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There's a load of frameworks for marketing stuff, I tend to rely on two of them: EBF or BAB. EBF. Emotions, benefits, features. You spark a feeling within some

There's a load of frameworks for marketing stuff, I tend to rely on two of them: EBF or BAB. EBF. Emotions, benefits, features. You spark a feeling within someone, whether it's presenting them with the pain they feel or showing them their life a bit better ("my mobile pictures are crap" / "Dave's doggie photos always look on point"). Then you say, well, "this new phone can take awesome photos". The feature will be "16MP, autofocus etc..." to ground the ethereal feelings to tangibles to make it real for people. Then BAB. B(efore), A(fter), B(ridge). Frame someone's life before your product, then what their life will be like afterwards, and then the bridge is your product, linking the before and after. "Fed up of blurry, out of focus mobile pictures? Picture this - all of your Instagram lunchtime shots hitting the trending list. Make it happen with the 16MP camera in the Piphoxel."

sarabande 9y ago
Are there any books you would recommend for marketing techniques? The frameworks you mentioned piqued my interest.
- wastedhours 9y ago
  Not many books to recommend, but there's a whole wealth of content online. I'd start by keeping an eye on Hiten Shah's [0] newsletter, decent curation there for a number of topics. The Buffer's blog here is pretty good, as are the content marketing ones from Drift, Intercom and Groove. Of course, if enough startup/tech people are interested in some more tailored lessons, reach out (email in profile). Been thinking of building out a small course/curated info on marketing with this sort of stuff. [0] https://hitenism.com/ https://hitenism.com/
- superasn 9y ago
  I think reading Dan Kennedy would be a good start. He is a bit old school but these methods, which I think were primarily created for direct response marketing, haven't changed much.
Bakary 9y ago
Somehow the acronyms make this seem even more icky than it already is.
- wastedhours 9y ago
  As long as we live in a value-exchange based society we'll have people selling things and trying to get you to choose their offering over someone else's. Most people here on HN build things, and want people to use them in exchange for something. I don't get the hate for marketing, over and above UX people who build nice interfaces that get you to do something since it's easy and enjoyable, or developers who create systems that get you to undertake entirely new habits. Marketing is perhaps seen as the most disposable part of building a business ("if we just build an awesome product, everyone will just talk about it freely!!1!!1"), but I don't understand why it and the frameworks it relies on are looked down on compared to every other element of creating something that's designed to add-and-take value.
  - dceddia 9y ago
    I agree with you, and I don't necessarily agree with the parent, but I understand where they're coming from because I felt that way in the past. "Marketing is evil" worldview aside, the idea that manipulating human behavior can be reduced to a three-letter acronym, and that it can be so formulaic and still be so effective is I think what people find off-putting.
    - wastedhours 9y ago
      It just strikes me as odd when people are happy with things like UX (designing something to create a feeling in order to convince a person and to get them comfortable undertaking the action you want them to. Formulaic in the sense there's a whole industry around "best practice"), or A/B testing (covert science experiments on real people to design systems to increase the likelihood of similar humans taking the action you want. Similarly so.). And yet marketing, because it's perceived as being detached from the product (which it really isn't) is the bad actor because it's explicit and transparent about its goal. Amuses me as much as it frustrates.

sarabande 9y ago

Are there any books you would recommend for marketing techniques? The frameworks you mentioned piqued my interest.

wastedhours 9y ago
Not many books to recommend, but there's a whole wealth of content online. I'd start by keeping an eye on Hiten Shah's [0] newsletter, decent curation there for a number of topics. The Buffer's blog here is pretty good, as are the content marketing ones from Drift, Intercom and Groove. Of course, if enough startup/tech people are interested in some more tailored lessons, reach out (email in profile). Been thinking of building out a small course/curated info on marketing with this sort of stuff. [0] https://hitenism.com/ https://hitenism.com/
superasn 9y ago
I think reading Dan Kennedy would be a good start. He is a bit old school but these methods, which I think were primarily created for direct response marketing, haven't changed much.

Bakary 9y ago

Somehow the acronyms make this seem even more icky than it already is.

wastedhours 9y ago
As long as we live in a value-exchange based society we'll have people selling things and trying to get you to choose their offering over someone else's. Most people here on HN build things, and want people to use them in exchange for something. I don't get the hate for marketing, over and above UX people who build nice interfaces that get you to do something since it's easy and enjoyable, or developers who create systems that get you to undertake entirely new habits. Marketing is perhaps seen as the most disposable part of building a business ("if we just build an awesome product, everyone will just talk about it freely!!1!!1"), but I don't understand why it and the frameworks it relies on are looked down on compared to every other element of creating something that's designed to add-and-take value.
- dceddia 9y ago
  I agree with you, and I don't necessarily agree with the parent, but I understand where they're coming from because I felt that way in the past. "Marketing is evil" worldview aside, the idea that manipulating human behavior can be reduced to a three-letter acronym, and that it can be so formulaic and still be so effective is I think what people find off-putting.
  - wastedhours 9y ago
    It just strikes me as odd when people are happy with things like UX (designing something to create a feeling in order to convince a person and to get them comfortable undertaking the action you want them to. Formulaic in the sense there's a whole industry around "best practice"), or A/B testing (covert science experiments on real people to design systems to increase the likelihood of similar humans taking the action you want. Similarly so.). And yet marketing, because it's perceived as being detached from the product (which it really isn't) is the bad actor because it's explicit and transparent about its goal. Amuses me as much as it frustrates.