Tom Ruwitch
Our company made a marketing mistake. Iām going to tell you about so you don’t repeat it. We sell email marketing software to many schools and school districts. So we recently ran a print advertisement in the membership directory for the Missouri Association of School Administrators (MASA). The ad included the address for our website…
My favorite marketing forum lit up yesterday when someone complained about Gmail putting the emails he sends into the āPromotionsā folder. Several years ago, Gmail introduced folders (ātabsā) to organize incoming email into four categories: Primary, Social, Promotions and Updates. Most marketing emails sent through third-party software land in the Promotions folder. Yesterday, an unhappy…
In a recent Monday Mash-Up, I shared a blog post Iād written about misleading statistics. It struck a nerve with several readers. Margaret is one of those readers who told me the story of her run-in with garbage data. Margaret works as a fundraiser at a nonprofit. Margaret often wonders how best to reach older donors and prospects. Some…
As I entered a quick shop yesterday, I noticed a guy walking out who looked down on his luck. He stopped by the door and pulled from his shirt pocket a half-smoked, crooked cigarette butt. He bent it back into shape, lit up and took a long drag. When I walked out of the store,…
A few months ago, I asked my 21-year-old daughter to help me lug trash from the three barrels next to our house to the dumpster in the alley. She was home from college for a couple of weeks, and I thought she could pitch in. She shot me one of those looks that said, āDad,…
My pal Adam Kreitman sent me (and everyone else on his list) a great email today that compared the current frenzy over podcasting to the California Gold Rush. Hereās some of what Adam wrote: āThere were a few lucky folks who struck it rich mining for gold. However, the people who really made money during the Gold…
I had a good laugh today while reading an online discussion board for marketers. A puzzled marketer asked the community to weigh in on the best material for tote bags she and her husband would distribute at a trade show. She was leaning toward polypropylene (āfeels like soft clothā and āthe cheapest way to go.ā)…
Yesterday I received an unsolicited text message from someone pitching a local political candidate. Iām not sharing this story to publicly shame anyone. Iām sharing it because thereās a business and life lesson here. So Iāll change the names to protect the guilty. The text said, āHi Thomas,ā (that was the first clue this was…
Last week, my twin children turned 22. Iām still Dad, but my hardest parenting work is behind me (I think/hope). That got me thinking about parenting lessons learned. Hereās a big one: When the kid does something bad, that doesnāt mean the kid is a bad person. As parents, we need to help our kids…
During a new show broadcast after the Super Bowl on Sunday, CBS television wanted us to believe that a talent-show performer died in a tragic sword swallowing accident. The idea was to create high drama. Keep us viewers glued to the tube. I said, āTo hell with this,ā and Iāll never watch this rotten show…