How to Create Scarcity Without Being Shady

Table of Contents

Marketing Isn’t Magic—It’s Math (With Better Fonts)

Let’s get one thing straight: marketing isn’t a mystical art practiced by hoodie-wearing wizards whispering to the algorithm gods. It’s not a vibe. It’s not a TikTok dance. And it sure as hell isn’t “just going viral.”

Marketing is math. It’s strategy. It’s systems. It’s spreadsheets with more tabs than a conspiracy theorist’s browser. And yes, it’s also storytelling—but storytelling with a P&L attached.

The Myth of the Marketing Unicorn

Somewhere along the way, we started believing that great marketing is about finding a unicorn—a single campaign, post, or influencer that magically explodes and makes your brand famous overnight. That’s not marketing. That’s gambling with better lighting.

Real marketing is about building a repeatable, scalable engine that turns dollars into more dollars. It’s not sexy, but neither is compound interest—and Warren Buffett seems to be doing just fine.

Truth Bomb:

“If your marketing strategy relies on luck, you don’t have a strategy—you have a wish list.”

The Math Behind the Magic

Let’s break it down. Every marketing engine has three core levers:

Traffic: How many people are seeing your stuff?
Conversion: How many of those people are doing what you want them to do?
Value: How much money are you making per customer?

That’s it. That’s the game. You can dress it up with brand storytelling, emotional resonance, and a killer color palette—but if you’re not tracking those three numbers, you’re just playing dress-up with your budget.

The 3×3 Growth Framework (Because All Good Frameworks Come in Threes)

Here’s a simple framework I use with clients who want to grow without burning their marketing team to ash:

1. Three Traffic Channels

Pick three channels to focus on. Not seven. Not “all the socials.” Three. Why? Because spreading your budget across too many platforms is like trying to butter toast with a toothpick.

SEO (slow burn, high ROI)
Paid Social (fast burn, test fast)
Email (the cockroach of marketing—still alive and kicking)

2. Three Conversion Plays

Don’t just throw up a landing page and pray. Build conversion plays that actually move people down the funnel:

Lead magnets that don’t suck (no one wants your 87-page whitepaper from 2014)
Retargeting that doesn’t feel like stalking
Onboarding flows that make people say “damn, that was smooth”

3. Three Value Drivers

Once you’ve got customers, how do you make them more valuable?

Upsells that feel helpful, not greedy
Retention strategies that don’t involve begging
Referral programs that don’t pay people in expired Starbucks gift cards

Case Study: The SaaS Startup That Stopped Chasing Virality

I worked with a SaaS company that was spending $50K/month trying to “go viral” on LinkedIn. They had a full-time meme guy. (Yes, that’s a real job title now.)

We shut that down faster than a MySpace login page. Instead, we focused on:

SEO content that answered real customer questions
A lead magnet that actually solved a problem (a pricing calculator)
A retargeting campaign that offered a free trial with no credit card

Result? CAC dropped by 42%, and MRR grew 3x in six months. No memes were harmed in the making of this strategy.

Stop Worshipping the Algorithm

Look, I get it. The algorithm is seductive. It promises reach, fame, and dopamine hits. But building your business on the back of an algorithm is like building a house on quicksand—eventually, it sinks, and you’re left wondering why your engagement tanked after the latest update.

Instead, build assets you own:

Your email list
Your website
Your customer data

These are the things that don’t disappear when Zuck sneezes or Elon gets bored.

Marketing Metrics That Actually Matter

Here’s a quick cheat sheet of metrics that matter—and the ones that don’t:

Metrics That Matter:

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
Lifetime Value (LTV)
Conversion Rate
Churn Rate
Revenue per Channel

Metrics That Don’t:

Likes (unless you’re selling dopamine)
Followers (unless they’re converting)
“Brand awareness” with no measurement plan
Pageviews with no context

If your dashboard looks like a Christmas tree but you can’t tell me your CAC, we’ve got a problem.

Final Thought: Be the CFO’s Favorite Marketer

Want to be a CMO that actually gets invited to the strategy table? Learn to speak CFO. Know your numbers. Tie every campaign to revenue. And stop pitching