Itâs 1972 and the Icelandic sun is dimming on the young Bobby Fischer who is winning somewhat against the then world champion, Boris Spassky. They pause and adjourn. Both players go home. But Boris doesnât return the next day. Nor call to concede.
Boris Spassky, at right.
Boris saw the endgame. Looking at the board, he knew every possible move that could follow and that none led to victory. They had both allegedly memorized all of each other's past games. They werenât just competing on the televised boardâthey were mentally jousting across a thousand other imaginary boards, running scenarios and closing off future possibilities like so many tourniquets.
The real âmatchâ was happening ten moves ahead of what viewers could see.
Though middling at chess, I appreciate the art of anticipation. Like chess matches, our creative work at Fenwick is a game of repetitive venturesâa new client, a new campaign, a win or loss, repeat. As such, we get to see patterns, think ahead, and attempt to win before the asset is ever approved.
As is our way, we studied the client and pitched them several options. They liked the idea of creating an online course. Iâve written extensively about our love of this formatâtiny courses. Now that weâve produced so many, we know the multitudinous ways they can go right or wrong.
Thatâs why we didnât need to run experiments. We knew from the start what to do.
Brand the courses
If you want people to share a course, name it. Something catchy and mnemonic. Run that name by real people. If they repeat it back shorter, consider using that as the actual name. Beware of decisions by committee. If anyone starts adding colons and subtitles itâs a sign that the name isnât workingâgood ones need not overdress.
Below, Clarissa and Sarangâs impeccable work. They gave it an NYC-at-night theme. We created one sub-brand with four named courses.
Use emails to direct people to the website
Your website is the most logical home for your course lessons. You could put them in the emails, but emails can't play videos, hold too many images, feature animations, or host forms. Plus, if you give the client the option of sending more traffic to their site or not, they will always choose more traffic. And if nothing else, the website is also easier to update.
The structure: From ad to landing page to email to article and back.
Build it to be multiplayer
Referrals are the best marketing. If you can get most people who take your course to invite a friend, it helps you grow your list and ensures those students have some accountability. See the phrase below, âBest enjoyed with a friend.â We say that a lot throughout, even after theyâve begun.
Make unsubscribing easyâand not easy
Say you convince a bunch of people already on your email list to sign up for the course and they donât like itâand promptly unsubscribe. Now theyâre off all your lists. Newsletters, nurtures, everything. Youâve lost them. They also probably didn't want that. And because of browser cookies, itâs a real struggle to resubscribe; they wonât get the reconfirmation email.
Instead, create a course-specific preferences center. It looks like a general preferences center, but itâs actually a landing page that allows them to opt in and out of particular courses. They can still unsubscribe globally with the button below, but it isnât the primary choice.
This course selection center gives students freedom of choice. And saves them from unknowningly terminating everything. (My thanks to The Operations Company for building this.)
Build in moments to gather feedback and testimonials
Fill your emails with ratings stars and invitations to leave a comment. Few people will use them, but those who do are typically the happiest. You can use their testimonials on your landing page so it grows continuously more enticing and true. (Remember to ask permission.)
Insert an âadâ at the bottom of your emails
Say your course is running and you now have thousands of people getting your emails each week. You have effectively created a little media property in peopleâs inboxes. The bottom of those emails is free real estate. Use it to advertise your other courses, your upcoming webinar, or whatever you like.
The endgame never ends
When you think with the endgame in mindâand studiously squirrel and organize everything youâve createdâyou start to build real knowledge about the campaigns you launch. If you are always pulling that âfix listâ of things that didnât work into the next course, you start from a better and better place, which eventually frees you from stressing the mechanics to studying the art of marketing.
Should you drip your courses out one by one and gather pre-signups? Can some courses be âpairedâ together for a new, composite story? Can you create a WhatsApp group for accountability?
Anythingâs possible when youâre thinking ahead.
Principle
âïž Endgame
We never embark upon a project without first considering how it will end. Like a chess player, weâre thinking many moves ahead to a graceful but predetermined conclusion.
How to apply todayâs story
"Endgame" your next campaignâgather your team and ask, âThen what?â over and over. Really play it out. You'll find you can learn some of those later lessons now.
I'll provide a report Carina wrote for a client, our fifth year doing it.
Inside Fenwick
Okay, and what if in addition to a magazine, we also created an inspiration portal full of ideas, mood boards, and galleries of all the neat things we come across? (Hit reply, I'd love to hear.)
Ghosting in the dating world. (Paywall.) This is the timeless journalist trick to find an intriguing story in plain sight: Pick a trend, talk to whoeverâs maligned in that story. Anyone can do this. Who in your industry does everyone opine about but never ask?
Wealthfront. Lots to be inspired by on this site. Strong headers that contextualize and allow them to add a fair bit of information per square.
