The simple “marketing” strategy that no one is doing, still.

It took me years to learn the actual BEST way to promote anything. Here it is.  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ [UNSTUCK]() From the desk of Pat Flynn October 11, 2022 --------------------------------------------------------------- [Pat Flynn smiling, wearing a shirt that reads "Do a lot with a little"] ​ Hey there, it’s Pat! When you can understand human nature, you can understand how to better serve your audience. Not upsell. Upserve. And what all people, including you and me, want more than anything at times is to feel seen, to feel heard, and to feel like we belong. In the online world, we often default to feeling like an outcast, which is why when you as a leader in your community step up and do what I’m about to teach you, you’re going to easily make an amazing impression, stand out of the crowd, and build superfans. Let’s get unstuck. QUOTE OF THE WEEK --------------------------------------------------------------- “People need to feel seen, heard, and valued to have the desire to grow.” — Marcia Reynolds THE STORY --------------------------------------------------------------- When I was 16 I worked a summer job at Toys ‘R’ Us—my first experience working retail. And yeah, I learned a lot about people that year. 😅 One of my roles was to come in early on Saturday morning and set up a sea of tables and chairs because by the time the store opened at 9 am, a horde of kids would rush in with their Pokémon Cards in hand to play the card game with each other. Parents would literally drop off their kids and come back a few hours later, and it was up to me to make sure that the kids were safe and that everyone played well together. At 16 years old, being a kid-sitter was not my favorite job. I preferred unloading the truck and placing boxes neatly on the shelves in the backroom. I enjoyed re-organizing the messes that the kids would make after sampling every toy on the floor. I didn’t want to hang around with a bunch of kids playing with cartoons on cardboard all morning, but that’s what I did, and I tried to do my job well. If I was smart, I would have also used my paycheck to buy some of my own Pokémon Cards because those were the original cards from 1999 that are now worth a pretty penny. Ahh well! 😂 Anyway, one random Saturday, after the kids all left and as I was cleaning up, my boss, Steve came over to help me stack chairs and started a conversion: Steve: Hey Pat, thanks for coming in early again today. Great job with those kids, I know it can get crazy sometimes. Me: No problem. Steve: And hey, if you don’t want to do that anymore just let me know, I can find someone else if you’d rather be doing something else. Me: (long pause) No, it’s okay! I’ll come in again next Saturday morning. Looking back, that small interaction was huge and taught me the power of recognition and the influence of kindness. Sure, Steve was doing his job and was an excellent manager, but because of that interaction, I continued to come in early each Saturday, even though it wasn’t my favorite task at this job. People want to be seen, heard, and recognized. It doesn’t take much time or require any money to do just that. Although today we’re technologically more connected than ever before, we also tend to feel lonelier and more disconnected too. This gives us an amazing opportunity to step up and do one simple and quick action to stand out from the crowd. Something I like to call: The Wassup. ​ [Image of a person giving a fist bump with text "The Wassup: Informal, Personalized, Unexpected"] ​ The Wassup is my term for an informal, personalized and unexpected hello (or “what’s up”) to individuals in your community and audience. A virtual fist bump. Informal because formal can sometimes come across as disingenuous. Personalized because if not, it just feels like a mass message that was given out to everyone. And unexpected, because that’s how it stands out and gets remembered. Imagine if Steve and I had the same conversation in a formal end-of-month review in his office at a predetermined time. It would have felt completely different. So how might we do this online? Here’s how I do it, step-by-step: - Find a person who has recently commented on one of your social media posts (i.e. Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) OR someone who has recently subscribed to your email list. These are people who are somewhat familiar with you already, which is important. - Reach out to that individual in a Direct Message. Usually, you can just click the profile name and hit “message” to send a message. Again, the direct message is important because we want this to feel personalized, which it is! If it’s an email, even easier – just send them an email. - Send a quick 10-second VIDEO message to say thanks and hello in your own way. Yes, just 10 seconds! That’s it. Quick for you to create, and quick for the person to consume, but also mind-blowing because this will be completely unexpected. Be sure to use their name. If it’s an email, you may have to include a link to a quick video that you created, or use a service like Bonjoro to manage the video delivery for you. - Don’t pitch or ask for anything in return. That would completely remove the genuineness of your action here. As I once heard, “Dig your well now before you ever need it. If you’re digging your well when you’re thirsty, you’re too late.” - Rinse and repeat at your convenience, but make time for this. Something amazing happens when you practice this: many people will reply, and they’ll be ecstatic. It’s an unexpected way to connect with someone and make them feel seen. This simple action can really make a true impact and you'll even get comments like, “thank you so much for taking time out of your day” even though it only took a very small amount of time. Also, it’s very fun for the creator as well. When you start to see responses rolling in, you begin to want to do this more, and this continues to help authenticate and level up your brand. In some cases, a person may even share the interaction with their audience too, but again, that’s not the purpose. The purpose is the long-term relationship that you’re building with your audience, so there’s no need to worry about an immediate ROI. I promise you, it’ll come back one way or another, whether it be a monetary transaction down the road, a share, or even honest feedback. These are the people that can eventually turn into superfans of your brand. Your Call to Action Try this for 10–15 minutes sometime this week and see what happens. Send a video to 30 different people, and remember—keep it simple and easy. No need for a fancy camera or studio, no need for a script or perfect lighting, just make it real! I do this exercise every Friday for 30 minutes on a walk with my dogs, and I can connect with about 80-90 people within that time frame. Eventually, you’ll want to make this a regular practice and schedule it into your week. And finally, no—this is NOT entirely scalable. Yes, scalability and automation are great, but some things, especially personal connections with your audience, just shouldn’t be automated. I taught this strategy to someone a while back who tried to make a video for all of the most popular names on their email list, and I’m like “NO! STOP!” —just do the work to connect with your people, and for no reason other than to reach out, and I promise you it’ll come back to you in some way in the future. You got this, and have fun! SPONSORED BY BAMBEE Keep your business compliant with expert HR guidance If you're growing your business and need help keeping up with HR compliance, Bambee is here to provide expert guidance, so you can focus on what you do best. With a dedicated HR Manager starting at just $99/month, you'll have everything you need to stay compliant and grow your business without risk. Most of Bambee's competitors have built HR software but Bambee involves the human element by providing a real person to talk through HR issues, create HR policies, help with onboardings/terminations, etc. This one-on-one support gives you the confidence to grow your business knowing that you're always up-to-date on the latest HR regulations. So why wait? [GET A FREE HR AUDIT FROM BAMBEE]( ​SPI NEWS AND NOTES --------------------------------------------------------------- We work hard at SPI to remain unstuck and consistently provide you with the latest news, trends, and events to support your businesses. Check it out: - YouTube From Scratch is a step-by-step online course that teaches you how to create a new (or optimize an existing) YouTube channel, develop relevant & engaging content, grow your followers & monetize your channel. [Learn more](=). - Interested to learn how to create an online course (the SPI way!) that students will buy, love, and recommend to others? Then I hope you’ll consider joining me in the next cohort of [Heroic Online Courses](—a LIVE course starting November 3rd. DAD JOKE OF THE WEEK --------------------------------------------------------------- I ordered a chicken and an egg on Amazon. I’ll let you know… ​ Did a cool person forward you this email? [Sign up here for free.]( Want to reach over 125,000 entrepreneurs? [Become a sponsor.]( ​ Thanks for reading! You are receiving this because you signed up for Pat Flynn’s newsletter at [smartpassiveincome.com](). If you'd like to adjust which emails you receive or update your name and email address, [click here to update your Subscriber Preferences.]( If you'd like to stop receiving all emails from SPI, simply [unsubscribe from my emails.]( No hard feelings. 10531 4S Commons Drive, Suite 524, San Diego, CA 92127