Distribution is everything

The world is full of mediocre products that have completely dominated their markets.

Read to the end for a freebie.

Salesforce is notoriously overpriced and unnecessarily complex, but they spend $7.84 billion on marketing to convince you otherwise—that’s 39% of their annual revenue. 🤯

Products don’t just ‘become’ industry standards. They follow a process.

Take Coca-Cola. They’re in a unique position where they need to spend billions on marketing just to maintain their sales. (In 2023, they spent $5.01 billion on advertising.) Spending more doesn’t lead to more sales, and spending less causes them to lose sales.

They’re stuck in phase 4 of the classic marketing cycle:

1. Awareness

2. Engagement

3. Emotional Connection

4. Retention

5. Advocacy

Nobody needs carbonated sugar water (then again, nobody needs most of the things we’re being sold). Coca-Cola knows this, which is why they have to constantly remind people they exist—because let’s face it, few people are advocating for soda. It’s not solving a problem; it’s just a habit.

Now mix that with this staggering fact: the average person sees between 4,000 and 10,000 ads every single day.

(ASIDE: I see zero ads because I use Brave as my browser. It blocks them all natively—even on YouTube. You’re welcome. 😉)

And if you want your product to stand out in that sea of noise, you need more than just a good idea—you need a plan to break through.

Here’s the thing: If you’re reading this, you’ve either got a product that’s stuck in the awareness and engagement phases of the marketing cycle or you’re thinking about building one.

The good news? Most of us don’t have billion-dollar marketing budgets, so we’re all in the same position.

We need distribution.

And that, my friend, is a product in itself—one that’s begging to be built.

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Breaking down (and building) a product

Every product starts with three things:

Customer → Problem → Solution

Customer: a burnt-out entrepreneur who has launched a product that flopped.

Problem: they don’t have a big marketing budget, nor the energy or know-how to keep promoting it.

Solution: an info product that shows them where to promote their product, or a service that handles it for them.

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The classic entrepreneurial burnout scenario

Here’s what happens every week:

A solopreneur or team of two spends months designing and developing their product. By the time they’re done wrestling their imposter syndrome demons and deciding it’s ready to launch, they’re burnt out.

Their “launch” ends up being a weak email and a few half-hearted social media posts.

They think the job’s done. They don’t realize the game has just started.

Here’s the truth:

You don’t just launch once. You launch consistently.

You need to post it everywhere, repeatedly, for an extended period of time (read: forever).

Mentally, you have to pretend you’re already at Coca-Cola’s retention phase—keeping spirits high, pushing, and pushing some more.

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The opportunity for you

Assume everyone is already burnt out (because they are). Step in and offer to handle the first three steps of their distribution cycle:

1. Identify audiences to target.

2. Find out where they hang out.

3. Figure out how to reach them.

I follow this exact framework for every product I build.

And since I’ve done it before, I’m going to give you a leg-up.

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The distribution shortcut

I’ve compiled a list of 500+ places to promote your product.

These are directories, networks, blogs, and more—curated and ready for you to use.

Click the link below, and make a copy of the file 👇

Here’s how you can use it:

• Enrich the data: Add metrics like Domain Authority (DA) or traffic stats to make it even more valuable.

• Improve the categories: Refine and expand the list to make it easier to navigate and more comprehensive.

• Create SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures): Make it idiot-proof. Write clear, actionable steps for submitting to these websites. (Tip: Dubble.so is perfect for this.)

• Automate the process: Build workflows to submit products at scale. Tools like Bardeen.ai can make this scaleable.

• Package and sell it: Turn it into a polished product and monetize it.

• Use it as a giveaway: Offer it as a free resource to drive awareness and engagement for your own campaigns.

The point is this: launch often.

Whether it’s your product, a client’s, or even this list you’ve repurposed, remember this: your audience is seeing 10,000 ads a day.

Be the one they actually notice.

*Any typos in this email are on purpose actually