Cautionary Tales
I got some great advice from a marketing expert last week after he read one of my emails. If you’ve read my emails lately, you’ve noticed that I offer a free Story Assessment. I’ll review your website, social media or any other channel where you tell your story. Then I’ll reveal ways to power up your…
Read MoreA few years back, I met with a prospect about a massive project. The meeting went well. I remember thinking as the meeting moved along, “I’m CRUSHING it.” Before I left, they committed to hire me. I returned to the office, shared the news with my team, and slapped high fives all around. “Way to…
Read MoreA business owner recently asked me to launch an email campaign for her new company. She told me she wanted to “spread the word” about the business. Spread the word. That’s a popular idea. Let’s send some emails to spread the word. Let’s post on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter to spread the word.Let’s buy…
Read MoreHere’s something I wonder during this pandemic: Why is the local news station still broadcasting traffic reports every 30 minutes in the morning? I turn on the news, and there she is, the Traffic Reporter, standing in front of the map with all the highways and byways color coded — green for “all clear,” yellow for “moderate back-ups” and…
Read MoreI saw something on the TV news this morning that annoyed me. (What else is new?) I’m sharing this with you not to spread the annoyance, but rather to deliver a business lesson. The news headline: The number of asylum-seekers reaching the Mexico-US border has decreased over the last few months. The analysis: Supporters of…
Read MoreA few months ago, I went to a St. Louis Blues hockey game with my son. He ordered a chicken sandwich from a concession stand run by a local restaurant. The chicken was raw. When we returned the food to the stand and asked for a refund, the woman at the cash register apologized and…
Read MoreOur company made a marketing mistake. I’m 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…
Read MoreIn a recent Monday Mash-Up, I shared a blog post I’d 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…
Read MoreYesterday I received an unsolicited text message from someone pitching a local political candidate. I’m not sharing this story to publicly shame anyone. I’m sharing it because there’s a business and life lesson here. So I’ll change the names to protect the guilty. The text said, “Hi Thomas,” (that was the first clue this was…
Read MoreLast week, my twin children turned 22. I’m still Dad, but my hardest parenting work is behind me (I think/hope). That got me thinking about parenting lessons learned. Here’s a big one: When the kid does something bad, that doesn’t mean the kid is a bad person. As parents, we need to help our kids…
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