Cautionary Tales
I read some marketing advice last week that was SO bad I had to share it with youā¦ …so you can add it to the top of your āDo Not Do This!ā list. It came from a so-called marketing āexpertā in one of those fancy-shmancy magazines for entrepreneurs. The article contained dos and donāts for…
A few months ago, my wife and I woke to a loud āthud.ā She thought the sound came from inside the houseā¦ …and, for her, that meant trouble. āWhat was that!?ā she asked, sounding a little frantic. We live in the city and crime is a thing so I donāt blame her for worrying. I…
When he was a young college student, my wifeās great-great-grandfather joined the revolution. He and his pals tried to overthrow the German government. The year was 1833, and young Adolph Wislizenus āstormed the castleā with a band of student revolutionaries in Frankfurt. Their plan: Sneak-attack a few arsenals. Capture the soldiers. Take the guns. Arm…
My pal Harry forwarded to me a how-not-to-do-it sales email he received the other day. He called it āfertile materialā for the emails I send. He got that right. The email Harry forwarded was from a design firm in Arizona that was fishing for business. The email came from Dave, the firmās principal. āHi Harry,ā Dave wrote.…
A desperate marketer posted a sad-sack story last week on a public forum. He was trying to reach prospects in a niche marketā¦ …and he was getting ZERO response. Facebook Ads? No-go. LinkedIn messages? Zip? Search advertising? Nada. So he asked the internet for helpā¦ …and the internet responded with a bunch ofĀ INSANITY. First, Iāll…
I got some great advice from a marketing expert last week after he read one of my emails. If youāve read my emails lately, youāve noticed that I offer aĀ free Story Assessment. Iāll review your website, social media or any other channel where you tell your story. Then Iāll reveal ways to power up your…
A few years back, I met with a prospect about a massive project. The meeting went well. I remember thinking as the meeting moved along, āIām CRUSHING it.ā 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. āWay to…
A business owner recently asked me to launch an email campaign for her new company. She told me she wanted to āspread the wordā about the business. Spread the word. Thatās a popular idea. Letās send some emails to spread the word. Letās post on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter to spread the word.Letās buy…
Hereās 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 āall clear,ā yellow for āmoderate back-upsā and…
I saw something on the TV news this morning that annoyed me. (What else is new?) Iām 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…