Cautionary Tales

Categories

Raffle Tickets

Why That Email Signup Raffle Will Backfire

By Tom Ruwitch

I spotted the following this morning on one of my favorite online marketing forums: ā€œI have a trade show coming up. I want to take advantage of the traffic and grow my email list. The best thing I can think of is an email sign up raffleā€¦What is the best way to approach this?ā€  …

Read More

My Shameful Trip Down the Social Media Rabbit Hole

By Tom Ruwitch

I read a GREAT thing yesterday. Itā€™s from Austin Kleonā€™s book Steal Like an Artistā€¦ “You’re going to see a lot of stupid stuff out there and you’re going to feel like you need to correct it. One time I was up late on my laptop and my wife yelled at me, ā€˜Quit picking fights on…

Read More

Curling Fans Screwed by “Secks” Toys

By Tom Ruwitch

Bad news for American curling fans. Big laughs for the rest of us.  And a great marketing lesson for good measureā€¦ Thereā€™s a company in the Netherlands that makes ā€œtoys.ā€  The kind of toys not suitable for childrenā€¦ …or prudes. “Adult” toys. (Wink, wink.) Anyhow, this toy company paid someone to put their logos on…

Read More

Famous Marketing Expert BS’d Me (and others) so I Ripped Him…

By Tom Ruwitch

Ryan Deiss is one of the most intelligent and successful digital marketing strategists in the galaxyā€¦ …and now Iā€™m going to rip him. After you read the story, let me know what you think. Iā€™m interested to hear your thoughts. The story began yesterday morning when Ryan sent me one of those Cyber Monday promotions…

Read More

The Surprising Truth About Pickle-flavored Lip Balm

By Tom Ruwitch

Looking for the perfect stocking-stuffer for a loved one who has everything? Hereā€™s an idea:  Pickle Lip Balm.  Yeah, you heard me right.  Pickle Lip Balm is a real thing.  You can buy a gherkin-sized tube of Mr. Pickle’s World-Famous Pickle Lip Balm on Amazon for the low, low price of $11.95.  Warning: You may not like…

Read More

I Got This Super-creepy Email. Here Are Some Lessons…

By Tom Ruwitch

Wowā€¦ Sometimes I canā€™t believe the garbage that lands in my inbox. I got this one last week from a guy named Joon: Hey Tom, I don’t want to sound weird, but I was creeping your LinkedIn profile and wanted to reach out. Thought Iā€™d see if youā€™re open to hopping on a call. Put…

Read More

The Stunning Story of My Trip to Facebook Prison

By Tom Ruwitch

Iā€™m not a hating kind of guy. Butā€¦ I HATE Facebook. Lots of reasons. But hereā€™s the latestā€¦ A few months ago, I set up a Facebook business account so I could run ads to promote Story Power Marketing. I logged in the other day to set up a new user. But I couldnā€™t manage…

Read More

I Pull Back The Curtain to Reveal…

By Tom Ruwitch

Remember that scene in ā€œThe Wizard of Ozā€ when Toto pulls back the curtain so Dorothy and her pals discover the ā€œWizard of Ozā€ is merely a man? Iā€™m thinking about that scene for two reasons: 1) After I send this email, Iā€™m hopping in my car with my wife to follow the gray concrete…

Read More

Why I Dumped This Rotten Trickster…

By Tom Ruwitch

I got an email the other day with the subject line that said, “Receipt for P’pal payment…” It came from a marketer named Victory Akpos. I bought software from him last month. I couldnā€™t understand why Victory sent a receipt now, weeks after my purchase. I worried that, maybe, I accidentally signed up for something…

Read More
Cartoon of Pickup Artist

This LinkedIn Pickup Line Fell Flat

By Tom Ruwitch

My brother, Mike, got a LinkedIn request the other day from a guy who wrote this: ā€œLove to Connect. I just got a radar that detects high-performance humans. Damn thing won’t stop going off since I saw your profile.ā€ Thatā€™s some fancy-schmancy, make-believe radar. Mike wasnā€™t impressed. No connection for you, Radar Man. I shared…

Read More