When Convenience Leads to Poor Judgment
I messed something up. Made a bad judgment call. And now, I’m quite pissed at myself. Although I (hope) I learned a few things. Here’s what I did: I used a tool that sends canned messages to people letting them know about my newsletter. I wrote the content, and it did the work. If you […]
Balancing Act
Some people like to tell the story before they get to the point (if ever). Others like to make the point before they share the story (if at all). On the other hand, some people want to hear the story in order to appreciate the point. Others want you to get to the point and […]
The Unseen Decay of Content Marketing
Content marketing is dead. I got an email this week that PROVES it. Look! The race to the bottom is unwinnable, but plenty of providers are trying to do so anyway. This email reminds me of the moment that I knew crypto was over. Months before conventional wisdom pronounced crypto dead, I was waiting in […]
Forget Leads, Focus on Seeds
For large-scale, high-stakes B2B marketing in finance, plant seeds. Don’t chase leads. For example, I don’t think there are CXOs in firms over $1 billion in AUM or transacting nine-figure sums daily that are filling out web forms or making existential decisions on the basis of lead magnets. Not ever. Stop the magical thinking. Again, […]
From Content to Intent
The environment… Human rights… Democratic values… Content… They have one thing in common. They’re collapsing. And it’s our collective fault. I wish I had better answers for the first three. But even if I did, no one is asking me to be emperor. What people ARE asking me is to help with “better” content. They’re […]
A Call to End Digital Pollution
The environment… Human rights… Democratic values… Content… They have one thing in common. They’re collapsing. And it’s our collective fault. I wish I had better answers for the first three. But even if I did, no one is asking me to be emperor. What people ARE asking me is to help with “better” content. They’re […]
Measuring Impact, Not Just Hype
“Wasted $25K on a content project that disappointed everyone.” (or $50k, or even $100k) Is that something you’d ever want to put on your year-end self-eval? Is that something you want to explain in a performance review? Probably not. I’m hoping you’re not faced with that for 2023, but if you want to avoid it […]
A Plea for Better Video Conversations
I know… we are somehow “supposed to” do video now, but seriously…if you have to, please stop chewing your camera. I don’t want to sit here watching you come at me like I’m a ghost and you’re a Pac-Man that just ate power pellets. No chomping, no chasing. Just conversation. Relax. Tell me something good. […]
The Content Buffet
Like many Americans on Thanksgiving, AI is gorging itself on the products of our harvest, cultivated in fields it took from others. And if AI actually meant to save us from all the hard and annoying things about work, it would not only consume all the content but also poop it back out in private […]
Unveiling the Power Play Between Lions and Foxes
Would you rather be a lion or a fox? I just went down the best Internet rabbit hole—and it’s full of allegorical animals! I didn’t know that Pareto (the “80/20 guy”) is also known for using the analogy of lions and foxes to describe that elite 20% that tends to hold 80% of assets. You […]