Tom Ruwitch
Itās raining here in St. Louis, MO, USAā¦ …which reminds me of the time my twin kiddos summoned a drought-ending thunderstorm with a rain dance. We were at my inlawās farm in central Missouri. It was bone dry for weeks. But (finally!), we adults could smell and feel the rain coming. As the wind picked…
My friend Cabanne Howard (a great marketing strategist) sent this picture to me the other dayā¦ It’s a closeup of this Duraflame log… Cabanne thinks itās a great example of story-powered marketing. And sheās right. Feeble marketing focuses on features. Better marketing focuses on benefits. The best marketing — story-powered marketing — promises transformations. A Duraflame log features sawdust…
Hereās a tale of two blog posts — both covering the same topic: Why your business needs a customer support playbook and how to implement one. In one corner we have a treatise. Hereās how it starts: Building and managing a help desk in your organization can either become a triumphant, effective tool or end…
Last week, I had one of those days when nothing went right. It made me grumpy. And as I grumped around, I focused more on feeling sorry for myself and less on staying focused and productive. That made it worse. I got past it, but it made me think about how easy it is to…
I heard from a business owner who wants to power up his story to grow salesā¦ …but he fears he doesnāt have a compelling story to tell. āMy story isnāt interesting,ā he said. I hear that a lot. Business people assume storytelling should be about themselves. They rack their brains for an inspiring origin story.…
I came across this gem of a headline in an online marketing forum this week: āIām buying a domain name for $35,000.ā The guy who posted it explained: āWe presently use the domain with ātheā prefix for our product, so it looks like https://the___.com But going to go bolder way and buy the name without…
I was cleaning out a closet the other day and found an old biology textbook. As I paged through it, I was struck (stunned, saddened) by how little I remembered. Then I got to the chapter about animal biologyā¦ …and my memory clicked: āKids prefer cheese over fried green spinach.ā Thatās the little story I…
60 Minutes presented an interview with Jerry Seinfeld on Sunday, and it was great. Hereās the link to the video. Seinfeld said so many funny, profound, and wise things. Iāve rewatched it three times. And now Iām sharing some of the highlights. Asked if Covid has killed New York, he scoffed and said: āWhen you were…
A cautionary tale: Earlier this week, I was helping a client move a website. He registered his domain with GoDaddy, and I spoke to their customer support before moving the site. Everything GoDaddy told me was wrong, and when we moved the site it came crashing down. I launched a chat with GoDaddy support and…
Back in March, when the pandemic was a fresh, new misadventure for all of us, I wrote this email asking why the local traffic reporter needed to do her thing every morning — even though no one was driving to work. I concluded that she and her station kept doing their thing because thatās what they do.…