As a species, we crave belonging. That’s why we often look to others for cues on what to do when we’re in an unfamiliar situation. We follow the herd when it suits us.

This instinct to conform is what makes descriptive norms so powerful. They tell us how the majority of people act in that situation.

In one experiment, more hotel guests reused their towels after seeing a message with a descriptive norm (“75% of guests use their towels more than once”) than after seeing an environmental appeal (“Help save the environment by reusing your towels during your stay”).

Here's how to use descriptive norms in your emails, ads, landing pages, and so on:

• “Most clients reserve $1,500-2,000+ for their ad budget.” (ex: ads agency)
• “Over 2 million people have a 365+ day streak!” (ex: Duolingo)
• “63% of our customers bundle [product A] with [product B].” (ex: ecomm)
• “The majority of users complete this section in under 10 minutes.” (ex: onboarding)

Important: Descriptive norms work best when they show large numbers of people doing the behavior you want them to do. Descriptive norms backfire if you highlight the behavior you don't want them to do. Consider this sign about towel use:

Why it fails: It's telling you that the norm is to use multiple towels. Why would you defy the norm and only use one? It may seem unfair or that you're getting less by only using one.

But what if only a minority of people are doing the behavior you want?

Try using dynamic norms instead. These describe how a growing number of people are doing the behavior you want to increase. For an example, take a look at New York City’s GreeNYC campaign ("more and more New Yorkers"):

The most important factors in ad performance:

1. Great brand/product.
2. Kicka** creatives. 

It has less to do with targeting and optimization (and let's be honest, AI does most of that these days), and more to do with an intriguing product and creative and captivating ads.

Here are 7 ways to improve your ad creatives:

#1. Show the outcome

Start your ad with the desired end result of using your product; then in the second frame, introduce the product. This will increase video watch time as people will want to know how to get the result.

#2. Close-up‍

Start your ad with a very close-up shot of the product. 

Get people wondering... What is that? They'll stop because they want to figure it out.

#3. Lean into the Negativity Bias

Start the ad explaining why you are NEVER using the alternative to your product again.

It triggers an "Oh sh*t, am I doing it wrong?" and they'll want to know what they should be doing instead.

#4. Good lighting, good sound

The quality of the camera matters way less than a nice natural light source or a killer lighting setup.

Microphone quality and good music/sound effects are much more important than video quality.

#5. Leverage trends and seasons

People like it when content feels relevant and timely. If they're in the mindset of Christmas, or setting New Year's resolutions, or planning their Valentine's Day date, leverage that in your ads and content.

#6. Don't trigger "this is an ad"

Get creative to avoid setting off the alarm bells in people's heads that they're looking at an ad.

Make it look as natural as possible. Don't include music or pop-up captions for the first second or two—once they're hooked, you can bring them in.

Include a screenshare of someone texting a recommendation to their friend.

#7. Be different

You'll never stand out if you do the same thing that everyone else is doing. Be completely illogical.

Instead of focusing on your features, try including a photo of a cute bunny. It might just work.

The 6 tactics above may work today, but tomorrow they may not. The brands that win are the ones that can consistently come up with interesting and novel ideas.

A single ad campaign can be talked about for years. Think Budweiser's "wazzup" or Apple's "Think Different" or "Mac vs PC."

But that won't happen if you do what everyone else is doing.

Most people only use Twitter for a few minutes here and there per day, sometimes per week.

One way to ensure people see your tweets is just by tweeting A LOT. 

If you haven't heard of Dan Go, he goes by "@FitFounder."

His first tweet was April 10th, 2020. More than 84k tweets later and he has 500k followers (as well as 200k on LinkedIn, 450k on Instagram, and 80k newsletter subscribers).

On average, that's ~74 tweets every day. But he peaked at ~350 tweets per day. 

(Note: Twitter considers a comment/reply to be a tweet, not just original content.)

Chenell found that in the first several months, Dan's follower count was directly correlated to his total number of tweets:

Sure, not every tweet crushed.

But they didn't need to. Even if each one only got 100 impressions, that'd still add up to 35k impressions per day. And of course, many of them got way more than that.

Dan grew by outworking everyone else on Twitter.

It's honestly hard to find creators with more tweets than him. Sure there are accounts with a lot more, but they're mostly companies or automated.

Even Jack Dorsey (the founder and former CEO of Twitter), has a measly 29k, and he's been tweeting since day 0.

Dan is one of the most active Twitter users of the past 3 years.

Sometimes you can win just by being the most active.

I've always been skeptical that giving away free swag was an effective tactic.

But it definitely can be if you have the right strategy. 

Take it from InVision, which used swag to amplify its brand’s reputation. Customers loved to post their swag packages on social (creating a viral loop) and were also more likely to give feedback when asked—which is normally hard to get.

Get more from your swag by following these best practices:

• Gift swag at your "aha!" moment. For InVision, that was after users had completed simple onboarding activities like creating a project.
• Choose memorable items that relate to your product/service. Since it’s a design company, InVision’s free swag included custom stickers, pins, postcards, and envelopes. Users who upgraded to a paid subscription got even more—a sketchbook and gel pen. Other examples: A company in the music space could gift headphones, while a meditation/sleep app could gift eye masks.‍
• Use an attractive design. Don’t just default to your logo. Giving away logo-branded swag is like asking a consumer to be a walking billboard for your company. Instead, commission a design that ties back to your company. (Here’s InVision’s.) Your logo can still be included, but it should be secondary. Exception: If your merch doesn’t have much creative real estate, like headphones, just your logo is fine.‍
• Include a handwritten note. Early on, InVision’s swag packages included a handwritten message signed by the company’s CEO. This added a personal touch.‍
• Go over the top. Airtable gave branded Airpods to people at YC companies and key accounts. People would proudly sport them at the office and think fondly of Airtable every time they used them—I know because I've had a pair for 4 years.

Done well, swag can actually bring in new customers.

In fact, when InVision started a weekly Twitter contest giving away their shirts, it got messages from people wanting to buy the shirt without entering the contest. InVision’s team told them to sign up for the software’s professional plan and screenshot the invoice as proof.

Since users usually stuck around for a bit, that meant a few months of revenue for a shirt that only cost $15—not to mention they became walking billboards.

Justin's mention of Anaphora was a great example of the Frequency Bias: When you learn about something obscure, then immediately start seeing it everywhere, falsely thinking it's becoming more common.

I didn't hear about this phenomenon until I started researching my own post about literary devices, then BAM! There it was the next morning. Figured it would be a nice segue.

Here are five more literary devices you can use to make your writing more engaging.

For each, we'll modify the phrase: "The founder is stressed."

#1. Tricolon

A series of 3 parallel words, phrases, or clauses to enhance rhythm and create emphasis.

"The founder is stressed, strained, stretched."

Tip: This is also another literary device “Asyndeton” that leaves out conjunctions (and/or).

#2. Paradox

A statement that contradicts itself but still seems true.

"The founder is a calm storm."

The above can be interpreted as the founder being stressed (storm) yet maintaining composure (calm)—saying a lot in few words.

#3 Catachresis (don't ask me to pronounce this one)

Purposefully using a word incorrectly, for effect. 

"The founder drinks from the well of stress."

Works well to invoke a mental image.

#4 Paraprosdokian (nor this one)

The latter part causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part.

"The founder is stressed—an understatement equivalent to calling the ocean a puddle."

Done right this can be fun and playful.

#5. Pleonasm

Use of more words than necessary to convey meaning and emphasis.

"The founder is stressed, full of stress, a picture of stress."

This is also a tricolon as it repeats the idea 3 times, and asyndeton as it lacks conjunctions.

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For a few more, and prettier design, here's the carousel version.

Justin Welsh's one-person business is pacing toward $2M+ in revenue in 2023.

He's one of the most impressive copywriters and systems thinkers I've seen.

He shared one of his copywriting formulas recently that he calls "VFCA." He used it in the following tweet:

The VFCA framework is: 

V: Visceral Opener

“I escaped the rat race…”

To stand out in a world of infinite content, use strong language to elicit a strong response.

Instead of:

1. "I left my job" say "I escaped the rat race."
2. "Most companies could onboard employees better" say "Most companies suck at onboarding." (credit: Wes Kao)
3. "A lot of Twitter users think LinkedIn is lame" say "Twitter hates LinkedIn."

F: Fresh Perspective

"My secret sauce is not playing status games"

People browse social media seeking dopamine hits and novelty. Anything but the same old, same old. A fresh perspective provides that.

In Justin's case, he's hoping to make people feel relieved, hopeful, and emotionally invested in his decision not to play "status games."

C: Challenge

"I don't:..."

Justin challenges the conventional definition of success. His goal was to connect with like-minded people who reject the common narrative and build affinity with them. 

He highlights his own personal values while attracting his community by slinging mud at a shared enemy.

A: Anaphora

Repetition of "I don't want" and "I want"

Lastly, Justin uses a literary device called Anaphora—repetition of the beginning part of successive sentences—to emphasize his message and create a sense of progression. 

The message—"I want X" or "I don't want Y"—gets stronger with each repetition.

With mobile commerce sales hitting $387 billion in the US last year, nailing the mobile buying experience is key.

So make your product-page CTAs sticky.

That way, it's easier for shoppers to add to cart—no scrolling back and forth to find what they’re looking for.

The luxury brand Baume & Mercier saw clicks on its “Add to Cart” button rise by 78% after making this change.

Consider the difference between these product pages from Sephora and Missha:

Let’s look at Missha first. Once someone has scrolled down to learn more about Missha’s product, they have to scroll back up to find the “Add to Cart” button again and make a purchase.

Meanwhile, someone shopping on Sephora’s mobile site has constant access to the “Add to Basket” button. They even have the option to adjust the quantity they want.

Once someone has decided that they're ready to buy, let them take action immediately. Every bit of thought and effort could make them change their mind.

This tactic can 2x the likelihood that someone says "yes" to your requests.

And it's hilariously simple. At the end of your request, just add:‍

"...but you are free to accept or refuse."‍

Studies have shown that adding those words can significantly increase the chances of a "yes."

For instance, in one study, strangers were asked to give someone money for bus fare. They gave twice the amount when those words were part of the request. 

Why do they matter so much?

We hate being told what to do. In contrast, we like to feel understood, respected, and in control.

Paradoxically, acknowledging a person's right to choose is enough of a nudge to increase the likelihood that they do what you want them to do.

Brains are weird.

So give people choice by using either the above phrase or a less-formal variation of it. Some places you can do that: 

• "But it's totally up to you"
• "It's your choice"
• "Take it or leave it"

Ever realize you’ve been browsing Instagram or TikTok for over an hour?

Or find yourself checking them whenever you’re bored? (ie 50 times per day)

That’s because those companies have developed the perfect system to get you completely hooked.

They've nailed the Hook Model, a concept from Nir Eyal. It's a four-step process to get people to use a product habitually.

The four steps are: Trigger → Action → Variable Reward → Investment

SaaS products that benefit from frequent use stand to gain a lot from the Hooked model.

Just make sure to use it ethically :). These are the same tools that companies use to get people addicted to gambling. So use them for good to get them addicted to things that benefit their lives.

If you want to hear Nir Eyal speak more about it, check out our interview with him.

Don't you hate it when you hit a site and you're immediately asked for your email address just so you can access the content?

A lot of companies still think that gating all of their content is the only way to grow their list and get leads.

This is generally a terrible experience. You're being asked to give something up before getting any value. It makes users feel “disempowered and disrespected.”

So consider ungating your content. Visitors will be more likely to share it with their colleagues or on social media, and will have a much better opinion of you and your brand.

One case in point: After removing lead capture forms from its site, the agency Aha Media Group saw its page views jump up by 143%. Newsletter signups grew by 55%, and its social media follower growth by 45%.

(This will only become more true with AI and the proliferation of content.)

Some tips and considerations for ungating:

1. Try giving before asking. For example, we make our playbooks open to the public. But our playbook pages also include an optional subscribe form. Anyone who’s enjoyed our playbooks will be more inclined to give up their info to find out about future ones.We've also toyed with making the first half ungated and the back half gated.‍
2. Add "content upgrades." Ungate your content but include embedded forms that offer some complimentary piece of content you can only get via email. This can be email-based mini courses, templates, or ebooks.‍
3. Add a timed modal. If someone has been on your page for several minutes and has scrolled down a decent amount, you can assume they've probably been reading and are engaged. At that point, you can trigger a modal popup asking for them to subscribe. Even better if it's with a content upgrade.

Most cold emails are terrible.

Effective cold emails share these characteristics:

1. Concise. People will archive an email at the sight of a wall of text. Keep it to 80-120 words and 5-7 sentences. If you have a hard time editing to shorten it, use ChatGPT or Notion AI.‍
2. Targeted. After getting a cold email for a newsletter sponsorship tool, I signed up immediately. Why? Because it was the solution to the exact problem I was facing—and they knew I likely was because they did their research and saw we have sponsors. Do your research and make sure you're emailing the right people.‍
3. Personable. Be informal and open. Don't be stiff or formal.‍
4. Authentic. You can flatter recipients a little bit, but don’t claim to be “blown away by their work” if you haven’t read it. You should be able to back up everything you say.‍‍
5. Focused. Stick to only one goal. Is it a call? A referral? A demo? Define your goal before sending your email. This will inform your CTA.‍
6. Original. Stand the f*ck out. Avoid all the cliches like "I hope this email finds you well" or "quick question."‍
7. Clear. Don't include anything that your reader might not understand. Assume they don't know about your company unless you know they do. Don't include references that they might not get. Be crystal clear.

Do these 7 things and you'll drastically increase response rates.

To make it even easier, use ChatGPT or Notion AI for help with copywriting. Ask them to make your email shorter, more casual, and remove any jargon.

To increase response rates even more, make it a warm email. 

For his birthday, MrBeast got 12,491,044 new followers on Instagram in 72 hours.

Hell of a b-day gift if you ask me.

He didn't do it with Instagram Ads. Instead, he did a giveaway of $10,000 to 5 winners:

Around 20M people liked and commented. Meaning around 20M people added the post to their stories as well—which feels a lot more organic since it's normally where your friends just post photos/videos about their daily life. 

On top of that—you had to follow him to actually claim your prize. 

In short: $50,000 to acquire 12.5M new followers or $0.004 per follower. To contextualize that, Twitter recommends a target CPA of $2 per new follower for their Follower Ads.

(Note: The post was eventually taken down because you need to explicitly declare that the giveaway is not endorsed or run by Instagram itself. Keep that in mind!)

No matter how well you understand psychology, you're affected by it. Here are five psych principles to leverage in your marketing campaigns:

1. Halo Effect

What it is: The tendency to attribute positive qualities to someone (or a brand) based on a favorable first impression or single positive trait.

Example: Patagonia is known for its commitment to sustainability, ethical manufacturing, and corporate social responsibility. So consumers feel good about shopping there, since they believe they're supporting a brand that contributes to the greater good.

2. Primacy Effect

What it is: People are more likely to remember and give greater importance to information at the beginning of a sequence.

Example: When a salesperson starts their pitch with a product's most impressive benefits, that info is what's top of mind for customers.

3. Negativity Bias

What it is: The tendency to give more weight to negative experiences than positive ones, leading to pessimism and risk aversion.

Example: A cybersecurity firm talks about the horrors of being hacked in one ad, and the cozy feeling of security in another. According to the negativity bias, the first ad would leave a stronger impression.

4. Framing Effect

What it is: People's decisions and perceptions are influenced by the way information is presented to them.

Example: A subscription-based service highlights the cost per day instead of the monthly price, making it seem more affordable.

5. Priming Effect

What: Exposure to a stimulus influences a person's thoughts, feelings, or behaviors in response to a subsequent, related stimulus.

Example: A nonprofit uses emotionally charged language and images in their fundraising campaign, eliciting empathy and increasing the likelihood of donations.

–––

Like these? Check out seven more.

People seek groundedness—in their daily lives, and when they shop.

• Place: We like buying locally. Near our homes and communities.
• People: We like knowing who we’re buying from. And relating to those people.
• Past: We like things that connect us to the past, like traditional production methods.

A Journal of Marketing study that brought groundedness into the realm of marketing (rather than its typical domains, philosophy and psych) uncovered some notable findings in the process.

• People who are more affected by digitization, urbanization, and disruptive events seek groundedness more. Including:
• People who are on their computers a lot for work
• People who live in big cities
• People who felt more affected by the pandemic
• Groundedness increases willingness-to-pay. In one experiment, consumers were willing to pay a ~60% premium for a product that provided more groundedness.
• Our need for groundedness might increase during birthdays and holidays, and it might even be higher during colder seasons. More research is needed to validate those points, but if they’re true, they could mean it's worth adjusting seasonal campaigns to focus more on the who and the where, not the what.

Takeaway:

In your messaging, consider ways to build connections to place, people, and the past. Particularly if your customers work from home or in big cities.  

That might mean emphasizing your product’s local origin, going with a more traditional design, finding local distribution channels, talking about who your founders are and what they value, or even having your team focus on building their personal brands.

One of my favorite UX and marketing philosophies: "Don't make me think." 

When you vividly describe your product and the value it brings, you're helping people to imagine it and realize how it benefits them. You're doing the thinking for them.

Visuals make that value even more obvious. Especially if you use those visuals to compare and contrast.

For hims, the contrast of a balding head and a full head of hair paints a clearer picture than just a man with a full head of hair. You need to know the alternative. The before/after, or the "with vs. without."

For Ridge, that visual is a lot more powerful than saying, "Our wallets are 70% thinner." Because you see what "us vs. them" looks like, the comparison leaves an impact.

Make your product's value obvious by showing what life is like without it.

Instead of having an influencer come up with an entirely new concept for your brand, ask them to recreate one of their best hits.

But make just one tweak: feature your product.

Example:

• Here’s an original viral video from Michael Incognito, which first appeared on TikTok.
• And here’s the version posted on Reformation’s Instagram, featuring Michael in the brand’s clothing.

There's no script, no testimonial, not even a brand mention. But the recreated content went viral just like the original—except this time, on a brand account.

This is a clever way to partner with influencers to get more impressions and engagement in a fairly risk-free fashion. Viral hits often stay as viral hits.

Look for high-performing content that shows products like yours, even if the product itself isn’t the main focus. For example, a furniture brand could recreate a creator speaking to the camera in one of their showrooms, rather than the creator's studio.

Author James Clear was an early adopter of some interesting content marketing techniques—such as click-to-tweet for nearly every part of his newsletter.

Recently, he turned an entire article into a chain of Instagram Stories.

The Stories ended with two links: one to the complete article on his site, the other to his newsletter signup page. See the last two slides below:

Now remember, most people on Instagram are looking for dopamine hits of cats being silly.

So many will not be bothered to read each image—which means that the folks who do click through and subscribe are genuinely interested.

James uses the same strategy as a featured Stories highlight on his profile, where he shares the first chapter of his book Atomic Habits for free. It’s a simple showcase of his work for anyone new to his writing.

Execution here is pretty easy. Use Canva or any other basic image editor to break up an article into separate images. This is worth trying if your product is content and you’re building (or already have) an audience on Instagram.

Here’s a quick tactic for you. It’ll take about as long to implement as it will to read. 

Ever find yourself mesmerized by a GIF or Instagram Reel, only to realize you've watched it like 10 times in a row?

Well, that's actually a solid way to ensure an algo boost on social platforms.

If you make your video loop seamlessly (and keep it interesting and engaging throughout), you'll have a chance of hitting a retention rate over 100%. That signals to platforms that it was a really good video and increases the chance of it going viral.

How not to do it: Send out recorded webinars and events to attendees and registrants.

How to do it: Repurpose, repurpose, repurpose. 

A few ideas for how to repurpose webinar and event recordings:

1. Transcribe interviews and post them on your blog. You could publish the transcript itself or a narrative write-up featuring transcript snippets.
2. Karbon publishes its podcast transcripts as well as blog posts summarizing each episode’s takeaways.
3. Create short sound bites for social media.
4. MarketMuse shares short clips from its video interviews on Twitter.
5. Consolidate insights into a shorter video.
6. Besides offering full replays on Wistia, MarketMuse creates highlight reels summarizing its video interviews. It includes these shorter videos in its blog.
7. Turn lessons and quotes from the event into a LinkedIn carousel.
8. If you have a podcast, turn the event into an episode.
9. Shaan Puri turned his session on our Growth Summit into an episode for his own podcast, My First Million.

Your brand doesn’t have to be the event host to take advantage of video content.

If someone on your team speaks on another company’s webinar or podcast, it's fair game for you to use—as you can see with our Growth Summit example above. The host will love it if you share it (assuming you credit them).

Emotions drive decisions—including the decision to buy.

But consumers still have to understand what it is they’re buying first.

Which is why Arielle Jackson—who’s helped hundreds of startup brands—recommends that early-stage startups emphasize practical benefits over emotional ones in their value props. Especially if they’re introducing a new category.

Don’t aim for the next Nike's “Just Do It” or Apple's “Think Different” yet. Everyone already knew what they sold before they did that.

First, make sure consumers understand what you do.

Here’s an example Arielle shared:

“Peloton’s early headline literally said, ‘Join studio cycling classes from the comfort of your home.’ That was the functional benefit they needed to reinforce before they could stay stuff like, ‘Together, we go far.’” 

So ask:

• What are the functional benefits your product/company provides?
• What are the emotional benefits?
• What’s in between?

Focus more on the functional if you’re early-stage.

That doesn’t mean you have to neglect emotions in the process. You can convey what you do and still inspire.

Here’s an example from ahrefs:

From the first two sections you know exactly what they do: software for SEO. And they inspire people with the dream of more traffic (and therefore more sales).