You should read this book if you:

Seek to create anything. It shifted my perspective on how marketing can be defined. This book is full of little gold nuggets of practical wisdom.

Summary (9.5/10)

If you see a way to make things better, than you have a marketing problem.

The best way to complain is to make things better. Better is what happens when culture absorbs our work.

Marketers make things better by making change happen.

Make products for the customer you seek.

Build something people would miss if it was gone.

Marketing in 5 steps:

1. Invent a thing worth making with a story worth telling and a contribution worth talking about.
2. Design it and produce it in a way that a few people really care about.
3. Tell a story that matches the built narrative and dreams of this tiny group of people.
4. Spread the word.
5. Often overlooked: Show up regularly for years to organise and lead for change to make and for enrollment to teach.

Persistent, consistent and frequent stories will earn you trust.

Culture beats strategy, because culture is strategy.

People don`t want what you make, they want how it will make them feel.

Most desired emotions: feeling safe and respected.

Humans are lonely, they want to be known and seen. We create experiences. Each of the steps is part of the experience.

The smallest viable market

Be very specific of the change you want to make. If you had to choose 1000 people as your fans, who would you choose?

Find a corner of the market that can`t wait for you. Overwhelm this group with your attention, care and focus. Make change that is so profound people can not help but notice.

Loving you is a way of expressing yourself. That becomes part of their identity.

Everyone is lonely, insecure and a bit of a fraud and afraid. Everyone has an impulse to connect and to contribute. It is so much more productive to dance together.

Always be connection, testing and seeking.

Find the things that you engage with trust. Find the essential parts that matter and weave them together into something new.

If you can`t succeed in the small, why would you in the big.

1000 true fans might be sufficient to live a more than normal life. They will spread the word to those around them.

How to be succesfull: Focus all your energy on a small number of people. Have the guts to be quirky.

Seek advice instead of feedback. Ask how you can make this thing fit more to the worldview of your audience. Plenty of people can tell you how your work made them feel.

Those people that don`t buy from you, why are they right?

Most poeple change their behavior to fit in and for status, affiliation and dominance. It takes tension to change them.

Normalisation creates culture and culture creates change. Marketers create change by normalising new behavior. Be brave enough to just pick one culture you want to change.

Being the one who establishes the next phase takes a leap, just a bit better and a little different than expected. Leap too far though and people won`t follow.

Every member is people like us, sign up for that and you gain status. Begin with an exclusive cohort.

Intentionally create little bits of tension, the reason is status.

Fashion is usually about affiliation. The goal is to be part of a story.

The only reason you launch something is because you want to make change. They want to know why.

People will ask what does it remind me off and then act accordingly. The form changes the product sound.

Pick a logo and keep it forever. Be willing to treat different people differently. Some people want to bargain, some will send more just because they can. Some want to talk about this, give them something to talk about.

All the story telling you do requires frequency. If you quit in the middle of it, there was no time to earn trust.

Price is a story

People form assumptions based on your price, important to be clear on how you position yourself. When you are the cheapest you are selling cheaper, not change.

Permission marketing is your biggest asset.

What is your purple cow (something worth talking about)?

The Funnel

Trust is not static. You can remove steps so that fewer decisions are required. Create tension to create forward motion. Hand those who successfully engaged in the funnel a megaphone.

Give people a network effect. What will I tell my friends and why? This usually involved changing what you have to offer.

The Tribe

It is not yours. If you invest in them, they will show you what they want and need. The goal is for them to miss you.

Manipulation is the tribe killer. Put people to work, challenge them to explore and learn to be uncomfortable with uncertainty.

Celebrate your people, invite everyone along.

Tribe = People share interests and goals. These members are lonely and disconnected, they fear not being seen. You can make connection happen. Intentionally create cultural artefact. Best marketers are farmers, not hunters.

The best work will create an imbalance in the viewer. This forces the word to spread. “Have you seen…?” will raise the status of the asker. The connection that you make matters.

Do the hard work of deciding this is your calling.

Marketing works and now is your turn. “Perfect” forbids us to try. The magic of “good enough” leads to engagement and trust. Ship your work if it is not good enough, then make it better. Market something you are proud of