Copywriting
When a top-notch copywriter forwards to me an example of great marketing, I pay attention. My buddy Adam is one of the best copywriters I know. And yesterday, he forwarded to me a subject line that caught his eye. The subject line: “MIT Device Cuts Power Bills By 65%” Adam said, “That’s about as good…
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This is a story about how hardcore, ultra-conservatives found common ground with a bunch of hippies. I know that seems unlikely these days, but it happened not that long ago. And this happening is loaded with business lessons. Our story begins soon after the turn of the millennium, in 2002, when the Internet was just…
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Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone during his keynote address at the Macworld conference in San Francisco, January 2007. Standing on stage, in his bluejeans and that black, mock turtleneck, Jobs whipped the crowd into a frenzy by confirming the Apple phone was here. And then it was time to reveal it. Three minutes into the…
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Remember that movie with Mel Gibson playing a male chauvinist pig who magically acquires the superpower to “hear” women’s thoughts? I just heard a real-life version of that story. Both the real-life and Hollywood versions reveal a ton about marketing. The real-life story features a marketing guy named Ben Settle who, like Gibson’s character, has…
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Back in the 1990s, Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise were Hollywood’s IT couple. A fairy-tale marriage. Three movies together — including a really creepy one called “Eyes Wide Shut” and this: When their love was shining brightly, Nicole dished out a few dozen bucks to the International Star Registry. She chose a twinkly little star…
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Back in April, I made a Spotify playlist for my 23-year-old daughter, Maddie. She lived on High Street in Denver. I named the playlist “Shelter in Place on High Street – Volume 1.” In the letter I sent with the playlist, I wrote, “…sharing music is sharing love. It’s about connecting.” I imagined she and…
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I was browsing through some of my favorite old marketing training discs the other day and came across one by Dave Dee… …whom I still listen to today. Back in 2007 Dave offered some unconventional advice about how to write better emails: Watch Regis Philbin on television, Dave advised. I don’t recall what I thought about…
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The war between the Superpowers has begun. Not a traditional war with guns and tanks and airplanes, mind you. This is a war between two digital Superpowers — Facebook and Apple. Apple fired the first shot when it announced recently that iPhone owners will soon have to give explicit permission before apps can track their…
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My business is growing so I’m hiring. Last night I posted a job opening for a software developer to assist with several projects. I described the projects, but only in vague terms. Applications flooded my inbox. Most applicants told me they had EVERYTHING it takes to tackle the projects. One applicant, Noah, said this: “Let’s discuss more…
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I was eating breakfast the other morning and nearly choked. It wasn’t the spinach and salsa omelette that did it (although that jalapeno salsa made me sweat a little). No, it was the email that landed in my inbox… …with yet another breathless, over-hyped, meaningless statistic… …about yet another can’t-miss digital marketing channel. Here’s the…
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