Yesterday I talked to y’all about product research.
Missed it? Go here:
When To Take Drugs For Your Clients
TLDR?
I chewed caffeine gum and wrote about the experience for a client.
Well, I kinda framed it like I got paid to take drugs…I mean, caffeine is a drug right?
I posted yesterday’s email in a couple of subreddits to see how they’d react. And, uh…that went about as well as you’d think.
And…
And…
I, uh…think they missed the point.
I expected all of the boring troll replies, to be honest. It’s Reddit.
But what I DIDN’T expect was the following message, just a few hours after the post went live:
Uh…so reading comprehension isn’t their strong suit.
Every now and then, I jump on Reddit and try to GENUINELY help people who are struggling. I sympathize with marketers and business owners dealing with burnout, the AI menace threatening job security, the economy…I really want to help them.
But “GumGate 2025” reminded me of one of the most important principles when it comes to running a business—especially an information-based business, but this applies to ALL businesses. Yes, yours too.
And that is…
Nobody values free information.
See, what I didn’t tell you is that I posted my gumscepades in 5 different subreddits, worded differently each time to “A/B/C/D/E” test the outcome.
Some were short. Some were long. Some were story-based. Some got to the point quickly.
This was on a topic that I rarely see discussed in marketing circles—product research. It’s legitimately valuable information because it comes from my firsthand experience…not some regurgitated fifth-hand slop.
If I were a new copywriter/marketer/business owner on a shoestring budget, I would get a lot of insights out of reading that post.
Yet all subreddits universally panned the post.
Takeaway?
Don’t make your sole goal in content production to be “teaching.” Doesn’t matter if you’re talking email, blogging, YouTube.
Save your best bites for paid products. Your primary goal is to entertain and deliver “soft” teaching, as Ben Settle calls it.
Like I did in this blog post.
Wanna learn how I do it? Join my email list:
I’m totally fine,
Nick
