Cautionary Tales

A cautionary tale: A few years ago, I came across a marketing “expert” on LinkedIn who said you should NEVER begin a story by saying, in effect, here comes a story. “Let the story speak for itself,” he said. If you need to tell someone a story follows, it’s not a strong story. Ummmmmmmm… ⬆…

In the summer of ’45, on a scorching day in LA, a guy named Mel visited his friend and partner Bob. On Bob’s piano, Mel found a notebook with a few random lines. “What’s this?” Mel asked. Bob explained: The heat was driving him crazy. So Bob wrote some lines about winter. He thought envisioning…

Last chance to register for today’s masterclass. Here’s one last tale that might entice you to attend… My GPT-powered copywriting robot, “B-9?” is nervous. Later today, I’m going to put him on the spot to demonstrate how… …AI can help you generate a flood of story ideas… …so you save time while producing more and better…

Want to get 1 hour of complimentary consulting time — to pick my brain about any marketing thing you want? Read on. Even if you don’t want my free help, read on. This one’s a hoot… Here’s a headline that caught my eye: “Florida Woman Allegedly Used ‘Rent-A-Hitman’ Parody Site in Effort to Hire Killer…”…

I like inspirational stories. Here’s one… On November 23, 1942, Poon Lim was working as a steward on the British cargo ship SS Benlomond when a German sub torpedoed it to oblivion. The ship sank minutes after the torpedoes hit, and Lim was left floating in the south Atlantic. A weak swimmer, Lim clung to a wooden…

For many decades, a painting called Portrait of a Young Woman hung in the Allentown Art Museum. Curators thought an unknown artist — a disciple of Rembrandt’s — created the portrait. It resembled the Dutch master’s work, but it wasn’t Rembrandt’s… …or so they thought. When Allentown curators sent the painting to be cleaned, conservators at New…

At next week’s masterclass (How to Put Personality in Your Content…), I’ll share ways I use AI to help me produce more content with less time and and effort. (More on that below) We’re going to have a big crowd for the masterclass… How to Put Personality In Your Content So You Stand Out, Attract Raving…

It’s time for another episode of “Email Rescue — Cautionary Tales from Tom’s Spam Folder” I salvage junk from the folder and share the don’ts-and-don’ts it contains… …so YOU can learn from the spammer’s mistakes… …and create more captivating, less irritating content. The email I’m salvaging landed yesterday at 10:58 a.m. with the subject line…

A while back, I created a free e-book: Hall of Fame Ads Reveal… 5 Storytelling Secrets to Help You Captivate Prospects and Inspire Them to Buy. One of those Hall of Fame ads is one Listerine ran 100 years ago(!) that transformed the company from a small family-run outfit into a corporate giant. You can…

This is NOT a joke: Federal government killjoys have declared: Jokes are hazardous to our health. But in my home state, Missouri, bureaucrats are taking a stand against federal tyranny. Here’s the story… In December, the Federal Highway Administration released the 11th edition of the “Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways”…