Tom Ruwitch
A few years back, I heard Dan Kennedy tell this story… He was booked to speak in a very small town. The night before the gig, he unpacked his suitcase at the motel and discovered he’d forgotten his cuff links. No problem. He’d buy some. But the motel had no gift shop. So he asked…
Ripped from the headlines in China: An entrepreneur in Shenzhen rakes in $30,000 a month scratching people’s itches. He got the idea when he watched a viral video of a wife scratching her husband’s back. People in the comments said they’d pay for that. So Zhang Xiaoqiao spent four months developing a unique back-scratching process.…
I was on the ballot yesterday. So were you. Today, too. And tomorrow. And the day after. Your ideal prospects are out there casting votes. Every day. And when they vote for your competitors, there’s usually a simple explanation. Pundits call it the “ground game.” Turn on your TV, and you’ll hear about “ground game”…
Happy Cliché Day! Really. It’s a real holiday. So let’s give a special shout-out to the biggest cliché factory on the planet… AI. Ask a robot to write your marketing copy and it reaches for the most common words and phrases it can find. So you get openers like these: “In today’s fast-paced world…” “In…
A couple of years ago, I encouraged a lawyer, let’s call her “Lucy,” to give away her book to attract leads. She thought that was a TERRIBLE idea. She told me she didn’t want to “leave money on the table.” Then we did the math. Every time she sells a book, Lucy gets $5. Amazon…
Yesterday I asked you and the rest of my online family to share the most pressing question you have about your book. The most common answer, by far: “How do I get my book in front of the right people?” When Melanie replied yesterday with that question, I asked her, “What have you been doing…
When I was in high school, no one visited the guidance counselor. I mean NO ONE. He was a creepy hippy-turned-teacher who sat alone in his third-floor office, waiting for someone to show up and ask for help. Asking for help felt like surrender, sign of weakness, an admission that you didn’t have it all…
I spent a couple of days last week at Brian Kurtz’s TXL Live event with some of the best marketers and copywriters in the galaxy. We talked a lot about AI. (No surprise) But we also talked a lot about “going analog.” Step out of the all-digital, automated, artificial world. Step into a place of…
Recommended Reading Is Email Marketing Dead? No, But… Every few months somebody declares email marketing dead. Megan Braverman says the people asking are grading email on the wrong test. They expect a newsletter to close deals on its own. When it doesn’t, they call it a failure. But in professional services, people hire you after…
Greetings from Connecticut, where I’m attending the “TXL Live” event hosted by Brian Kurtz. Brian is a marketing legend who refers to the people in his email database not as his “list,” but as his “online family.” He means it. I swiped that term from him. I mean it, too. Here’s something Brian said in…