Good Examples

Melissa and I visited Pompeii yesterday. That’s the ancient Roman village in Southern Italy that was buried under 18 feet of ash and pumice after nearby Mt Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. Archeologists have been excavating the place since the 19th century and have uncovered one of the best-preserved ancient ruins on the planet. Melissa…

My good friend Michael DeLon sent me an AWESOME email today. It’s so loaded with marketing wisdom, innovative thinking, and smile-making surprises… …I have to share it with you. But first, some background. Michael is the President of Paperback Expert which positions experts for business growth. Yesterday, he spoke at the Great Legal Marketing (GLM)…

A few days ago, I hosted an induction ceremony for The Storytelling Hall of Fame. The latest inductee: This masterpiece ad for BluBlockers sunglasses by the late, great Joe Sugarman. In 2007, Sugarman wrote in his book The Adweek Copywriting Handbook, “That ad for BluBlocker sunglasses launched a multimillion-dollar company that eventually sold 20 million pairs of…

I’m feeling a bit feisty this morning. I want to call-out some big boys and do some myth-busting. Let’s start with this quote from Apple founder Steve Jobs: “Some people say, ‘Give the customers what they want.’ But that’s not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they’re going to want before they…

Ripped from the headlines… Police say an alleged drug dealer tried to fend off intruders and enemies by feeding his pet squirrel meth. The cops were warned about Mickey Paulk’s meth-fueled “attack squirrel.” And sure enough, when they went to Mickey’s house to arrest him, they didn’t find the fugitive, but they encountered a VERY…

Ripped from the headlines… A man in Texas is running for President of the United States, and to stand out on the ballot he has legally changed his name to ( drumroll, please…) “Literally Anybody Else” Formerly, “Dustin Ebey,” Mr. Else has gathered enough signatures to appear on the ballot in Tennessee. But he fell short…

Happy Paperback Book Day. Yeah, I know. There’s a holiday for EVERYTHING. But this one is important. My paperback book is coming out soon, but we can’t celebrate that yet. So we’ll have to celebrate the occasion another way… Three years ago, I interviewed Michael DeLon on my podcast, The Story Power Marketing Show. Michael is…

Melissa walked past my desk last week, looked over my shoulder, and saw this: “You have seven thousand and forty-eight emails in your inbox?” she asked.  “Yep,” I said. “But zero are marked ‘unread.’” (Which, by the way, is not the same as saying, “I’ve READ all 7,048 emails!”) Welcome to my world of digital…

Today is “Get to Know Your Customers Day.” My reaction: Bah! Humbug! Don’t get me wrong. I think getting to know your customers is a GREAT idea — if you want to assemble captivating client-attracting content with greater ease. But this is a dumb holiday. Here’s why: **Getting to know your customers (and prospects) should…

Want to hear a mind-blowing stat about social media? The average engagement rate for an Instagram account is 0.6%. That means six people out of 1,000 engage with the content in some way. And what about those “influencers” who have cracked the code, built giant followings, and mastered this medium? Their average engagement rate is…