I’d be lying if I told you that I came up with this (permissionless advertising) genius concept idea by myself. (Although, I’ve been doing it without knowing it.)

My good friend, Amanda Natividad, wrote this article: The Case for Permissionless Co-Marketing. Today’s newsletter was totally inspired by her (and Corey Haines).

So, what is permissionless co-marketing?

It means having a ‘give first’ approach to the people you eventually want to collaborate with in the future. It's like citing sources in a friendly way.

Another good source is Jack Butcher’s course, where he mentions the permission apprentice who works for someone but instead of getting paid in dollars, gets paid in experience, knowledge, and valuable connections to an expert in your industry.

So, why am I sharing this idea?

If you’re a brand that’s still small and If you want to get attention. Sometimes, you need to do things differently — this might be it. Also, I’ve tried it and it worked.

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Why Permissionless?

In your ads, you get into credibility, point of view (POV), or a big idea from someone else to prove a point that aligns with your product and services.

It’s something that viewers are already familiar with, which brings me to the point of familiarity bias:

Familiarity bias refers to the predisposition people have to favor things with which they are familiar with over those that they are not. It is a type of cognitive bias where individuals might make decisions based on what they know and feel comfortable with rather than considering unfamiliar or new options.

Warning: There might be risks involved with it so use it at your own risk.

Why this works – despite the risks

Paid social is all about the game of attention. Once you have attention you need to develop trust. You basically need the attention and trust of the audience to take the next action.

From Robert Cialdini we have the fourth principle of persuasion: Authority, that we use in ads to “influence” our audience.

This principle states that people who have a position of leadership or notoriety have a higher level of credibility. The rest tend to believe it, simply because someone says so. This is the real reason behind the success of the so-called “influencers.” Viewers tend to identify with them, to imitate them.

More importantly, he says:

So far I hope I am clear on the what & why of permissionless advertising.

If so, let’s get to the fun part i.e. finding ideas to use permissionless advertising.

Idea # 1 – Use a public figure

Simply use a public figure and his or her philosophy to align with your product.

Note: Using a public figure’s image might get you banned. But you can still use it intelligently.

Example # 1 - Elon

Elon created a school where kids learn non-traditional subjects and through that they learn critical thinking and problem-solving skills. In the founder ad shown here, we used the reference of this school to get attention with Elon’s name. This was one of our best ads. We didn’t claim to be associated with it, we only said we were inspired by his principles.

Example # 2 – Surreal

On Facebook, you can’t use images of public figures without their approval, but you can definitely use their names.

Surreal used it smartly for their OOH campaign:

When I tried it, it didn’t work for me, but you should definitely give it a try:

Here’s Finimize using the same principle with Warren Buffet:

Final Example # 3 – Hexclad already has Gordon Ramsey as an influencer but they used his presence differently with this UGC.

Idea # 2 – Use of a brand within the ad

This is basically using a popular brand logo in our ad to get a scroll stop.

Storytime: I was struggling to bring the cost per free trial down. It was horrendous. But then I had this epiphany that my client had once given a TED talk. TED is super famous and I know people who do present there have some legitimacy and credibility.

I used this presentation and turned it into multiple ads with hooks that resonated with a specific audience – and it worked.

Sure enough, I was able to bring the cost per free trial from $149 to $48.

Idea # 3 – Meme ads

Within the meme ads, obviously there’s a common theme and public figure behind it.

Here’s a good example and this ad has been crushing it for 60+ days so far:

And featuring Homer Simpson in one of my client’s ads is still crushing it

My exact thoughts on this ad:

You get the point, meme ads are “familiar” and “permission-less.”

You can find all my meme ads swipefile here.

Idea # 4 – Use of famous books or TV series

I remember a tactic that a SaaS brand used in 2017. They created a software based on a famous book. And they kept saying that if you’ve read this book then try their software. This SaaS brand is now above $10m. It’s called Trainual.

Many of the book summary apps use this tactic to get attention too.

Here’s an example:

Another example:

Both ads have been running for a long time.

Now, it is up to you to use this book idea.

But you can also use a popular series and tweak it your way. This is another brand doing in such a smart way, I am sure they’re winning – They stole the title from Love is Blind and turned it into Love is Blinds:

All I can say is that these are good ideas and fairly legit but sometimes not appropriate for big brands.

And they do involve some level of creativity and risk.

I hope this has given you some good ideas. In this case, you’re only limited by your imagination.

One good for your swipe file I found (best for answering objections)

Happy Growing with Paid Social,

Aazar Shad

Since this newsletter is free, I do it to follow my curiosity. But I’d love it if you could leave some feedback so I know if I am helping you or not.

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