Good Examples
A few weeks back, marketing legend Brian Kurtz joined my list, fell in love with my emails, and then shouted so from the rooftops. First the backstoryā¦ For 34 years, Brian worked for the publisher Boardroom, Inc. (now Bottom Line, Inc.) where he handled all marketing activities ā including direct mail, direct response television, e-mail,…
Read More
Ripped from the headlines: Thirteen years ago, Mary Strand accidentally dropped her diamond ring down the toilet and thought it was lost forever. Mary’s husband, David, had given her the ring on their 33rd wedding anniversary. Fast forward to March 2023 when workers at the Rogers, Minnesota water treatment plant found the ring in a…
Read More
I’ve got Yogi on my mind. Yogi Berra, that is. He’s the baseball hall-of-famer who grew up three miles, due south, from where I currently sit in St. Louis, MO. Yogi’s in the news because of a new documentary about him that opened this week. It’s called “It Ain’t Over…” …as in, “It ain’t over…
Read More
I sent you an email yesterday about Brian Wilson and his perfection problem. The big takeaway: It’s better to be prolific than perfect. That’s an idea I’ve shared before. I once wrote an email about Leonardo DaVinci who, like Brian Wilson, got stuck chasing perfection. Same point, different story. I tell that DaVinci story in The…
Read More
Blow the horn and tap the tambourine… It’s National Tell a Story Day! So buckle up, Buttercup. It’s story time. (This is one of my favorites) About a quarter-century ago, when my twins were toddlers, we were spending the weekend at our country place in the Ozark foothills in south-central Missouri. The ground was thirsty.…
Read More
A few months ago, I updated myĀ LinkedIn profileĀ with new job titles.Ā One of those titles: “Writer’s Block Remover” Back in the early 2000s — before I had a LinkedIn profile — a hotelier named Chip Conley did something similar with his employees. He’d tell them: āForget about your current job title. What would our customers…
Read More
Yesterday, I attended a mastermind session with Michael DeLon (PaperBackExpert) and his brilliant right-hand-man Caleb DeLon. The discussion turned to inbox management — how to handle all those emails you receive every day. Caleb described how he set up automations (he’s great at that) to organize incoming emails. For example, when he gets emails from…
Read More
Ben Settle is one of the people who inspired me to send daily(ish) emails to you and the rest of my online family. And last week, I heard Ben share his wisdom for 2+ hours with Brian Kurtzās Titans Xcelerator mastermind group. I filled my notebook with 10 pages of notes, and Iām still sorting…
Read More
I’ve been thinking a bunch about how happy doctors diagnose better (see yesterday’sĀ email)… …and how, as Shawn Achor, wrote… āEven the smallest shots of positivity can give someone a serious competitive edge.” Makes me wonder about my emails. Each weekday I serve you some marketing nourishment — seasoned with personality and sweet humor. I add…
Read More
Once upon a time, when I was an inexperienced email marketer, I would fret every opt-out. “They don’t want to receive my emails!? Oh nooooooo!!!!” I’d think. (The horror ) I got over that a long time ago. Now when someone leaves my list, I think… “…My list just got better.” Smaller? Yes. But better, too. …
Read More