issues for projects when it comes to marketing that projects need to understand and solve if they wish to build a project that has both short, and long-term success 3 The Issues: 1. Lack of knowledge on how to market simply & effectively 2. They have a collapsed meaning between marketing and advertising 3. They talk to their community and not with their community. And they do not listen at all 4. They focus on the features of joining them, not the value or bennies (*benefits) 5. They focus only on the “table stakes” and there’s no remarkability for people 6. Don’t understand people act emotionally, and not rationally 7. They think “first movers“ are doing everything right and don’t see this as just noise and not effectiveness 8. They think success in the project & marketing comes from a roadmap and utility 4 4 Solving The Issues 1. Increasing Knowledge on Simplicity & Effectiveness The best knowledge you’ll ever receive is going to come from first-hand experience and the feedback and data learned from things that did not work Anyone can listen to a podcast, read a book or an article and let that information sit in their brain… …many will even attempt to execute on it and lack the patience and trust in the process to keep trying when things aren’t working Note: there is a difference between insanity and repetition Think about the best in the world at any given thing. Deliberate practice is one of the core reasons they are where they are. They did the same thing over and over again in order to ingrain the pattern and build the body of work to get to where they were They did not try something different at the first time of failure OR the 1,000th time for that matter They knew that what they were receiving was feedback - that’s all… and the faster the feedback the faster they can make small changes in their attempts This is what I love about baseball (*and marketing). A hitter can receive immediate feedback to be better on the very next pitch He can sit back and wait after being early on the curveball and make solid contact with the next pitch. He can also distinguish between success and failure by valuing his performance on the quality of at-bats, not the outcome Going 0-4 and hitting 3 line drives and another solid contact in the hole for a great play made by the SS is better than going 3-4 with 3 bloops on terrible swings With your marketing, implement and execute. That’s how you will build your knowledge base ● Try things ● Receive the data back. ● Analyse it ● Repeat The other challenge when it comes to knowledge is understanding which metrics matter More is not better… Only better is better Quality > Quantity. Period Tools of Rock knew this. They saw thousands of people joining their dc each day and knew something was up. They implemented new security protocols, removed a fuckton of bots, and bettered their project 5 Their community went from 10k to 4k, but it was better. Now, they’re about to fucking moon… The # of people in your discord does not really matter up to a certain point. The number of followers you have on Twitter does not matter, nor does the # of likes, retweets, comments, and more… So what does matter? Engagement and attention The challenge is you cannot truly measure these in an effective and efficient way - and yet we think we can And they blind us from what really matters - noise vs successful outcome It’s not about the number of people - it’s about the number of those people who were moved to take the action you wanted them to take 100 likes on a post are great for the ego! But if none of them joined your dc, was it really a success? 10,000 people in your dc due to the giveaways and collaborations are great! But if they don’t mint because they don’t see your value outside of a quick flip; has any good work really been done? A final note on this… …in a prior business, The Youth Academy, where we scaled to mid-6 figures inside 24mo - marketing was my thing We took a GaryVee approach and became a media company and were able to support 10,000+ youth in a very short period. Here’s the thing though - the videos and content we created received <5 likes and comments From that perspective, they sucked… …but when we went out every weekend to kids sporting events, the number of parents coming up to us and saying “we loved this post"‘ or “that video from last week was fantastic. I loved how you…“ People were seeing them. People were loving them. People were coming to The Youth Academy because of them. The social and egotistical metrics didn’t show this - but the real metrics that mattered did 6 2. Rebuilding the Distinction of Marketing & Advertising One of the main things that creators, devs, and founders get wrong is they combine marketing and advertising into the one thing They collapse the distinction between the two and confuse one for the other Most projects think they're marketing but what they're really doing is advertising See, any form of energy that is input to the business in regards to attention and awareness that has finances behind it, or is paid for, is advertising Any kind of giveaways, shill, paid ad, collabs, and more that you’ve handed Eth over for is advertising. And when you look at the majority of projects, this is where they commit 100% of their time, energy, and attention to So they're not actually marketing! They’re advertising and missing 90% of the equation So, as a dev, creator, or artist - what can you do? What the hell is marketing? Put simply, it is simple human communication and connection The question you should as yourself is: “how can I communicate the core benefits of my project and show people all of this real value that my project holds?” If you show people what’s in it for them, they’ll give you their attention and then you have a chance to move them into an emotional state (*positive or negative), that will drive them to take an action you’d love for them to take The thing that does this is value - both perceived value and real value To create this - tell stories, create content that’s valuable, put up posts that are valuable, form relationships that have value Do that, then do it again and again and again If you can communicate your projects value effectively across any medium that works for you AND WHERE YOUR KEY AUDIENCE IS - you’ll put yourself in the best position possible to market effectively (*note: it’s not about the posts, content, relationships, and more - it’s about what you use to create them… the words… more on that later) Show people the value and they will likely end up joining you at some point in the future. Focus on consistently putting the right message in front of the right people at the right time 7 3. Talking With Your Community Now that you know what marketing is, you can start doing it with your community… Notice I didn’t say at your community or to your community. Great marketing is co-creation and collaboration; not lecturing or a dictatorship Far too many projects will talk at, or to, their community and position themselves as they key to it all. They become the expert, the authority, the hero when that’s not what it’s about at all.. Your community is the hero! They’re Luke Skywalker, Frodo or Neo… …and you’re Yoda, Gandalf or Morpheus By marketing at or to your community you strip them of their power and minimise the emotional connection you can create. If you’re marketing like a lecture right now it’ll read like: here's what you need to do… here’s what you need to think about… you’re not good enough yet or don’t have enough yet, but you can when you have THIS thing or DO THIS thing By taking this stance you’re devaluing your community and limiting them. Yes, fear is a powerful driver - but so is abundance, love and potential. In fact, oftentimes it’s more powerful The truth is this… No one gives a flying fuck about your shiny shit Sorry, but they don’t What they care about is themselves. They care about what's in it for them. Does this help me solve a pain or a problem? Does it help me achieve a goal or an outcome that is valuable to me? ● No, it doesn’t? I’ll go look for something that does ● Yes, it does? Then I’m all in! Quest Nutrition did this better than most. In an industry that “did not need another protein bar”, they excelled One reason for this is doing what they called, mirror marketing. They reflected back out what their community was giving to them For example, if their community said they wanted something or found something valuable, they created content about it for them. If their community created an awesome bit of content, then they shared it back out 8 What this did was create an ecosystem that people wanted to be part of because they were heard, they were seen and they were valued. They knew that if they expressed something or shared something with them they would be received and potentially have their idea shared for all to see In return, everything that Quest was sharing in their marketing was highly valuable to them because Quest was simply repeating what they were being told They actively listened, then reflected it back to people One of the best that you can do when it comes to your marketing is to listen Listen to what your community wants and then give it back to them to communicate in a way that is like a two-way conversation There is no lecturing. There is no dictating. There is an active conversation between people Provide value, educate, inspire, and entertain in a way that is like a way conversation. That right there is a key to successful marketing 9 4. All About The Benjamins (*Benefits, not $) Yes, that’s right. Not money. Benefits… Technically, there are only core things people want when it comes to products, services, or access. They want things that are going to help them to: - Make money - Save money - Save time - Minimize their effort - Remove their physical or mental pain - Increase their status in their society/group …all of these are benefits Your marketing must continually highlight and shine a spotlight so fucking bright on all of the benefits that your community receives from being a part of your community The key here though is that it's not just about any benefits, it’s about benefits your community cares about Your community has to want them and value them If you can show them benefits that they value and desire, you’ll be in the best position possible to move them to join your project And as a bonus, your marketing will be super simple and effective Where most devs, founders and artists go wrong here is that they will focus on features thinking they are benefits It’s not about how fast the car goes, the kind of tyres it has or the kind of engine under the hood… …it’s about the experience and feeling of having the wind blow through your hair on a weekend as the tunes blast out of the radio and the love of your life is by your side, smiling and having a great time Humans buy benefits, not features What you need to do is turn your features into benefits. To do this you can write out the feature and then state the reason as to why it exists Structurally, this could look like using “so that”… ● We included this feature so that you get this benefit ● We included this feature because it allows you to go and have this benefit ● We made our discord gated so that you guys get even more exclusive content and we ensure there are only people in this community who believe in what we’re doing here. This ensures you get a better experience, a better community, and less fud and negativity This is how you create benefits 10 This is how you show people what's in it for them This is how you elicit either their positive positive emotions or their negative emotions At the end of the day, we are emotional creatures. We make every choice based on emotion and justify rationally at a later date Your benefits are the key to the emotional lock of your communities choices and decisions 10 11 5. Ser, this table has a $100k Buy-In When creators and artists think of what to include in their NFT Project to provide value and stand out, that is, to market their NFT - they solely focus on the “table stakes”… …that is, the things simply required to “play the game” - and there’s no remarkability to their project that makes people differentiate why it compared to another NFT project (*note: the art does matter here, but unfortunately not as much for the majority of the market as it should) Much like marketing & advertising, most people have a collapsed definition between: a. What actually matters for a successful NFT b. What is simply the table stakes to play the game that is the NFT Industry This NFT space moves fucking fast. A day can feel like a week or even a month. With so much innovation and creativity happening, a lot of the things that used to be innovative and front-of-industry ideas have fast become table stakes that everyone else has and is using As such, these things have lost their uniqueness and remarkability. The once “Purple Cow” has become just another brown cow and lost all its shine We're seeing right now when it comes to wolf game. In less than 48 hours an abundance of other NFT games using the same mechanisms have popped up and are now essentially competing against Wolf Game So simply saying in your marketing that “we have this function and that function… you can earn this value and that value“ doesn’t stand out as it’s saying the same thing as everyone else but that you can get apples and not oranges, or you can buy electricity and not gas At the end of the day, you’re still buying the same thing, it just has a different name There is no tangibility or differentiation. There is no secondary drive for people to jump in. Look at what happened with DAO’s, and how there was an insurgence of them simply because there was this neophilia, and this FOMO and this hype around DAO’s… …people assumed and thought there could potentially be some kind of passive income received, so people aped in. This caused more DAO’s to be created and now there's a stagnation in these projects because people are realizing “oh god, this isn't anything different here… this isn't what I imagined that it would be” So when you focus solely on the table stakes in your marketing, like: ● We've got great art ● We have tokenomics ● We've got a great community ● We offer this small value… …you’re missing out on a lot of potential marketing power and potential secondary sales as there’s no real reason for someone to buy into your project 12 The two best examples that I have seen that have been world-class add being remarkable and adding extra on top of Table Stakes include: 1. Vee Friends: they have real-world utility inside them. Sure, Gary Vee can do it simply because he's God damn Gary Vee. He can add a real-world utility to his token like “this one gets you a 24hr day with me” and “this one gets you a 2hr dinner“ because of who he’s created himself to be. People value that and will therefore pay for it. The lesson here is that this is the value he’s created to add to his tokens so the value is more than the table stakes needed to play the game 2. Tom Bilyeu & Impact Theory: Tom is bringing to the table both real-world utility and online utility. Founders Key provides: a. Metaverse experiences b. Access to different media & comics c. All these different stories and all these different channels in a way that mimics Disney and all its movies d. Some keys even provide you with partnership rights - so if you have an idea we can now co-create and work together VeeFriends and IT! have added value on top of the table stakes. That's all they've done. Go back to part one of the marketing series and you’ll see they have added value for their community that is specific to their community in the form of value their community wants That's it, that's all that they've done. It is simple. It is brilliant. And it is effective because they have delivered the table stakes but then they have also added all of this other value on top of it And this ties into the next issue… 13 6. Why Do I Even Buy These NFT’s? Why do people want BAYC, HeadDAO, Cool Cats, Punks, and more? Yes, it’s for the $ that comes with it and the potential to increase on your investment, but predominantly it’s status (*we simply do not want to admit it as such) When it comes to our marketing you must understand that people act based on emotion first and not logic and rationality We talked about this briefly in part two - and the point to hammer home is that we are emotional creatures We do everything based on emotion, and we justify it rationally at a later date. We bring our experiences we bring our assumptions, we bring our opinions and our thoughts to the doorstep of every single present moment We don't ever have all of the data, but we think we do (*hint: we’re world-class liars and self-deluders). So whatever portion is missing, we simply imagine & create the data to fill it in ourselves Take books for example… Why do people buy non-fiction books? Why do people purchase the likes of a self-help book or business book? They have no freaking idea about what's inside. They have no idea of the words that are in there, the lessons inside, or the concepts that will be in there They buy the book based on the story that they tell themselves about the author, about what they imagine based on the cover, about what they imagine is inside based on the blurb and testimonials about it That is why they will buy the book. It's an emotional choice They think to themselves, “this book is going to solve this problem that I have internally. This book is going to help me achieve a goal that I have. I don't know what specifically, but I know enough about this author to know what to expect”, and then I fill in the blank pieces for myself The same goes for shoes… …why do people buy the Yeezys? It's not because they're comfortable. It's not because they look better. It's because of how that person is going to feel and how they are going to relate to themselves when they're wearing the Yeezys and the story they tell themselves about who other people think they will be because they are wearing that shoe It's emotion And this is one of the reasons that most people are buying NFT's. The other is money and status 14 Most people won't admit this to themselves but watch… wherever the money goes, people are going to follow and follow fast. Why? Because it's emotional. There's an emotional attachment to it. “I have the chance to essentially “get rich quick? I want to play that game!” It’s going to be fun & exhilarating (*hint: emotional states). The whole status game ties into the psychology exactly like the shoe example above. It’s Reebok vs Gucci. Tesla vs Toyota If I have a Bored Ape; who does that make me? Essentially, I’m no different than when I didn’t have the ape, but people are going to perceive me in a certain light they are going to put me inside a specific category that is better than if I didn’t have the ape The same is true if I own a Punk, a Doodle, or a Mutant Cat. The NFT is a status symbol. And people want that status association that comes with owning a specific NFT People want to be perceived that way, they want to feel better about themselves, but it is still all status How can you create this for yourself? Stories AND Offer. If you create a story and a brand (*a storybrand) that people value and perceive as being valuable - people will begin to associate status with it And if you NAIL your offer (*see this thread on how to create an offer so good people would be stupid to say no to it ) people are going to ape in even more as there’s so much value and goodwill in it for them With this, more people will jump in, and more people will hold… and with time more perceived value is going to be created Soon you’ll have something that people want to jump into because either: a. it provides them with status (*social incentive) b. it provides them with monetary gain (*monetary incentive) 15 7. There’s No Such Thing As Luck; But Moving First Helps People think “first movers“ are doing everything right and they don’t see this as simply the noise that it is… …they think what’s been done can be attributed as reasons for the success; when in Truth there was a little luck, great timing, and first-mover principles involved - not effective execution I forget what Naval Ravikant once said about luck, but essentially there is no such thing as it. What there is, is being in the right place, at the right time, with the right people, and the right tools When people look at the NFT space they see these successful projects and forget to take this into account Yes, there are things these projects got right at the beginning; but oftentimes they were simply the first mover - and the first mover in any space is always going to see the market share and success at the beginning The thing about first movers is that they don't have to do everything right to see success. They can fuck up as much as they want because they're the first in the category and there are no rules or expectations yet… …there are no standards to achieve As such, they will receive the majority of the attention Look at HeadDAO and Mutant Cats. Both realised they had issues with their contract and have had to go back and rework things. People didn’t know or didn’t care much as they were the first movers in the space and were making it up as they went along Look at HeadDAO and the crash of their $HEAD token when altcoins pumped. Their strategy was to focus exclusively on Blue-Chip NFT investments for their vault, thinking that as the vault increased in value so would their token. And so they added Fidenza’s and BAYC and more - only for the market to crash and with it their $HEAD token It dropped from about $27 to $1.18… …the system was broken because the value of their token has nothing to do with the value of their vault in reality - only in imagination They saw success because they were first movers. But what can you do if you're not a first mover? You listen to Tim Ferriss and create your own category. You create a brand new category of one for yourself to play inside of, and at the same time become the first mover in this space Using the HeadDAO example, they were one of the first DAO’s. Now all of these other DAO’s are popping up in the same category of being a DAO 16 Success will come for the DAO’s who create a new category for themselves inside of the DAO Category HeadDAO may be the one that invests in Blue Chip NFT's. Olympus may be the DAO that acts like a hedge fund. But what's going to be the DAO that invests in real-world businesses? That’s a new category of DAO What's going to be the DAO that invests in play to earn gaming for their members? Again, a new category of DAO By doing this you’re creating a new category of DAO where you’re essentially saying “hey, you join us if you're interested in this thing if you want to be a part of a DAO that invests in this kind of thing” The P2E Gaming DAO essentially creates and receives passive income for its members and for the DAO. This DAO can then invest in other P2E Games, or another blue-chip NFT’s, or in other real-world businesses, or in crypto and altcoins, depending on what's happening in the market This is also a great way to diversify into high, medium, and low risk investments for the DAO - again, potentially a new category of DAO The key to these categories is that, once again, they’re all driven by value and that value is created by the community To be successful in your marketing know that: 1. There’s really no such thing as luck 2. Yes, moving first helps - but creating a category of one for yourself will do more wonders for your marketing. 17 8. It’s All Connected Know this, the success of a project & its marketing does not come from one thing specifically - it’s not a roadmap, artwork or utility - it’s the interconnectedness of everything Have a simple and solid roadmap Have some utility that is highly valuable for the people that you want to attract Have community aspects that again, the people will find valuable and want to be there for after they mint Have internal value that creates a family vibe Have badass artwork Form incredible relationships with other projects and business And create leverage for yourself in your marketing by doing less with more… …what do I mean by this? Let’s say we're looking at content: 1. Shoot a video 2. Strip the audio for a podcast 3. Strip the text and get it transcribed for a blog or article 4. Cut down specific sections to form smaller pieces of audio, video, and written content too *Note: when it comes to leverage in your marketing you can either use: 1. Specific Knowledge - takes time to build 2. Labour - yours or other peoples (*often costing capital) 3. Capital - money you need to receive 4. Tech/Systems - do it once, then have the tech and robots continue doing it for you And now, from one thing you have multiple things. It’s all connected guys… …it’s all connected 18 **Bonus** Patience, Young Padawan Before we get into the specific marketing strategies; display patience to all of this. Think about how long it takes you to make a choice or a change in specific things… …some smaller choices happen overnight, others take time The same is true for your community Yes, you’ll have people ape-in and join due to FOMO or hype; but what’s the quality of this type of person to your community, project and its future? My good friend, and CEO of #1 H&F Podcast, Barbell Shrugged, once told me they take 6 months of lead time to market their products and services… …they focused heavily on nutrition for 6 months if they had a nutrition product coming up they wanted to sell This meant the majority of podcast guests, articles, content, videos, and more was nutrition-focused to pre-frame their audience about the pains + problems they experienced with their nutrition and make it front and center of their minds By doing this, when they then positioned their product as something to solve these issues people are thinking about and be something to help them achieve their goals - people would take action Use Pareto’s Principle here - 80% long-term focused (*nutrition-focused content) and 20% short-term focused (*health-focused content) For your project, this would be 80% long-term value and 20% hype and FOMO It is your ability to display patience and expand your time horizon that will influence your ability to succeed in this space. The longer the runway, the bigger the plane that can take off… 19 **Bonus** Overcoming Friction One of the biggest hurdles and aspects of human nature that we’ve got to work with is our innate unconscious response of skepticism to those things that we do not understand Right now, the societal narrative that’s associated with crypto, web3, and NFTs is that it’s a ponzi-scheme, a joke, a short-term cash grab, and it’s not here for the long-term As such, you’re going to meet friction in bringing people into your project OR face adversity in people FUDding you and more One choice here is to try and educate people to help minimize and remove this skepticism to help them understand and see the Truth of what’s happening… …if you attempt this know it’s a long-game to play and you have no control over the people; solely the educational content you’re putting out into the world. You cannot change human behaviour, you can only leverage it - people will understand when they want to understand; so put the content out and detach from everything else The other choice is to put the fucking blinders on and just do you. Speak only to the people who are open to listening and fuck everyone else. Take the #PirateMentality and be the rebel who’s sole conviction is on their mission and the success of their project Whilst this secondary approach may create more friction and adversity because it will be more polarizing, you’ll form a stronger attraction & connection with the people who DO believe - to the point they’ll go to war with you and for you in the midst of the FUD from the non-believers 20 The Solutions #1. People Like Us Do Things Like That The first thing that NFT Projects can do to better the chances of their success is to stand for something… …because if they don't, they're going to fall for anything The brilliant marketing mind Seth Godin has a beautiful terminology to sum this up. He expresses that, “people like us do things like that” This is such a simple and effective way to sum up one of the aspects of human psychology when it comes to our decision-making process Put simply, it expresses that if we see people who we perceive to be like ourselves to be like doing something, then we will automatically think that we should be doing it as well If I perceive myself to be like that person, and that person buys NFT’s, then buying NFT’s must be for me… …this is one of the reasons celebrity endorsements and influencers work so well - we want to perceive ourselves to be like that person and on that person’s level (*remember Status from Part 3). By owning the same NFT, or an NFT, we perceive ourselves to be on the level of the other person who has it And this is a marketer’s secret weapon If a project can create an experience or a product for a specific type of person that: a. Solves a specific pain or problem they have b. Helps them achieve a specific goal or desire …then they’re going to see success. Why? Because there are going to be other people out there with a similar problem(s) and similar goal(s) who are watching these people like them and think to themselves, I’m like that person - I can have this too But here's the kicker. In order for this to happen, you need to know what your project stands for, and who your project stands for So you need to think about: ● Who is the type of person that we want to attract and what is it that they value? ● What is it that they want? ● What is it that they desire? The sooner you can answer those questions, the sooner you can create something valuable for specific people… You can create value for them. You can create: ● A product 21 ● A service ● A roadmap ● Utility ● Tokenomics ● A mechanism ● An NFT project that people want to be a part of …and because you created something of value for a specific kind of person, they will emotionally make a choice to be a part of your project **BONUS: niching down is a gift, not a death sentence - by speaking to a smaller group of people you’ll speak louder… see the article 1,000 True Fans by Kevin Kelly for more on this When you have this “people like us do things like that” phenomena at play, onlookers will be moved to jump in for themselves. They will see the people they perceive to be like them doing the thing, and they will think they’re like that person and jump in for themselves When you have this, one of the best things that you can do for yourself is to implement a glass windows marketing strategy What I mean by this is to think about the businesses that have prime real estate on main roads or areas with high foot traffic… …what they do is make sure they have these huge floor-to-ceiling glass windows so people going past can see inside The people going past can look inside and begin to grasp the experience of what it would be like to go inside. They can get a taste for what's happening & their curiosity and interest can be driven to a point where they’ll go inside If they were concrete walls they wouldn’t even know the thing inside existed… the glass windows grab their attention You can do this with your NFT project. You can use this glass windows marketing effect on a digital platform to show people the experience of what it is like to be a part of your project ● Here's what's happening in the discord look at how much fun it is. Look at what this person is saying, this person saying, and this person is saying ● Here's the game to play on the backend. Look at all the interaction with it ● Here's what's happening on OpenSea ● Here's what's happening on the website ● Here's what's happening on Twitter You can allow people to see everything that's happening inside of your ecosystem and experience what it’s like for them to be a part of it too When their emotional desire hits the right tipping point, they’ll jump in to join your community (*note: this is individual to everyone and some people will take longer and need to see more than others) 22 Identify what it is that you exist for AND who it is that you exist for. Identify the value that they want and then give them all of that using a glass windows marketing strategy Do that, and when people are finally ready to take action, they're going to take action because every box has been ticked 23 #2. The Moment The “I Can’t Believe This Is Meat” Revolution Will Begin One of the most powerful transitions that a marketer and a creator can make to their thinking is thinking using first principles First-principles thinking, sometimes called reasoning from first principles, is one of the most effective strategies you can employ for breaking down complicated problems and generating original solutions A first principle is a foundational proposition or assumption that stands alone. We cannot deduce the first principles from any other proposition or assumption. An example of first principles thinking in the real world is a human decision to consume meat… Using a first-principles approach, the reason is based on the taste, the smell, and the texture As soon as someone can produce a non-meat, meat product that tastes exactly like meat, smells exactly like meat, and has the same texture as meat is the point humans will begin to transition toward it As now that our first-principle reason for making the choice is handled, we’ll listen to the story about how good it is for the environment and be able to make that choice because my needs and wants (*taste) are solved This is the sole reason that none of those non-meat products have been successful yet. None of them taste as good as meat. The majority of people don’t care enough about the environmental effects yet, or more than they do about the taste of meat, so they continue to choose meat over non-meat So coming to your NFT project and its marketing - what's the first principle that people want from it? The majority of the time it's going to be some kind of financial gain. People are going to want to jump in out of the hope and desire that their investment is going to increase over time However, if you market this financial gain then you are only going to attract the people who are interested in that thing. And if you do that, then you are likely going to have a ton of paper handers who, at the first sign of making some form of return on their investment, are going to drop the floor and look to get out for a bit of financial gain Not an ideal project… So what you want are people who are going to hold. And to find those people you’re going to need to attract people who value: ● Community ● Utility ● Being a part of something special ● Human connection ● Relationships ● Other people 24 What they'll want is hope. What they'll want is a connection. What they'll want is to be a part of something that makes them feel loved, something that makes them feel valued, safe, and secure If you can provide one or multiple of those things, and then stack more value on top, people will stay with you It doesn’t matter where the money then goes, people will stay because they’re in your project for all of these other reasons than financial gain. Any money is simply a cherry on top Using first-principles thinking, you can highlight exactly what humans want and how you can provide it to them When you’re able to tie first-principle thinking with the kind of person you want to attract and use a glass-windows marketing principle - you’ll be ahead of 90% of the other NFT Projects out there in generating momentum for your project and long-term success Solve for these things and you will solve the majority of your marketing challenges 25 #3. Would You Rather “This” or “That”? One of the fascinating things about human psychology is our love for laziness We have all of these cognitive biases and heuristics that allow us to take shortcuts in order to save energy. Why do we want more energy? So that we can use that energy towards what we think are more important things for us… …in the past, this would have been evading some kind of enemy - but for now, it’s solely because we crave efficiency - even if it’s at the cost of our desired outcome Take this for example, would you rather: 1. a $39 bottle of wine and 38 free bottles 2. 39 bottles of wine for $39? Right now, you’re likely thinking that the 39 bottles of wine for $39 equates to 39 x $1 bottles of wine and the $39 bottle of wine + 38 other bottles means a single $39 bottle of wine and 38 others of equal, higher or less value… …and in doing so you’d favor the latter But in truth, they’re both the same You’re getting 39 bottles of wine for $39. Psychologically, your emotional System 1 kicks in and makes the choice for you instead of your rational System 2 (*for more on this read Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow) Another example of this is in a taste-test scenario. Picture 3 glasses of wine in front of you. One of low, medium, and high price. After tasting, the majority of people agree that more expensive is the best tasting… …when in Truth they’re all the same win Price acts as an anchor for “perceived” value inside the human mind. If something is more expensive then it must be better, it must be more valuable, it must be of a higher quality - when in reality, it’s not It's simply a psychological shortcut that comes down to do with value When you can play the perceived vs real value game and get it right in your project and your marketing, you're in a very, very powerful position But again, and I cannot stress this enough - the value must be tied into something your community values - not what you value. In the wine example above, people value taste You must identify what your community values (*do this by listening) and then you can create even more perceived and real value on top of it 26 You can take the value to the next level by stacking things. This comes back to the wine example from the beginning of this section You stack 38 other bottles of wine on top of an already $39 bottle of wine and it seems like a great deal. But if you were to package them all together and say that you get all of these bottles of wine for $39 instead, you devalue the product by grouping them all together The former seems as though there's more value for the person even though it's the same amount of value because they're getting the same thing either way So how can you look at your NFT project and say, what is the core value that we’re offering everyone? And now how can we stack and add all of these other values on top of it? As an example: ● The NFT gives you access to part of the community in the utility that comes ● And it also gives you: ○ A relationship with these local coffee distributors all around the world depending on where you are, where you can go in and essentially get your coffee for 50% off coffee beans and cups of coffee ○ Access to a games & movie night every week ○ Access to live bands once a week ○ Alpha education so that you can make better choices and more informed choices when it comes to NFT projects. You can invest in crypto, you can look at yield farms, you can look at DeFi and DAO’s Breaking them all out seems more valuable than if you were to package them all together. There is more perceived value even though the real value is the same How can you do this in your project and marketing? **BONUS: a quick note on pricing** Derek Sivers speaks a lot about the psychological component of pricing and how we “group” pricepoints together to help us make easier, smoother, faster decisions For example, $20 and $30 likely hold the same “point” in your mind. You wouldn’t question the difference …but $20 and $40 or $20 and $50 - well now you’re going to put some thought into it and think why is this 2x or more than double the price now? When it comes to your pricing, know that people think in terms of ETH. It’s a rarity that they’ll do the conversion to fiat currencies. As such, is 0.06 and 0.08 that much different in imagination? No. It’s not. People will rarely question it… …but to your project, the leverage is immense. On a 3k drop, it’s an extra 60ETH - or $306,000AUD for you to create value with Alpha: also research “The Decoy Effect” around pricing for even greater benefits 27 #4. It’s Not Like The Tortoise and The Hare… But It Is When you observe the majority of people inside the NFT community right now, it is a safe bet to express that the majority of them are thinking very, very short term They want things fast. They want it to happen quickly because it has to. The speed of the industry is rapid, and as such, your project’s movement and progress must be too - right? Well, yes and no People want it to be quick as they currently associate fast with success - but that is only because the industry is so young. We’re not even 12 months in yet… The Truth is projects place themselves in a very vulnerable position by thinking solely in regards to speed as in doing so, they’re hyper-focused on the short-term, micro position of the business and lack the macro, long-term view They get lost in the dirt, as Gary V would say, and therefore cannot ever reach the clouds What I mean here is that people are only being very short-sighted in the actions that they're taking in their marketing and their growth They’re value quantity > quality in regards to giveaways, collaborations, connections, and relationships. They're solely thinking about what’s going to be good for them right now, and not what's going to benefit them in a year, two years, or 10 years as well Now, this may be due to the fact people don’t even know if this industry will be here then - and that’s far. But it will be, the question is - will you and your project still be here too The other reason this may occur is the creators, artists, devs, and founders are in it for a quick cash grab - and if that’s you; please kindly fuck off (*thank you) If you want to market effectively and see real-world, long-term success for your project you need to adopt a longer-term vision and approach What I mean by this is that when it comes to the likes of your table stakes marketing activities, giveaways/collaborations/relationships/connections - how can you adopt them with the next 2 years and more taken into consideration? How can you identify the people you’d love to do these things with over the long term and where this connection serves both parties in both the short and long term. We’re back at the Ugli Orange Thought Experiment again Do the giveaways, collabs, and more - but do them strategically. Think like Naval Ravikant does when he expresses that you want to play long term games with long term people 28 Do your projects align? Can you both provide value to the other party in the form they want? Does this project or person have people who’d love to be part of your community? Do we want to be affiliated with this project or person? If you wouldn't work with someone for the rest of your life. Don't work with them for the next five minutes This should be your new mantra… Where too many people go wrong is that they attribute quantity to be better than quality. They ask “how can we get a shill? How can we get to 10,000 people as fast as possible? How can we get as much attention and as many people in right now because that's what's going to help us succeed?” It's not going to help you succeed as the majority of those people are simply going to ape in without doing research and you're going to end up with a lot of people who you do not want to be here long-term, so they’ll paper hands and want out If you take a more strategic approach, if you take more of a more sniper approach instead of a shotgun approach, you're going to put yourself in a much better position The challenge and reason most people do not do this are it’s not sexy. It may take a little longer to reap the fruits of your hard work, and you won’t get the immediate short-term dopamine kicks of success This is all hypothetical and imagined, however… as just because someone has a smaller follower doesn’t mean they have less impact I remember Aubrey Marcus expressing how they paid Ludacris $ to promote their Onnit Products as he had a large following in the space and yet, barely any bought. There was a misalignment in the relationship. They used someone with a much smaller following and saw a great return on their investment for the collaboration It wasn’t as sexy, but it was more beneficial When it comes to researching + identifying potential relationships & collaborations, ask yourself these questions: ● What projects are similar to ours in they attract the same kind of person we’re after? ● What influencers do my values align with, and who has influence in the NFT space or the kind of community I’d love to get in front of? ● What projects are different from ours and are an accessory to what we’re doing? For example, if there’s a Casino-Style NFT, they may very well want to partner with another P2E Project or a PFP Style Project or a DAO ● What influencers have true influence and persuasion over their audience? Who has a great reputation and great results? For example, I’d rather someone with a 1,000 following and 500 people act over someone with a 1,000,000 where only 5,000 people act Now, when it comes to reaching out about the collaborations and relationships, never go in asking first - START A RELATIONSHIPS AND CONVERSATION FIRST ● See the conversation as human to human, not project t project or creator to influencer ● Add value to their day, be their friend, mention what you love about them 29 ● Ask questions and keep the messages short as this helps the conversation to flow ● Let them know about your project if they ask ● After a few back-and-forth messages, you can ask them about your idea and proposal Far too many people go straight in for the kill without any connection being formed or value being added… please don’t be one of those people If the influencer doesn’t reply to you it’s a sign they’re not the kind of person for you. If they do, you can form a long and prosperous relationship that benefits both parties for the weeks, months and years to come **BONUS: Here’s How To NOT Collab** This following exchange actually occurred in my Twitter DM’s Creator: we would like to make a collaboration giveaway with zp , I would like to know what is your terms to do so Me: Hey! What are you aiming to achieve with your project? What would you love to get out of a collab? Creator: we are building the community rn so we made a 25 NFTs giveaway for our discord members Me: Cool. But what do you want to get out of a collab? Why are you doing a giveaway? Creator: we are promoting to build community and discord members Me: I understand. But what kind of community do you want to build? Who do you want to attract? Anyone and everyone OR a specific kind? Creator: everyone First things first, you have to admire the desire and intention behind this ask. It’s required inside the industry - but what’s not required is this shotgun approach of shoot and hope The thing that projects need inside this space is strategy - especially if they’re going to play with table stakes like collaborations and giveaways Just because everyone is doing them and you think it’s what’s making them successful doesn’t mean that’s the truth… …and if everyone is doing them then you need to be smarter about how you go about it so it’s not just like everyone else Secondly, and here’s the key to all of this If you stand for nothing you will fall for anything 30 Saying you want to appeal to everyone and bring them all in is a recipe for failure. Why? 28 Because it misses the human psychological component of “people like us do things like that“ and does not create the emotional connection humans require in order to create meaning and a reason to do something When you look at the human decision-making matrix, it’s broken down into 3 stages 1. Interest/Curiosity 2. Desire 3. Action People will ape into something if it interests them or piques their curiosity. Seeing others ape in ties into the social-proof cognitive bias and means yes, people will follow But after that, you’ve now got to build their desire to stay So if you don’t know who you’re attracting or what they value and desire - you’re done for And this is the exact reason this above collaboration wouldn’t work There’s no reason for anyone to do anything apart from a free NFT & this completely devalues both projects as there’s no reason behind it apart from THIS IS WHAT PEOPLE DO So what do you do instead? Do your research… Look for projects whose values, visions, and roadmap align with yours. Look for projects who already have the kind of community you’d like and offer value that is an accessory (*successory) to yours Run an “Ugli Orange” thought experiment to imagine what piece of the orange the other project would like… …you might think they also want the juice or the flesh, but they might want the rind or the skin Go in with a plan, go in with intent. Show them you’ve thought it through and have a variety of idea’s to execute depending on what they’d love out of it Do that and your collaboration has a better chance of moving to the second stage or being fully realized than the above And the best news, it’s highly likely also going to be a collaboration that is highly successful at achieving the outcomes for both parties 31 #5. The #1 Health & Fitness Podcast in the World I am blessed to be great friends with the co-founders of the number one health and fitness podcast in the space. They began it back in 2013. At that point in time, they had no idea that podcasts were going to become what they have become… …much like the NFT space right now Mike tells the story of listening to old Robb Wolf podcasts back in 2012 and them being so dry, scientific, and in-depth that they were hard to listen to. But then, one day, he stumbled across Joe Rogan and he observed how Joe literally talks about fucking anything This is the moment it all clicked for Mike as he saw, “Oh my god, Podcasts can be about anything” He, Doug, and Chris would go on to discuss starting a podcast about CrossFit, about Health and Fitness; a show where they could interview some of the best minds in that space. It took off it skyrocketed from there Yes, they were first movers in the space - but it became saturated super fast and they had to keep up. How did they do this? How did they continually innovate and stay ahead? It’s funny and not what you’d think… Mike tells this story about how so many people would say “y'all just blew up” and he'd explain, “we didn't just blow up. We put in some damn hard work over many months and many years in order to get here” Nothing ground-breaking… but here’s the kicker and the one thing that determined Shrugged’s continued success? They showed up every single Wednesday at the exact same time with the kind of content their community wanted and loved It didn't matter what was happening in their personal lives, it didn't matter how challenging life was and it didn't matter how many obstacles they faced from a technology side, or a guest side, or a traveling side. At that time, every single Wednesday, they showed up People began to trust them and hold them to it. People began to look forward to this episode dropping every Wednesday AND all the little pieces of content leading up to it during the week They used the age-old strategy of a broadcast to their advantage. Exactly like a TV Show, Radio Show, YouTube Show, and more now do They were able to revolve everything they did around this new episode that was coming up. They could show sneak peeks about what it was about. Little snippets that showed behind-the-scenes footage 32 They could talk about the guest’s expertise and knowledge and even utilize the guest’s network and community to come into their community to listen to the show They could take snippets from the episode and put them out leading up to the episode going live or put them out in the week after to get people to go listen to it This both allowed people to have their curiosity and desire built in the lead-up to the next show AND allowed them to binge-back old episodes if they wanted Now what this example is showing you is that when it comes to your NFT project, consistency over a long period of time is what is going to support you Why? It’s that consistency that's going to allow people to get to know you, like you and trust you. And if you continually show up in the same place with value for them over a long enough timeline, people are going to understand you’re here for the long-term and you’re bringing tons of value to their lives And that right there, that's what your marketing and your content are about. How can you show up every day with something that's valuable for your community so that they get to know you, they come to like you and they come to trust you? Yes, I know - but this is the NFT Space, Psychonaut - we’re not podcasters or TV Shows… …but what you can do is use this concept of a broadcast & model it to take it to another level inside the NFT World It’s simply asking yourself, “how can I create something of value for my community & package it in a way that it becomes like a broadcast that we can build up to?” It could be a launch, a Twitter Space, a weekly discord event or party, a collaboration with an artist that’s doing a 1/1, a comic story where a specific part of the story drops every few days or weeks, a YouTube Show - anything! It simply needs to be something valuable to your community that’s in a format they want to consume. If you can do that, you're now going to have a core foundation of your marketing that you can revolve everything else around Plus, it's going to add extra value to your community. It's going to add extra value to your product and it's going to make your life a heck of a lot easier because you're not going to be sitting there thinking about what the fuck do I do and talk about for my marketing? It’s going to save you hours because you're not trying to come up with ideas because you have a strategy. You have a focal point that everything can revolve around Exactly like the planets of the solar system revolve so effortlessly around one another - so to will your marketing work with ease, grace, and flow 33 So what can you create to broadcast to your community? What can you create so that you have some form of consistency in your marketing? Something that's not going to make you have to continually rethink and renew what it is that you are putting out to your community… 34 #6. The Human Decision-Making Process… as easy as 1, 2, 3 The human decision-making process is a fascinating thing. You may look at it and imagine that the reason that people make the choices that they do are really, really complex… …and we'd like to think that because if it is super complex and we don’t understand it, then it’s okay. We can let ourselves off the hook But the truth of the matter is that our decision-making process is so super fucking simple that it’s fascinating marketers don’t use it more There is a way that you can align your marketing to the human decision-making process so that you can see and observe when people are moving through each of the three different stages Yeah, that's right, there are only three stages 1. Interest 2. Desire 3. Action First, I've got to become interested in something. I have to become curious about it and either want to learn more about it or want it in my life Once I'm interested in it, now my desire needs to be built and grow to a level where I’m at an emotional tipping point to take action (*remember, we’re emotional creatures) And when I’m there, I take action As an example, think about when you want to purchase a new car… …you don't just run out to the dealership and buy one - do you? (*stats show 3% of people will) No, you do some research. You compare different cars for the potential economy of it, to see what engine’s used, to gauge the driving performance and feel, the see how fuel-efficient it is And then you're going to go and test drive it, and all the while you’re comparing it against other cars to see which is better and which gives you more status and identifies who you are as a person. Over this period of time, you’re building your desire for one of the cars until it gets to the tipping point where you're now ready to buy the car It started with interest, your desire was built (*or not) over a period of time, and then you acted The thing to remember here is that everyone is different: ● What we're interested in is going to be different. ● What we need to see in order for our desire to be increased is going to be different ● The length of time that it takes for all that to happen is going to be different ● It's going to be a different path and length of time for different products too 35 For example, purchasing an NFT is likely going to be a much faster process than purchasing a car or a house 32 The way to use this to your advantage is to understand there are 3 different “types” of content you need to produce in your marketing so you can specifically speak to people depending on the stage they’re at ● Interested: tell people stories about things they’re interested in to get their attention ○ Art ○ Community ○ Metaverse Utility ○ Real-World Utility ■ Music ■ Sports ■ Trading Cards ■ Nature ○ Financial Gain (*note: you're not going to have the attention of everybody, but that's okay because you don't want everybody’s attention… you want a specific kind of person's attention) ● Desire: tell people stories that show them how they can get what they want ○ How easy it is? ○ How simple a process is it? ○ Solve some of the objections that people have ○ Help me better understand your project more ■ Using a DAO example of someone interested in a DAO ● You increase their desire by showing them: ○ What is it that your DAO does? ○ What is it that makes it different? ○ How does it work? ○ How do I stake my NFT what is it that I receive back on the back end of it? ○ What happens if the DAO just fails? ○ What happens to my money? ○ Are there any other utilities that I get for being a part of this DAO? ○ Show them the DAO is looking to do this and this ○ Answer the question “am I just setting my money in this treasury and that's the end of it, or is there more?” As you tell those stories you begin to show the person what it's like inside your project (*remember Glass Windows Marketing), and now they feel safer and more secure. With time their desire is heightened, and when it gets to their personal tipping point, they’ll take action ● Action: tell them stories that show them what life is like after joining your project ○ Show them all the fun people are having in your community ○ Show them the results people get from your NFT Project ○ Show them all the good you’re doing in the world 36 ○ Show them how much you’re executing ○ MOST IMPORTANTLY, INVITE THEM TO ACTION; don’t tell them or ask them - invite them Where far too many devs, creators, artists, and founders go wrong is they: a. Only focus on the action part, and when they do, they tell people or ask them (*and remember, only 3% of people are at this point) b. They try and do all three in one post/marketing strategy and miss everyone You want to have three different intentions for your marketing: 1. Some content is for the people whose interest you want 2. Some content is for the people already interested whose desire you’re building 3. Some content is inviting the people who are ready You'll never truly know where people are in the NFT world because it moves so quick - but here’s the best overview I can give right now ● Interest: they have not yet followed you on Twitter or joined your Discord ● Desire: they follow you and are in your discord ● Action: they own your NFT And here’s how I’d market to these different stages and what platforms I’d be on ● Interest: ○ YouTube ○ Twitter ○ IG ○ Reddit ○ IcyTools/NFT Specific Sites ○ Other peoples discords/social profiles ● Desire: ○ All of the above - but the message would be about building desire ○ Inside my discord ● Action: ○ Same as desire - but the message is inviting them to take action Your discord becomes an area where you get to build people's level of desire. How can you build their desire in there? You show them all the things they get that they’d be interested in ● You get exclusive access to this alpha ● You get to come in for these meta Metaverse experiences ● You'll get this super funky NFT that is going to allow you to play as that avatar ● You can play our arcade games ● You can play our play to earn games ● You can come along to the live DJ sets & live bands when we have them ● You get whitelist access to these projects 37 That’s how you build desire, but only if those are things your community is interested in and value At that point, when you invite them they’re at an emotional point where they’re saying to themselves “oh my god, okay, there's so much value here for me. I'm now ready to take action. Where do I go? Do I need to go mint? Or do I go to the open sea page?” It's as simple as that Where you can add layers of complexity lies in the types of content you use and the specific types of stories that you tell at each stage and the words that you use to tell those stories How do I get someone interested? How do I build their desire? How do I invite them to take action? That’s the focus of your marketing. They're the only three steps that you need to focus on and problems you need to solve. How you do it is up to you and what matters most But for now, keep it simple and focus on how you can get people interested, build their desire, and invite them to action If you do that, and you do it well all your marketing is solved. So spend your time here, solving the 3 steps of the human-decision making process 38 #7. The Two Universal Types of Language One of my good friends, Mark England, is the language guy. He’s a TedTalker and co-founder of Procabulary and Enlifted. The guy is a language expert - he’s been a one-trick-pony for most of his life… Before we dive in, let’s look at the Aramaic word, Abracadabra - with my words I create And this is the truth… the words we use create the realities we experience As an overview, here’s how language works in our lives: ● Short term: what we think, read and say shapes our imagination and our feelings ● Medium-term: our language heavily influences our personal stories and what we believe to be true about the world ● Long-term: our stories shape our realities and our experiences by systematically editing out anything that doesn’t fit ● Thought Model & Framework: words become stories and stories become realities. If we change the words, we can change the story, and with time, change the reality What Mark found was that there are two universal types of language at its core foundation: 1. Architect - essentially “positive language” 2. Conflict - essentially “negative language” What thoughts, feelings, and visions do you associate with the word architect? What do they do? They create, they build, they envision something in their mind that doesn’t yet exist and then make it a reality… Now, what about the word conflict, what comes up for you here? Likely it’s fighting, aggression, harm, injuries, destruction, war, and more And this is the Truth when it comes to the language you use in your own life AND in your marketing One kind of language will align with your community and move them toward a thing they want with ease, flow, and grace; the other will create tension, stress, frustration, friction, and more I imagine you can tell which you’d rather more of in your life and your marketing… We can break these two types of language down into 3 subcategories: ● Architect: ○ Affirmation ○ Solid Talk ○ Reflection ● Conflict: ○ Negation ○ Soft Talk ○ Projection 39 Affirmations & Negations Rampant use of negations in our personal relationships will cause minor and major conflict & friction without us even knowing To use a negation is to focus on what wasn’t, what isn’t, and what can’t be and includes words like not, can’t, won’t, isn’t, don’t, haven’t, hasn’t, and shouldn’t These words cause the mind to focus on exactly what it’s trying to avoid Key Examples: 1. “I WON’T let you down” 2. “I CAN’T keep using this as an excuse” 3. “DON’T be late for dinner” On the other hand, an affirmation focuses on what was, what is, and what can be. Words like can, will, is, has, have, am, are all affirmation setup words that help you focus on the imagery and feelings of what you are seeking or seeking to understand. Key Examples: 1. “I CAN believe she said that” 2. “I DO know how to say this” 3. “Keep your clothes clean” Far too many marketing strategies will utilize negations in an attempt to produce a “negative feeling” in the reader, such as frustration, fear, FOMO, urgency, and more… people think this is the most powerful emotional state that people will act in When in fact, marketing strategies that utilize affirmations to create “positive feelings” in their readers, such as awe, excitement and humor actually fair better as their communities have a better association with the brand and overall feeling When it comes to your marketing, how can you better use affirmations to create a picture in your communities mind that aligns with what they want, and with what you want them to do DON’T THINK ABOUT A PINK ELEPHANT… see what happened? I used a negation, you thought of a pink elephant and it’s exactly what I didn’t want you to do! Soft & Solid Talk All of our relationships are built on communication, and chronically using soft talk is a great way to add frustration and uncertainty into your marketing Soft Talk is the excessive use of softening words to create ambiguity, uncertainty, and avoidance about a particular concept or choice 40