The Bunch of Nerds Theory of Marketing

In 1979 Apple came up with the Pascal poster

There was no copy, nor image. Instead, it was a syntax chart of the programming language.

Designed by Jef Raskin, it was born from the fact that Apple had created a slightly different implementation of an existing programming language (Pascal) for the Apple II, that existing guides didn’t cover.

Pascal, in its full glory.

The idea behind the poster was that a programmer in need of a guide could simply look up to their desk, see the poster, and use it to figure out what the next step would be.

Raskin originally designed it not to sell the product, but to be useful.

But Steve Jobs realised it could do both - hiring an artist to turn it into something that not only helped their users, but sold the product as well.

Lots of people look to Apple for marketing inspiration - zeroing in on the iconic campaigns of the 80s and 90s.

But I think for pretty much all startups, we’d do better to look back to the days when the mass market for computers was just a dream.

And the customers Apple were going after were the hobbyists and the truly hardcore.

The thought process behind Raskin’s poster - who’s using our product, and how can we be useful for them - is probably the best marketing question you can ask yourself.

I heard the same insight, but in a very different context this week.

There’s a watch website called Hodinkee. They started as a magazine, but their most popular channel is now Youtube.

Most of their videos follow a pretty straightforward format. Two people (usually one of them is Hodinkee CEO Ben Claymer), talk about watches. In front of a camera. That’s it.

Guy on the left definitely not Ben Claymer.

It gets very dense, to such an extent that in one conversation the interviewee (Ed Sheeran) apologises for being so disgustingly nerdy.

Claymer simply responds with a: “that’s alright, we’re just a bunch of nerds here,” referring not only to the company itself, but to the people watching the video.

That’s a great way to think about your product - something you’re building for a very specific bunch of nerds.

Taking the approach of the enthusiast when it comes to marketing is useful for a few reasons.

First, it makes you and your company useful from day one - even before the main thing you’re building isn’t quite there yet.

The problem that Hodinkee’s videos solve ("I love watches and want to spend time geeking out about my hobby") is different to that of its watch marketplace.

One is easier to make money from, but both are useful to the user. And providing valuable information can happen much faster than building a great product.

Second, it forces you to give your product personality. Which makes your product better. It gives it a point of view, and it brings people back.

At the early stage people aren’t buying your product, so much as they’re buying your vision. So the more useful you can be, the more authoritative you can become.

This also doesn’t just apply to consumer facing companies. It’s the same for a B2B startup trying to land that first enterprise deal.

The only way to turn those first non-buyers into buyers is to transform them yourself - it’s why nothing ever quite beats founder-led sales.

To borrow from Anu Atlaru: the best products are personalities in a box.

You might think that a risk of this approach is that it unduly narrows your product to a cadre of the hardcore. First, that’s a good thing. And second, it actually doesn’t.

I don’t care about watches. And never will.

I didn’t spend four hours watching watch videos on a Saturday night because I care about Calatravas or coaxial escapements - I spent it because of the people involved.

There’s always something really interesting about watching people talk about something they’re enthusiastic or knowledgeable about.

The sort of Tony Bourdain approach to the world - open, enthusiastic, smart - is compelling to everyone.

One word.

Whether it’s Zane Lowe interviewing music producers, Katherine Ryan talking about parenting, or the Inside the NBA guys talking about anything other than basketball.

There’s nothing in the world more interesting than the enthusiast.

It might seem inaccessible, but it actually isn’t. Good artists borrow, but great artists steal, and there’s a lot of places to find inspiration.

Though when you hear nerd, you instinctively think tech, but most of the examples above come from sports, music and luxury brands, industries that have - I think anyway - embraced this insight best over the years.

My favourite example of the Group of Nerds theory of marketing is something called the Collecting Addicts podcast - run by a car auction marketplace called Collecting Cars.

Five guys talk about cars for an hour a week, and record it.

Recent topics include: whether all new cars are ugly; if you had to build a new motorway, where would it be; and headlights.

Leading the bill this week, a discussion of the Land Rover Discovery 4.

What’s so great about it is how simple it is. No one is rocking Shure MV7s here. It’s just a Zoom room with some sometimes quite sketchy internet connections.

But it’s utterly addictive.

So just pick a format you like - I like words, hence emails and blogs - find some inspiration, and ask the one question that matters.

Who’s our bunch of nerds, and how can we be useful to them?

aled@ashore.io