ISSUE #34

Welcome to the Forward Obsessed Founder, my newsletter with insights, awesome tools, and real-world advice to grow your business and career.

GO FORWARD THOUGHT OF THE WEEK ➡️

Start With Who (Sorry, Simon Sinek)

In this week’s newsletter, you’ll learn an incredibly simple framework that packs a huge marketing punch: A.C.T.

It’s all about figuring out who your audience is and making immediate connections that convert their attention into action.

Sounds simple enough, but the truth is you’re facing tremendous obstacles. And the biggest one for both you and your prospects is distractions.

Today’s consumers have an attention span of less than that of a goldfish (approximately 8 seconds). To squeeze into their hearts, minds, and wallets in those nanoseconds of attention and influence their split-second buying decisions, you’ve got to know exactly who you’re talking to, what’s appealing to them, and where you’ll reach them.

What drives your mind to distraction is what complicates this challenge. Time, money, and resources are each limited, so it’s easy to get stuck in marketing planning hell — missing opportunities to reach your prospects and losing out to faster, richer companies gunning for your audience.

Get Into the A.C.T.

The A.C.T. framework boils down the three main components:

Audience
Content/Communication
Triggers/touchpoints

A = Audience segment.

Forget Simon Sinek for a minute; start with “who.” Who are you targeting? Go beyond the persona and think about the behaviors of people who want/need/use your product or service. What do they search for when looking for what you provide? What habit, goal, or defining attribute draws them to your brand?

C = Content and communication

This is all about the what and how of speaking to your audience. You’ve got to use the language and format that will resonate with them. What aspirations or motivations can you communicate that connect with their tastebuds — and wallets?

T = Triggers and touchpoints

Finally, consider the “where” in the equation: the triggers and touchpoints that inspire your audience to take action. This includes things like your website, social media accounts, and email campaigns. The idea is to use this juice to identify the funnels and tactics that are most efficient and that deliver the best ROI.

An Example of A.C.T. in Action

For example, let’s say you’re launching a new non-alcoholic beer. Here’s a quick look at how you’d put A.C.T. into action.

A: Using traditional demographics like age, gender, or geography doesn’t really tell you much, as NA beer transcends all of those basic markers. Instead, consider their behaviors: they love drinking beer, but they don’t love the impact of alcohol on their health and productivity. And they want to enjoy an adult-style beverage when kicking back or going out socially.

C: From a messaging standpoint, you’ll want to let the audience know that your beverage delivers the closest thing to beer there is: it’s artisanally crafted with high-quality ingredients, and its cool packaging rivals even the hippest IPAs. Best of all, it’s low-calorie and no hangover.

T: Not drinking alcohol but still having fun is a lifestyle thing, so Instagram and TikTok are perfect channels.

A.C.T. Now!

The A.C.T. map is simple — just separate a piece of paper into three columns, and you’re ready to start brainstorming.

Or, to make it super simple, I’ve created a ChatGPT tool you can use for free. Access it here.

Within a few minutes, you’ll have everything you need on one page that serves many purposes:

Use it to design a creative brief for your team.
Create a marketing blueprint to get cross-functional buy-in from your stakeholders.
Quickly start with small experiments in the market that you can amplify once you see positive results.

Most importantly, you can take back the time, effort, and expense that it takes to develop complex marketing plans and brand strategies.

Customers demand and deserve more value now than ever before, and that proposition spans the entire landscape of product and purpose. The paradox of choice in our post-digital age is both a boon and a challenge to consumers and marketers alike. To get the edge over the competition, it’s on you to A.C.T. fast!

Always here to help 🙌

Pete Sena

Podcast 🎙️: When It Comes to Reinvention, Bet On Yourself

To most people, it seems my guests on the Forward Obsessed podcast are random. But everything I do is with intention. The sports betting industry is growing by an annual CAGR of 13%. And with regulatory regulations in favor of this, that number is gonna jump even higher.

So, I found someone who had built, sold, and is now building again a startup in the betting world: Alex Durbin, CEO of BettorOff.

The beauty of this startup is it helps hold people accountable. How is it possible that Jim Cramer can still be the brand he is when he’s constantly wrong? People have short attention spans. (Remember those goldfish?) What Alex and his team of engineers and machine learning geniuses are doing is using the blockchain to bring more transparency and integrity to bettors. Better picks and a platform for niche creators in this growing space feel like a great place to be.

Listen: Betting on the Blockchain: The Future of Sports Betting With Alex Dubin

MY OBSESSION OF THE WEEK 🖤

Deepfakes

Deepfakes. Say that 26 million times.

An article caught my eye where an employee at a Hong Kong office of a multinational company transferred almost $26 million to a scammer. Yes, he got phished from a deepfake conference call with his “CFO” — yeah, Chief Fake Officer.

Deepfakes are a serious issue… and not just because Taylor Swift doesn’t like people making naked pics of her online.

The speed at which AI platforms are moving makes it easy for anyone to do this. And this isn’t just for the weirdos in their mom's basement. A recent study found that non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII) got over 24 million searches a month. Ads like “undress any girl you want” let people upload a photo, and, using open-source AI, it does just that. You can barely tell the difference between real and fake. This is terrible and scary.

So my obsession is around what big tech is doing to crack down on this stuff. Digital catfishing will only rise in this synthetic era of society and social media.

Bottom line: I’m genuinely concerned about deepfakes, and I think every business leader needs to get real about doing something to stop this horrendous trend.

Thanks so much for reading this edition of The Forward Obsessed Founder — you can also check out this issue on the web [Link].

Please take a second, hit the FWD button ▶️ and share this email with your favorite person. I want to inspire 1 million awesome minds like you.