Advertising: Beyond Paid Ads

Just because you use pretty words that sound nice doesn’t mean they are effective. Although we know what we do because we do it all the time; it’s hard to separate that from what your audience wants and experiences. Thankfully, today’s guest is here to help.

Ben Guttmann is a marketing and communications expert and author of Simply Put: Why Clear Messages Win — and How to Design Them.

We discuss why business owners often muck up their sales pages (what I call invitation letters), how to reduce friction when attracting clients and customers, and the toll that writing too much takes on the receiver.

More About Ben: Ben is former co-founder and managing partner at Digital Natives Group, an award-winning agency that worked with the NFL, I Love NY, Comcast NBCUniversal, Hachette Book Group, The Nature Conservancy, and other major clients. He’s an experienced marketing executive and educator on a mission to get leaders to more effectively connect by simplifying their message. Currently, Ben teaches digital marketing at Baruch College in New York City and consults with a range of thought leaders, venture-backed startups, and other brands.

🌟 3 Key Takeaways

• It’s most effective to communicate to one person, rather than imagining an ambiguous thousand (or ten thousand).
• Strong communication is not about how many (or few) words you use; it’s about reducing friction, or offramps, from your message.
• “This and that” versus “this so that”: Test the cohesiveness of your message by replacing and with so.

📝 Permission

Not to spend money on paid advertising. Focus on making your business more referable instead.

✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next

Look at one of the most important pages of your website. If each word costs you $10, how many can you cut? What about $1,000? If you had to distill your message down to a road sign, what would it look like?

🔗 Resources Mentioned

• Ben on the web, IG, Twitter, LinkedIn
• Articles: NYT—My Delirious Trip to the Heart of Swiftiedom
• Meme: I aint reading all that

📚 Books Mentioned

• Simply Put: Why Clear Messages Win―and How to Design Them
• Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business
• Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One
• Life After College

🎧 Related Episodes

• The Tim Ferriss Show: Managing Procrastination, Predicting the Future, and Finding Happiness with Tim Urban
• Reply All: Email Debt Forgiveness Day
• Free Time: 181: Be Irreplaceable with My Creative Coach Jay Acunzo
• 227: 🎁 The Best Gifting Strategies and Biggest Mistakes with John Ruhlin
• Pivot: 70: Build a Referral Engine with John Jantsch

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✍️ Check out Jenny’s personal business essays on Substack, Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h

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