Cautionary Tales

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Break-up Gone Wrong (A Cautionary Tale)

By Tom Ruwitch

Remember that old Neil Sedaka song…? 🎶…down dooby doo down down Comma comma, down dooby doo down down Comma comma, down dooby doo down down Breaking up is hard to do 🎶 Tell me about it! Last week, I tried to break up with a software company whose screen capture app I’d used since 2009. Ninety…

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“Just Before The Twister Hit…”

By Tom Ruwitch

The Tornado Chronicles, Day 2. I have twisters on my mind… …since Friday when 13 of them touched down here in Missouri. Yesterday, I shared the tale of a community that rallied to support a gym owner whose business was blown away. Today: Another twister tale. It’s a story about tragedy narrowly averted, loaded with lessons to…

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Warning: Do not Make this Email Marketing Mistake

By Tom Ruwitch

A cautionary tale about email marketing gone wrong… Waaaayyyy back when, I signed up for Andy’s email list after I met him at a networking event. He’s an accountant with some interesting insights on how to manage finances and keep the IRS at bay. Yesterday, I received an email from him with a useful tip.…

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Stall Less. Score More.

By Tom Ruwitch

Later this evening, I’m hosting a small-group Roundtable called “Turn Content to Clients Daily.” Here’s a sad-but-true tale that sheds light on why I’m hosting this event (and why you might wish to attend)… A few months ago, I asked clients in my Content Transformation Academy if they had any unreleased work. And all of them said,…

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A Rotten Way to Ruin a Rolls Royce (A Cautionary Tale)

By Tom Ruwitch

A priest, rabbi, and guy in a bear suit walked into a bar… … …correction… …A guy in a bear suit broke into a car, and then he and his accomplices got charged with fraud. No joke. This happened. The story begins in January 2024 when a man claimed a bear broke into his Rolls…

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Dumb Criminals, AI, And You (A Cautionary Tale)

By Tom Ruwitch

This is one of my favorite dumb criminal stories. In 1995, McArthur Wheeler and Clifton Earl Johnson robbed two banks in Pittsburgh without wearing masks. Cops used footage from the banks’ security cameras to track down the robbers and arrest them. When cops showed Wheeler the photos they used to identify him, he said, “But I wore…

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Why Vague Claims Flop and Specificity Sells

By Tom Ruwitch

Another timeless marketing tale, ripped from the pages of Scientific Advertising by Claude C. Hopkins: Back in the early 20th century, razor manufacturers touted how quickly their devices could complete a shave. All used vague phrases, such as “quick shave,” to state their claims… …until one manufacturer advertised a “78-second shave.” The result? “…sensational advances in sales.”…

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I Elect To Do This…

By Tom Ruwitch

I usually write these emails on the mornings I send them. But not this one. By the time this email lands in your inbox, I’ll be on the highway east of Miami, cutting across the Everglades, on my way to Marco Island for a two-day meeting with Dave Dee and his Elite Mastermind group. Weather…

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A Spud-tacular Marketing Lesson

By Tom Ruwitch

Looking for that perfect holiday gift for that special someone? How about “Polish Potatoes” perfume (for women OR men)? This is not a joke — although it is kind of funny. Polish perfumer MichaĹ‚ Gilbert Lach invented the scent which he describes as “a journey into the depths of childhood experiences.” As a kid, Michal…

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Marketing Doesn’t Have to Be a Guessing Game. Here’s The Key…

By Tom Ruwitch

Here’s something I didn’t know until Melissa and I visited Pompeii last week during our European vacation… Ancient Romans loved to gamble with dice. The archeologists who excavated Pompeii (buried under 15 feet of ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D.) founds lots of dice. Here are some on display at the National Archeological…

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