Everybody hates marketing. Everybody tells themselves it “doesn’t work on them” and “they just ignore it”. I tell myself the same things and even developed habits to see as little marketing as humanly possible. I have the strongest possible Ad Blocker, I mute the screen/video/TV if ads appear, I simply leave if something tries too hard to sell me anything.
Recently, however, I noticed one type of marketing that does work on me. I not only let it be—instead of leaving/muting/blocking—but might actually engage with it or enjoy it.
And I noticed this is true for most people. Almost everyone responds well to this kind of marketing, often even neglecting to notice it is marketing. It’s why I wrote this article to say …
All marketing should be an exchange.
It’s simply the most universally effective method. It’s the most efficient, the most practical. It adds value to the world all around, instead of hijacking people’s time and attention for only the minuscule chance of selling them something.
All marketing that I’ve seen work, and which worked on me, has been someone giving you something in return for you giving them their attention.
For example, take AMAs (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit. These are very common “events” where some noteworthy person or project starts a thread and lets people ask any questions they want, trying their best to answer all of them for several hours. For example, someone might have just released a new board game, and now they host an AMA. Or an actor might star in a new movie, so they spend an evening answering questions on Reddit.
These are pretty much always marketing beats. They are planned, timed to coincide with some new thing to sell or share, and sometimes it’s clear to me that the person doing them isn’t really into the spirit of it.
But they work. People love them. They flock to the AMA to ask all sorts of questions and almost feel honored when this famous person responds to their specific, silly or smart question. Numerous times I’ve simply landed on an old AMA when doing research for something else, and happened to stick around because some of the questions and answers were so interesting.
Marketing actually works and is viewed favorably when it’s an exchange. When you’re giving something in return for people’s attention.
Their money is for the product. If they pay X dollars, they get that game you’re promoting. That’s the “final exchange” you’re after.
You must offer something else to get their attention. It’s different. It’s an extra step, and it’s a necessary first step—in most cases—to getting things marketed/sold.
This can be an AMA: just give them some attention in return for their attention. This can be answering questions, giving a fun talk, hosting some little competition, or just simply showing up somewhere or spending a little time with someone.
Whatever it is, I’ve come to realize it must be done. And that it’s not “extra work”. It’s not “why should I give people even more before they’ve given me money”. The money is for the product you’re selling. The other thing(s) you do is for deserving their attention in the first place.
Yes, it can still feel very sleazy. It can still be ineffective. But at least it’s more effective at getting true engagement and getting true fans/buyers than almost anything else. Because you’ve given the audience something, they are more inclined to think positively of you and give you the benefit of the doubt. They are more inclined to even remember you (and your product) in the first place. Anyone you reach this way is far more likely to actually take the next step and buy something or become a loyal fan.
And so I write this article to motivate myself to follow through on my exchange-based marketing plan ;)
I’ve explained several times how I intend to launch a large online store early next year. How I believe it will sell really valuable works of mine and should be my way to an actual income. But people, of course, won’t find and trust such a new store magically. They need to know it exists. They need to give it a shot.
That’s also why I’m not one of those people who is against marketing 100%, in any form, all the time. Marketing is needed to actually let people know something exists. Just putting up a poster saying “you can buy shoes here” is also technically marketing. And if you don’t do it, well, nobody would have any clue that they could buy shoes there.
It’s just that 99% of marketing these days is predatory. It’s abundant. Most of it is consciously used to mislead people and get them to buy stuff they don’t need. That’s the reason to hate marketing and the reason I mostly just ignore it altogether. But, well, this brought me into the situation where barely anyone knows I exist and that I sell things!
How do we change that? How do I start “exchange-marketing” my things? Well, I realized I already kind of did. For years I’ve maintained completely free websites for people to play games, read stories, receive tutorials/guides on specific skills/topics, read blogs like this one, etcetera.
That’s the thing I’m giving. I had to realize this and get over that marketing hurdle to convince myself I could more “aggressively market” on those websites. After giving someone a free board game, I believe I’ve earned the right to let them know I sell even better board games at my online store. After giving someone tens of free short stories, I believe I’ve earned the right to five seconds of their attention—aimed at my latest published book.
And so I’ve been working hard to actually put that information out there. To keep those websites free instead of transfering all of it to the online store. To update them (sometimes in rigorous ways) to make them even more inviting and juicy; even more of a billboard for my paid work. Because, after getting someone’s attention in exchange for this work, I now realize I have this small window where I’m able to actually market something. And to do it in a way that’s effective as well as looked upon favorably.
This is also, of course, where the danger lies. Where it’s easy to cross the line.
Earlier I separated the “give something valuable in exchange for attention” and the “pay money for product” phase. Unfortunately, it’s all too easy to mix these two things. To make the “exchange” … giving the actual product for free. Or some demo version, or only the first few chapters, or something similar.
This doesn’t work. Because you’ve still skipped the first step, and instead you’ve turned “pay money for product” into “hey you get part of the product for free”. At which point most people will be satisfied by the free demo and never feel the need to pay. At which point you’ve already ruined it and put people into the “bleh marketing”-mindset. You’ve cheapened your “final exchange”—the actual product you wanted to sell—and didn’t actually do anything extra for the initial exchange.
That’s why all those “sign up to get a free guide/ebook on X” don’t really work, or so I believe. Why the “like me on Facebook to get the first 5 pages for free” is seen as obvious marketing and disliked. I personally hate all those popups and have never followed through. Even if I would be interested in some reading about that topic from a self-proclaimed expert.
Why?
- You’re not actually giving anything in this exchange for my attention. You’re just “releasing” some part of something you already made anyway. Or you’ve made some crappy digital file that is blindly sent out to thousands. Compare it with the AMA: actually hosting one is extra effort, not just part of the product. Answering specific questions is new effort for each person.
- If you make this actually valuable (“too valuable”) … nobody needs your actual product anymore. They are either satisfied with the thing you gave, or they’ll see it’s not good enough and have no desire for the full thing. It’s a lose-lose.
That’s why I never did that and probably will never do. The things I already made for free, with no intention to sell, just because I wanted to give people stories/games/music from my heart, are the extra effort I put into getting people’s attention. The products on the online store will never be used that way, never be “demo’d” or given out partially, and I sure won’t bother people about signing up for newsletters.
And if I have something I really believe in, I will do something extra for the marketing. I don’t know what—it will probably depend on the product—but I’ll find something extra and/or personal to give. An AMA if I ever become noteworthy enough. A tiny little video game to play in the browser to promote it. Some behind the scenes info, like chapters cut from the book, to release to people. Something!
I just hope all that work is enough to get some initial attention flowing towards my online store. I really really hope that, as I’ve now entered the third week of a massive rewrite and clean-up of Pandaqi ;) To stop it looking like a hobby project by a toddler and make it proper marketing for the upcoming store.
Anyway, those are my thoughts.
Marketing will always work optimally if it’s an exchange. The first exchange requires something extra, usually something personal and memorable without money involved, and the thing you get in return is lots of people’s attention. The second exchange is them actually paying money for the thing you’re promoting.