I recall a time when Alex Hormozi shared a controversial post.
He claimed: You should give up life… everything, including going out, having fun, going to your friend’s wedding… for 10+ years… to build a business.
Because that’s the ONLY way you can succeed.
When he posted this –
The Internet Marketing bubble went on a rampage.
Everyone and their cousins were trashing how terrible this concept was.
“I’d rather not give up life.”
“That sounds terrible.”
“bla-bla-bla”
A few years later –
Alex Hormozi pulled off the biggest book launch in history, claiming to squeeze 81M+ in one day. Suddenly, Alex is right about everything.
Even his fart is worth 6k.
Seriously –
People need to stop justifying everything he did with “But he made so much money.”
Mars Candy makes 50B a year.
But that does not make child slavery a good thing.
The reason I’m sharing this is because yesterday, I saw a marketer sharing a LinkedIn Post:
“I just realized Alex Hormozi knows nothing about marketing or building a personal brand… Sure, if you blast enough emails, you’ll get some results. But at what cost?”
The email marketer in me cannot help but comment:
“Now, I’d say his #1 strength is building a personal brand 😂
but then…
I am kind of questioning his email marketing strategy, too.
I’m pretty sure I’ve never subscribed to his list. And I checked, I haven’t received a single email from him before. (and I didn’t join the webinar… since I didn’t even know about it before)
But I got slammed by more than 2 dozen emails/sms from Alex & Leila since Saturday…
I’m pretty sure this is a big no-no according to the Can-Spam Act.
So, it’s more like he is so good at personal branding he’s getting off the hook for some questionable strategies.”
Yes, this is my honest opinion.
I think Alex Hormozi is excellent at building a personal brand (mainly through stirring controversy).
The ONLY reason he was able to pull off this event was because of his branding. If another marketer cloned everything he did… without the personal branding… it would flop terribly.
That’s why I was genuinely shocked when someone replied:
“How would you be spammed if they don’t know your email? Maybe you’ve subscribed at some point and forgot about it.”
Huh?
You do know there’s a thing called… cold emailing… right?!
I guess I can blow his mind by pointing him to Apollo.
So, I did something I now regret.
I actually tried to provide a rational explanation:
“lol
Come on. You’ve got to know there are a million list vendors out there. It’s not really that hard to get someone’s email.
I have no idea why/how he got my email. It’s not really my job to find out… I only need to hit unsubscribe or spam report because I didn’t want them.
Secondly…
I actually did dig through all my inbox.
I’ve never bought a product from their website. (even the 100M Offer book, I got that from Amazon)
I didn’t even know about the book launch until he started blasting me on Sat. I didn’t see any confirmation email from the past… or any single email from them.
(yes, I almost never delete subscribed emails. I only file them away for future references)
So…
Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt and assume I opted in years ago, then forgot.
Not sending a single email for years… no, not even for years… forever… and blow up the inbox with 12 emails /sms in one day? Not exactly a good email strategy.
(and it’s a lot worse if he really bought the list)”
To which another Alex fangirl struck back:
“I signed up to Hormozi’s last book launch 2 years ago. I haven’t been emailed much from him, if at all, the last 2 years.
So unless you keep every single email from the last couple years, it’s highly unlikely he spammed you.
Hormozi doesn’t need to buy lists or scrap emails to have people to get emails🤣”
…
..
.
*sigh*
Are you really so deep in the cult that you don’t even realize what you just said?
Let’s break down this comment line by line –
“I signed up to Hormozi’s last book launch 2 years ago. I haven’t been emailed much from him, if at all, the last 2 years.”
Yeah.
That’s exactly my point.
Bad email marketing strategy.
So… what were you saying?
“So unless you keep every single email from the last couple years, it’s highly unlikely he spammed you.”
I hate to break it to her…
I am the kind of marketing geek who keeps almost every single email from the last couple of years. I file ALL my newsletter subscriptions into different folders for future reference.
So… again… what were you saying about spamming?
“Hormozi doesn’t need to buy lists or scrap emails to have people to get emails 🤣”
*slap my forehead due to all the stupidity in the world*
Since when did Big = Ethical?
Also…
If no “big company” needs to buy email lists…
Guess why we have Zoominfo, Cognism, Lusha, Lead411, Apollo, Clearbit, Seamless, and a gazillion different email vendors?
This kind of brain-dead comment should have been red flag #2.
*sigh*
(I should really trust my instinct more often)
Anyhoo…
I replied:
“yes, in fact, I do keep almost all the emails for the last couple of years. And no, I didn’t join any of his book launches before.
But again, I don’t really care how he has my email. (the fact it’s a personal email, not my newsletter email, is kinda annoying tho) Not emailing for a few years and blasting a few dozen in 2-3 days is still not a good practice.
All I’m saying is…
His numbers are impressive, but everyone got to stop using that number to justify like every strategy he did was top class
He’s just really, really good at building personal branding, and that allows him to fly past many of these problems.”
I feel like I’m caught in The Matrix, where I’m just repeating myself over and over again. Because…
This is EXACTLY the same comment I made in the very beginning.
Learn to read?
To which the fangirl ran out of argument, stumped her feet on the floor, and yelled:
“IT WOULD’VE TAKEN YOU LESS TIME TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM HIS LIST THEN IT DID TO COMPLAIN HERE AND JUSTIFY YOUR COMPLAINTS”
I left it there because…
ARE YOU REALLY THIS DUMB?
This final comment was so ridiculous that I “unsubscribed” from the post because it would’ve taken me less time to acknowledge the stupidity in the world than try to educate someone on what good email marketing practice is.
But then –
You’re different.
You’re on my list.
So… let me share with you the ACTUAL strategy behind Alex Hormozi’s email marketing.
Ready?
He does NOT care about relationship building.
Controversial, right?
And that’s why Alex Hormozi’s email marketing strategy ONLY works for Alex.
Alex knows he has THE biggest personal branding in the IM Circle right now. He knows that as long as you see his name…
…you’ll give him at least ONE chance to read the email.
But here’s the catch –
Alex marketing is built on personal branding, controversy, and a ton of hypes.
This means…
If he really emails you more often… he will have A LOT of unsubscribe in the long term.
So… instead of building a long-term relationship…
…he kept quiet for years.
…secretly collecting more and more emails.
…building the largest list in the IM community.
But as long as he doesn’t make a beep, you won’t “remember him.” This means you also won’t unsubscribe.
(which is actually about to change… because Gmail is testing a new feature to allow you to scrub all newsletters)
Then, when he’s ready to make another book launch –
Alex can blow up your inbox with 12 emails/SMS in one day.
As long as you see “Alex Homorzi” in your inbox…
…and you got curious
…he has a chance to bait you into his webinar.
The webinar is where he makes the sale.
He does not care if this burns the domain’s reputation.
He does not care how many subscribers he will lose (and how many spam complaints he’ll get in a weekend).
He just wants a chance to reach THE MOST people in one day.
Because…
He’s not doing relationship building.
He’s leveraging his personal branding to play a completely different game.
But guess what?
If you don’t have his branding… and follow his strategy… you’re toast.
Colin Theriot, a brilliant marketer, said it best:
“Micro-celebrity in small niches has proven once again to be very profitable. It’s not the offer. It’s not the copy. It’s not the message. If the MESSENGER MATTERS then the rest is secondary.”
And…
“It seems like it was a magician with a theater packed ONLY with other magicians who are there to try and figure out how the tricks are done.
Which is, itself, a good trick.
People come to hear the suggestions of someone they have granted the authority to hold influence over them. Do not mistake this as the persuasion that a salesman has to try to use to coerce strangers.”
And finally…
“my entire career is built around the concept that using copywriting to persuade strangers to BUY THINGS is hard. Using copywriting to position someone to be influential is much easier, because the prospect doesn’t have to resist it. Once you are influential, using copywriting to sell by suggestion, to people who like you – that’s where you get locked in. Unable to fail.”
Very well said.
And this is my final email on Alex Hormozi.
To your success,
– WYH