A bit of a cliché – but still worth thinking about: to sell a product for a long time, it is important to ensure that the product is good. Bad products do not last long. Those who compromise on quality – Holiday mentions all Microsoft products from the last ten years – can invest a lot of marketing budget, without a product being a success.
Is a good product enough? No, patience is sometimes also required. Mad Men – the most epic series about the advertising world – was not an instant success either. It took Matthew Weiner (the writer of the series) seven years to come up with a pilot episode, another year to shoot the second episode and then it took him another seven years to write and film the series. Ergo: it is a marathon, not a sprint.
What’s the difference between Friends and Seinfeld? The second series transcended the zeitgeist because Jerry Seinfeld wrote jokes about timeless things – that’s his strength as a stand-up comedian. Friends was largely about the zeitgeist and specific characters, which is why the jokes in Friends are retold for a shorter period of time than those in Seinfeld. By relying less on the zeitgeist, you create works or products that continue to sell or remain popular for longer.
Work should not only be meant for eternity – but also for a italy telegram data specific person. Countless start-ups are making products for an as yet undefined target group. The book Worms Eat My Garbage has sold over 165,000 copies – because there are always people curious about permaculture. That specific target group, and the fact that there will always be waste, ensures a stable cash flow. Dare to choose.
3. Solve a problem and be radical
Anyone who creates content knows that they have two choices: either be radically informative/practical or radically entertaining. Create content that helps people at a defining moment in their lives (pregnancy) or a movie that is fun for both kids and parents (Toy Story, Monsters Inc.), so that you are valuable.
Think of disruptive technologies like Airbnb and Uber – which still face lawsuits. Breaking conventions radically is met with resistance. Top producer Rick Rubin (responsible for tens of millions of CDs, records and streams sold) advised Slayer to make a heavy metal record – not go mainstream. Reign in Blood is now a metal classic, having sold over two million copies.
