Tom Ruwitch
Let’s make a deal. Behind curtain number one: a prospective customer who will buy $10 of your goods and services if you spend $5 on marketing and advertising. Behind curtain number two: a prospective customer who will buy $20 of your goods and services if you spend just $1 on marketing and advertising. Spend $5…
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When he first tried to make it as a songwriter in Nashville, Kris Kristofferson couldn’t catch a break. He eventually became a country music legend, but, at first, he couldn’t tame his literary side. Kristofferson, who died on Saturday at age 88, studied English literature and graduated with honors from Pomona College. He earned a…
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Recommended Reading How to Write Faster (Ann Handley) I love Ann Handley’s blog and emails. Here’s a good one she wrote recently about how to write faster — with greater confidence and consistency. Hint: AI can help, but it’s not the answer. Recommended Book Ā The Checklist Manifesto A book about the power of checklists may…
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I’m feeling a bit feisty this morning. I want to call-out some big boys and do some myth-busting. Let’s start with this quote from Apple founder Steve Jobs: āSome people say, ‘Give the customers what they want.’ But that’s not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they’re going to want before they…
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When he was just 13 years old, chess prodigy Magnus Carlsen nearly defeated former world champion Gary Kasparov during a tournament in Iceland. The Norwegian kid rattled the Russian with an unconventional opening, but the old guy recovered to salvage a draw. I recommend the 2016 documentary about Carlsen. Here’s theĀ trailer: When author Patrick Bet-David…
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I dozed off during a Zoom meeting yesterday. I couldn’t help it. I was tired, and the speaker was BO-ring. Thankfully, my camera wasn’t on so no one caught me. In olden days in Great Britain, they might have called me a “sluggard.” (That’s a fancy English word for “lazy person.”) In the 18th-century, British…
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RememberĀ this sceneĀ in “Meet the Parents” when Gaylord Focker (Ben Stiller) wants to board a plane, but a power-hungry gate agent makes him wait? Funny when you watch it. But not so funny when — like me — you live through something like it. It happened Sunday at the Philadelphia International Airport. Melissa and I arrived…
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Herb Kelleher on Leadership and Service Yesterday, I flew from Philadelphia to St. Louis on Southwest Airlines. Before I boarded, I had the WORST customer (dis)service experience I’ve ever had with Southwest. It made me think of the airline’s founder, Herb Kelleher, and how he built Southwest on great customer service. He must have been…
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In yesterday’s email, I told you about the little kerfuffle I’ve got going with the content cops at Facebook. More specifically, the new AI-powered robots that review content and decide whether it complies with Big Social’s “policies.” Big Social’s robot pressed pause on some videos and ads I launched. So that campaign is in limbo.…
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I’m feuding with Facebook, and I’m not alone. Earlier this month I recorded a few videos designed to promote my businesses — Story Power Marketing and Implementum. Here’s one of them (it’s all about how to transform your technology from a paralyzing migraine to a walk in the park)… I hired a team of Facebook…
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