Marketing

A note to my future self—the one who might be panicking during a crash or getting a big head during a boom. We often hear the saying, “The stock market is a form of spiritual discipline.” But for most of us, it’s less about Zen and more about a severe case of “investment schizophrenia.” If you look back at the 2000 Dot-Com Bubble or the 2008 Financial Crisis, countless investors kept repeating the same tired script: They got greedy when they should have been terrified, and terrified when they should have been greedy. ...

Compared to ten years ago, today’s entrepreneurial environment is much freer and more convenient. Entrepreneurs no longer need to rely on traditional resources; instead, they can quickly and affordably launch projects using modern tools and the internet! I. Entrepreneurship no longer requires a “grand setup” In the Past: Entrepreneurship required investors, co-founders, an office, and several months of financial support. Now: These are no longer necessities. As long as you have the internet and some basic tools, one person can start. II. Every step of entrepreneurship has a solution ...

User Research and Insights By conducting in-depth research on Reddit using multiple AI tools (such as Gemini 2.5, Deepresearch, Grok 3, and Perplexity), with a specific focus on user complaints and comments. Four independent reports will be generated to summarize real user feedback, providing data support for subsequent content creation. Building Content Ecosystem and SEO Optimization Based on the identified user complaints, questions will be refined and converted into content topics. Articles centered on experience sharing and solutions will be written, integrating high-frequency search terms using Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies. These will be published on the website blog, ensuring the content has high potential for search ranking. ...

I. Price Anchor Reconstruction (Anchoring Effect + Mental Account Reset) App Store Pricing Strategy List the high price of $99.99/year upon listing (never actually discounted) Product description emphasizes “Enterprise-Grade Service” and “Original Price for Institutional Procurement Only” Feature list uses B2B terminology such as “Enterprise Security Solution” and “Million-Level Data Processing” Cognitive Framework Shift Publish a “User Benefit Upgrade Announcement” on the official website/social media: “To celebrate users reaching 100,000, we are temporarily opening the free personal channel (Original Price $99.99 → 0 Yuan)” Set a countdown timer: Display remaining free slots (dynamic fake data, always maintaining <10% availability) II. Zero-Price Trigger Design (Dual-Channel Loss Aversion) Registration Code Acquisition Mechanism Design a “Golden Invitation Code” system: Unlock Enterprise Edition features valued at $99.99 (limited to individual users) Set up a dual loss framework: ✅ Claim Now → Receive VIP privileges valued at $99.99 (Permanent) ❌ Decline Claim → Lose the maximum annual benefit (Red text warning) Sunk Cost Implantation Obtaining the invitation code requires completing three steps: Enter phone number to receive verification code (Initiating commitment consistency) Watch a 15-second product video (Attention sinking) Select three interest tags (Personalized anchoring) III. Social Currency Creation (Viral Spread Engine) Vanity Sharing Design Automatically generate a “Digital Asset Report” after successful registration: “You have saved $99.99, surpassing 92% of users” The sharing page includes: Dynamic Ranking Bar: “Your free code is valued by over XX people” Virtual Badge: “Savvy Decision Maker,” “0 Yuan Challenge Success” Group Behavior Stimulation Create a “Limited-Time Free Alliance” leaderboard: Invite 1 person to earn a “Credit Star,” which can be exchanged for an extension of the free period. The top 100 display real user avatars, triggering competitive psychology. IV. Scarcity Maintenance System (Dynamic Fake Resources) Multi-Dimensional Scarcity Prompts Geo-fencing technology: “Only 43 free slots remain in Chaoyang District, Beijing where you are located.” Device identification prompt: “iOS user exclusive quota is about to run out.” Ghost Inventory Strategy: Real-time display of “Users Currently Claiming”: Example Algorithm (Actual data must be faked to appear real) ...

The True Enemy of Success The enemy of success is not failure, but dullness and lack of interest. Therefore, we must make it interesting. The Key to Product Development It is the same when building a product; you must have people using it, interacting with it, and providing feedback right from the start. Otherwise, it will be difficult to sustain. You must have seed users from the beginning, and a group of people anticipating it throughout the development process.

No matter what you are thinking about, the most important thing is to first understand what kind of framework you need to establish. In fact, once you have the framework, all that’s left is to fill it in. Conversely, if you don’t have a framework and immediately start thinking about the details, you will inevitably face a pile of unorganized, messy information, wasting time for nothing.

usually are full of very similar competitors, fighting it out over price and marginal differences. This saturation makes it hard to enter a market, and even the businesses that are already in that market suffer.

I believe that many bootstrapped businesses only do half the work. They solve a problem, but they don’t address the most critical problem.

You built a solution for customers who think they have that problem under control. You solved the wrong problem. You developed a solution that helps only at the margins. You solved the wrong problem. You built something, but your customers have bigger fish to fry. You solved the wrong problem.

You want to build a “need-to-have” instead of a “nice-to-have.” You want to develop a painkiller instead of a vitamin. You want to be their aspirin. How can this be done? By finding their most important problem: the one issue that is critical to their success.

The most crucial problem a customer faces is on their minds most often. It’s the most important because it’s coming up frequently and is never easy to solve. It has the most impact on their lives, but it’s not always the obvious choice. If you can help a customer with their most critical problem, they will benefit the most.

A Critical Problem Is Painful Problems can be a nuisance. They come up, and you either deal with them or ignore them. We can’t ignore critical problems. They persistently make the lives of those who have them harder until they are resolved. They can’t be just ignored, because they consistently reduce the quality of life.

Find the critical problem where ignoring something causes a lower quality of life.

The critical problem is always at the intersection of mandatory and wasteful.

A Critical Problem Is Not Optional Some things can be ignored or delegated, but a critical problem can’t be. If it’s critical, people will have to deal with the problem every time it occurs. They can’t just opt out of it. Solving the problem is essential to making any kind of progress in the work. Find the critical problem where people would love to opt out, but can’t.

Find the critical problem where people need to do the same thing over and over again. A Critical Problem Occurs Frequently and Repeatedly The reason why critical problems are always on the minds of your customers is that the problems happen so often. Every day, every week, every month, the critical problems repeatedly occur. For your customers, it’s always the most urgent thing at that time. The issue needs to be solved there and then, every single time. If it’s not frequent, it is likely not a critical problem. If it occurs repeatedly and isn’t easily solved, it is likely to be a critical problem.

Find the critical problem where solving a problem takes a long time every time the problem occurs. A Critical Problem Takes up Too Much Time If a problem can be solved quickly, people either solve it the moment it appears or they set aside some time to do the work in a batch later, without feeling like it’s a waste of time. If that is the case, the problem is not really critical. Only when you need to spend considerable time and effort each time you solve the problem will it be impossible to “just” deal with it. “Doing it later” also turns into a chore, as it may take hours or days to deal with a long queue of deferred problems. A critical problem will feel like an unwelcome chore: important, yet tiresome.

There’s a joke that every SaaS product is essentially an Excel spreadsheet turned into business logic. When someone uses generic tools such as word processors or spreadsheets to solve a problem, it indicates that the problem is significant enough to warrant building specialized tools. Most problems aren’t highly complex and can often be resolved immediately. However, a critical issue will require developing a more sophisticated system. If your customers are using piles of Post-it notes or a disorganized mix of Word and Excel files to address a problem, you might have identified a key pain point.

Customer Preferences for Problem Solving Customers often find alternative ways to solve non-critical problems because they want to save money. It’s not worth their while to seek and pay for a solution that they value less than the alternatives. When Customers Are Willing to Pay If the solution saves them time. If the solution saves them money. If the solution helps them make more money.

Finding the Critical Problem So, how can you learn about which is the most critical problem your customers have? It’s quite straightforward: talk to them. Ask them what annoys them most. Find out where they want to be. Ask them what keeps them from being the best at what they are doing.