The Art of Making and Marketing Work that Lasts
How did the movie The Shawshank Redemption fail at the box office but go on to gross more than $100 million as a cult classic?
Bestselling author and marketer Ryan Holiday calls such works and artists perennial sellers. How do they endure and thrive while most books, movies, songs, video games, and pieces of art disappear quickly after initial success? How can we create and market creative works that achieve longevity?
Holiday reveals that the key to success for many perennial sellers is that their creators don’t distinguish between the making and the marketing. The product’s purpose and audience are in the creator’s mind from day one. By thinking holistically about the relationship between their audience and their work, creators of all kinds improve the chances that their offerings will stand the test of time.
Make timeless products: PERENNIAL SELLER Animated Summary
Video by Productivity Game & OnePercentBetter
Key Takeaways
Perennial Seller a product that sells long after its release date. The one thing these perennial products have in common and allows them to sell year after year, is word of mouth. People keep talking about them.
Three methods you can use to maximize word of mouth and develop a perennial seller:
1. Timeless something that does a very good job addressing timeless problems. The key is to focus on a topic or a problem that will remain relevant.
- Avoid technology, avoid the latest fads, avoid the latest trend.
- If you want to make a perennial seller, ask yourself: why will people still be talking about this 10 years from now?
2. Specific the initial goal of every perennial product is to acquire raving fans. People who identify with your product and feel as though it was made specifically for them and share it with everyone they know. That way your product can grow organically over time and you don’t need to rely on advertising to keep your product alive.
- The most effective way to do this is to focus on making a product for a specific person.
- Ask yourself: who specifically is going to love this? The more people love it and find it useful, the more they will be willing to share it.
“It’s better to make a product that 100 people love, than a product that 1 million people just like.” -Paul Graham
3. Accessible made easily accessible in the beginning by being a high-quality product that is either free or shockingly affordable.
- If you make something that’s a very high-quality and a price that’s shockingly cheap or better, free, more people will be likely to share it and more raving fans will find it.
- Sure high price points and exclusivity work for some products, but when launching a perennial product it’s better to go cheaper. It’s better to be unpaid than to be unheard of.
