a single source, nothing corroborates it

Make the delivery cost you something visible

Recipients judge how much a message matters by what it evidently cost to send, so a route that took effort clears the pile that took none. It also sets the order in which people answer, since obligation follows expense.

The method

1. 01

   Deliver an important ask through a channel that visibly costs you something, because a message that took no effort cannot signal that you are serious.

2. 02

   Choose an outreach method that visibly cost you effort, since the effort itself is the signal that gets you out of the pile of ordinary cold emails.

3. 03

   Make the delivery visibly expensive or laborious, because recipients judge how important a message is by what it cost to send.

4. 04

   Sort your own outreach targets by who will feel obliged to answer, since the person who received something costly gets replied to first.

What it returned

• 2012

  Chris Hardwick used this approach in 2012 and Tom Hanks replied within four days

• A sixteen-year-old waited in an agency's reception and asked for summer work experience in person; the firm created a placement despite having no such programme

Sources

• How a creative Google ad got an investor's attentionHarry Dry · Marketing Examples · Creative marketing is underrated · undated
• How to get Tom Hanks on your podcastHarry Dry · Marketing Examples · Results · undated
• Costly Signalling TheoryHarry Dry · Marketing Examples · Costly signalling theory · undated