How much should I give away?

👉 lessons from a stolen jokebook

I'm continuing the very loose theme of "insights inspired by comedians" today :)

One question I get asked a lot is about how much valuable information you should give away in your marketing.

And the fear behind that question is that if you give away too much, people won't need to hire you.

Usually, that's misguided. And I'm going to torture an analogy to explain why.

Back in the 70s and 80s, comedian Bob Monkhouse was everywhere on British TV. He went out of fashion as he got rather overused on gameshows, but then had quite a renaissance later in life.

Bob was famous for his huge repertoire of jokes which he wrote down religiously in a series of books. This is a pic of one of them.

He used to carry two of them - his "running files" - with him everywhere so he could note down ideas whenever they hit him.

Then in 1995, disaster struck. Someone stole his running files.

They were eventually returned 18 months later but here's the interesting thing.

Firstly, Bob continued to work (and come up with more jokes) without his jokebooks.

Secondly, the person who stole his jokebooks didn't suddenly become a successful comedian.

Bob wasn't a successful comedian just because of the jokes. It was the way he told them, the relationship he had with his audience, the way he structured an act from the jokes. The way he kept on developing them.

Now, of course, I'm stretching the analogy here. But if you're an expert in your field, people aren't hiring you just because of your content.

They're hiring you because of the way you deliver that content. And the relationship you build with them. The way you adapt your content and expertise to their situation. The way you keep on developing and applying your expertise.

Sharing your ideas and insights in your marketing doesn't detract from that. In fact it gives your potential clients confidence that you're the right person to hire because they get to experience a little bit of you first.

Or put it this way...of all the experts I know who've put their knowledge into a book, I don't know of any who've lost work as a result. But I know plenty who've gained a lot of work.

You don't have to go as far as writing a book to gain from sharing your expertise.

Get your best insights out there on Linkedin, Youtube, Twitter, Medium.

Make sure people see them.

It'll work. No joke.

- Ian