Marketing & the NBA

The NBA finals are going on right now, so here’s something weird I noticed about basketball.

That “something weird” has a lesson in it — take that lesson to heart, and you’ll make more money.

What’s the lesson? I’ll explain.

I watch more American football than basketball. In American football, you can’t run the same play twice — because once the defense knows it’s coming, they’ll know how to stop it.

So American football coaches call different plays all game long. They’ll call a run to the left, and then they’ll call a crossing route over the middle, and then they’ll call a screen pass, and then they’ll call a deep shot to the team’s fastest receiver.

Basketball coaches don’t really mix things up. They just give the ball to their best player and let him work his magic.

Defenses know it’s coming — but they still can’t stop it.

Some coaches and course creators feel like they’re supposed to play football. They feel like they need to be “original” or “fresh” all the time.

So they throw out the proven marketing tactics that worked for them earlier. And instead they do something new.

Marketers usually don’t need to do anything new. You should play basketball, not football. If something works for you every time you do it, keep doing it.

If you’ve sold marketing coaching programs in the fast, keep selling marketing coaching.

Or, if you’ve got a weightlifting course that sells really well, create another weightlifting course.

Same thing with your marketing. Look at what’s working, and double down on it.

If you always get lots of opens/clicks/engagement when you talk about Taylor Swift and Katy Perry, then talk about Taylor Swift and Katy Perry more often.

If your most-clicked Facebook ad talks about making $10K a month in 90 days, send some emails that talk about making $10K a month in 90 days.

You get the point.

If you just “play the hits”, you’ll make way more sales. And creating content will get easier, too — because you don’t have to come up with something original every day.

Best,

Theo

P.S. If creating content is still too hard for you — or you just want to make sure your next course launch goes right — send me a reply.

"When did the news get AWESOME?"

“What’s that?”

“That? That’s nothing. It’s just a car chase.”

“Give it to me live, and start the broadcast.”

That’s a scene from Anchorman 2. There’s nothing newsworthy happening. So Ron Burgundy starts reporting on a car chase in progress.

And all across the country, people start tuning in.

“When did the news get AWESOME?” says one drunk guy watching in a bar.

Car chases aren’t really news, of course. They don’t affect your life.

But we can’t keep our eyes off them. Show a car chase on the news, and people tune in.

Same thing with celebrity gossip, human interest stories, and frankly, most of what they show on the news.

None of that stuff is ever gonna affect your life. It doesn’t matter to you. But it’s entertaining — so you watch anyways.

This is the #1 mistake people make when they write content. They teach, teach, teach.

But when you teach, teach, teach, your audience gets bored.

Why? Because learning is hard work. Deep inside, no one wants to learn.

But EVERYONE wants to be entertained.

That doesn’t mean you can’t teach stuff. You can teach AND be entertaining at the same time. (And you should.)

But I’m guessing you probably focus too much on teaching (or too much on selling), and not enough on entertaining.

How do you entertain people? The easiest way is to tell stories.

They don’t even have to be good stories. (As long as you tell them correctly.) 

Don't believe me? There’s a copywriter called Daniel Throssell who writes daily emails about going to the grocery store, or picking up his kids from daycare. And they make him a lot of money.

(Hell, in this email I just retold a scene from Anchorman 2. And you read all the way to the bottom!)

If you need help making your content more entertaining, let me know.

I can send entertaining content in your brand voice to your email list.

Your readers will get addicted to your emails. 

And you don’t have to lift a finger.

If you’d like to learn more, reply to this email.

-Theo

The "godfather" of internet marketing (all the other gurus envy him!)

One cold morning in January, I walked into the Omni Hotel in Austin, Texas. 

My teeth were chattering. Partially because it was cold.

But also, because I was about to meet some famous people.

I was going to an email marketing conference. It was a small event — fewer than 30 people showed up. 

And some of those <30 people were bigshots in the marketing world.

For example:

• Ian Stanley was there.

• Liss Graham (who runs one of the world’s top email marketing agencies) was there.

• Clickfunnels’s top email copywriter (who reports directly to Russell Brunson) was there.

• And Justin Goff (the co-founder of Copy Accelerator, who today makes $50K/month by sending one email to his list per day), ran the event.

When I got there, I noticed something funny:

All these “bigshots” were paying deference to someone I had never heard of before.

No, they weren’t kissing his hand, Godfather-style… but they might as well have been.

The other bigshots had to prepare their presentation in advance, with slides and everything. But the “godfather” didn't have to bother. 

He spent 90 minutes getting interviewed by Justin Goff. (After which Goff thanked him profusely for being so generous with his time.)

The conference lasted 2 days. All the other bigshots stayed both days, even if they were only presenting on Day 1. Except the “godfather”, who skipped out after he finished his interview.

Who’s the “godfather”? He’s a man called Mike Geary. He lives in his giant mansion in Utah, and he goes skiing every time it snows.

“I never miss a powder day,” he told us.

“You’re missing a powder day today!” someone said. (Geary grumbled a bit, as if to say, “yeah, don’t remind me.”)

Geary only works an hour a day — if he feels like it.

He doesn’t get on work calls — ever.

And his businesses put $10 million a year in his pocket.

How did he get so rich?

Well, at the conference, people asked him what his business philosophy was.

And here’s what he said:

“Build your email list, and sell them stuff.”

Nothing fancy — just build an email list, and then sell to it.

When you boil it down, that’s what an online business is. It’s people who pay attention to you. And it’s stuff to sell them.

So if you want to build a million dollar business, you just need to follow 3 steps:

1.     Grow your audience.

2.     Nurture them.

3.     Sell them stuff.

And the beauty is, Mike Geary doesn’t even do that stuff himself anymore.

He hires good copywriters to do that for him.

So today, he can hit the slopes… instead of grinding at his computer screen all day.

If you want someone else to create your content for you, reach out to me.

I’ll write daily emails for you. (In your brand voice.) So you can build a relationship with your audience, without actually doing any work.

And I’ll write sales emails for you. So you can get high-ticket clients, grow your business, and get a little closer to affording that big mansion you’ve always dreamed of.

If you wanna hear more, just reply to this email.

Best,

Theo