Reading Time: 2 minAbout a year ago, I shared some great thoughts from David Perell about the concept of the public to private bridge. In short, the idea there is to use public channels like social media to drive people back to private assets you fully control (like your blog and email list). Given the volatility of social […]
Marketing
It’s not moral to steal people’s attention
Reading Time: < 1 minIn a recent episode of his Akimbo podcast, Seth Godin dropped a rather profound statement in the middle of talking, but I wanted to pause for a minute and unpack it. He simply said: ‘It’s not moral to steal people’s attention” I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment of it, but I think it can go […]
Promotion = interruption
Reading Time: < 1 minI’ve made no secret of how much I hate interruption-based marketing. TV and radio ads are ok, because I accept them as part of the deal. The same with podcast ads; I can choose to pay for the premium ad-free version, or I can choose to listen to the ones with ads. It’s my decision, […]
If we spam you, please be polite to us
Reading Time: 2 minI recently came across a fascinating thread on LinkedIn where salespeople were frustrated by being “ghosted” by potential clients. They’d reach out, and simply get no response. Ghosting someone isn’t generally a nice thing to do, but there was a big difference with this thread — almost everyone in there was sending cold emails (you […]
Your visitors have their own mission
Reading Time: < 1 minYour company very likely has a mission statement that you’re proud of, and you probably should be. Having a solid mission is a great thing, but your customers care almost nothing about it. When they come to your site, they don’t want to hear about your mission — they have their own mission that they’re […]
Problem Solving versus Problem Finding
Reading Time: < 1 minYears ago, salespeople had all of the knowledge. If you needed information about a specific feature on a car, or a list of homes for sale in your area, there was no Google to help you out — you needed a human. The best salespeople were great problem solvers. These days, much of that has […]
Unexpected ads are the problem
Reading Time: < 1 minAdvertising isn’t a problem. Most people recognize that services are often paid for via advertising, and that’s often preferred over having to pay out of our own pockets. However, unexpected advertising is a bigger problem. If I’m watching TV, listening to the radio (or a podcast), or browsing a website, I know ads are likely […]
Deceit is a poor marketing tactic
Reading Time: < 1 minA while back I shared how you shouldn’t try to hustle those that you wish to serve. Taking shortcuts to try to reach people is rarely a good idea. For example, the below came in the mail from a local HVAC company, with the indications of a check (such as “pay to the order of”) […]
I was fantastic with Google+
Reading Time: < 1 minI thought Google+ was a great product. I dug in deep, and developed a solid following on there. Today, that’s worth absolutely nothing. It’s good to develop strong skills in a particular area, but it’s even better to develop skills that don’t rely on a particular piece of technology or a single service. My Google+ […]
Buy, Beg, Bug, or Earn
Reading Time: < 1 minInterruption marketing is fading, and most people are very happy about that. While we’ll likely have traditional interruption-based ads for the foreseeable future (TV, radio, etc), true interruptions like cold calls are finally starting to go away. According to David Meerman Scott, there are really four ways to reach a potential buyer: You can BUY […]