Writing for the World You Want
Are you serious enough about thought leadership to take your topic seriously? Once upon a time, writing gurus used to say we should write for people at a 10th-grade reading level. Then it went down to 8th. Then 6th-grade reading became the threshold. Recently, I’ve seen people seriously proposing 5th and even 3rd-grade reading levels […]
Ensuring Your Startup’s Voice is Heard
Startup founders have to be careful not to use “build mode” to hide from “communicate mode.” Here’s what happens. Many founders, especially for complex B2B products, are engineers, not advocates. They pour their heart and soul into development, but shy away from the spotlight. But if you innovate in silence, you’re missing out. You need […]
Trust Over Traffic
One thing B2B marketers often get wrong—they use generic, mass-market tactics for small-to-mid-sized businesses when their buyers are large enterprises. They put traffic ahead of trust. This mistake seems more common among smaller and newer providers, but it happens elsewhere, too. The thing is, the buying decision for a high-stakes, high-ticket purchase doesn’t work like […]
One Week to Mastery
Become a better fintech leader/marketer/writer in just one week. Three steps. Here’s how.
The Unique Dynamics of High-Stakes Content
“High-stakes content” works differently. Rules from generic B2B content world don’t apply. What makes the stakes high? Ultimately, it’s the impact of the implicit decisions you’re expecting your reader to make. Institutional finance is one such example. Maybe not in the moment of reading, but at some point, your reader is going to entrust the […]
Crafting Enduring Thought Leadership
THIS is the moment I go for in my work. “I knew they were smart, but then I noticed they were putting out new insights that were changing things, and the writing was fantastic,” said my prospect. About work I did with an earlier client. Over five years ago. Today, that client is seen as […]
Belonging vs. Business
If your definition of status differs from a given peer group’s definition of status… These observations don’t just apply to kinship or tribal dynamics. They apply to what choices we make and how we avoid excessive homogeneity or groupthink in business. The final wrinkle to all this…in business, if your peer group isn’t your buyer, […]
Making the Case for Change in Financial Marketing
When your buyers are financial institutions, whatever you sell is probably something they already use to do something they already are doing. Much of the time, your “competition” isn’t your competitors. It’s inertia. You have to get buyers to ask, “When is good enough no longer good enough?” As a result, your marketing needs to […]
A Strength Training Analogy
At first, it was impossible. Then it was difficult. Now I can do it multiple reps and multiple sets. I’m not just talking about 100kg+ back squats. Many of the same concepts apply to the heavy lift of messaging and thought leadership. I can think of several other analogies, too, but I’ll just leave it […]
How Effective Thought Leadership Guides Financial Choices
The most powerful thought leadership influences the way people understand a particular topic, issue, or challenge. The higher the stakes of the topic (as in institutional finance where reputations and many billions of dollars can be at stake), the greater the need to make sense out of complexity and provide context. This principle also means […]