Tom Ruwitch
A few years ago, I regularly posted āGratitude Snippetsā on Facebook. They were short posts. Expressions of appreciation for people and thingsā¦ …a beautiful dayā¦ …a restaurant server who went the extra mileā¦ …a mail carrier who braved snow and rain to make the deliveryā¦ …a song that brightened my mood… …a colleague who offered…
For three years, I never opened my mouth when I smiled. That was from 1978 through 1980. Those were the Braces Years, the period when my mouth was full of metal hardware and my parentsā checking account was shrinking. Itās tough being a 13- to 16-year-old — especially when your pearly whites are covered with stainless…
Roughly once a year, I read Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. Frankl was a Holocaust survivor who later wrote about his experiences as a prisoner at the Auschwitz concentration camp. The book is heavy stuff, yes. But itās also full of huge lessons for business and life. These are strange days. Many call them ādark…
Hereās a parable about parablesā¦ ā¦with a lesson that can help you attract attention for your marketing messages and inspire people to act. In the Bibleās Gospel of Luke, someone asks Jesus, ā…who is my neighbor?ā Jesus answers with the story of a ācertain manā who was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho and āfell among…
A couple of days ago, I asked what you think of this Henry Ford quote: āIf Iād asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me, āA faster horse!āā A bunch of subscribers told me Ford was a visionary who saw something his prospects did not. One told me: ā…Ford wasnāt concerned or focused with finding out what people wanted. He…
Once upon a time, I tried to cook a batch of paella. It didnāt go well. The mussels were chewy. The chicken was dry. The rice was a sticky mess. So frustrating! I fancy myself a decent cook. But decent doesnāt cut it when you strive to master a complicated dish. Today, aspiring home chefs can…
Short and sweet today. If you want to write emails that recipients are happy to openā¦ …that they read from top-to-bottomā¦ …that inspires them to actā¦ Read this great article by copywriter Neville Medhora.
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…