Why marketers unfollow each other
Howdy, Matt! I wanna start this one by thanking you for being here. I’ll tell you why I’m in such a grateful mood in a minute. But first, I’d like to share a confession I recently made to my friend, Justin. This guy is a marketer, too. And even though he focuses on brand voice development, we […]
Priceless advice from the world’s highest-paid copywriter
Question for you … What’s the one thing in your past you wish you could do over? While you’re noodling on that breezy topic, I’ll tell you mine. I wish I had spent a little more time in high school looking into different colleges. And by “a little more,” I mean any. Because I treated higher education […]
The secret to making mass marketing sound personal
Wanna hear something strange? Of all the snow we’ve gotten in the decade I’ve lived in Buffalo, the storm I remember most happened before I moved here. It was November 2014. That’s when back-to-back lake-effect snowstorms crippled the area, leaving some people digging out from up to seven feet of snow. But that’s not why […]
Why AI could be silently wasting your time
Last week, we covered how to get better results with AI by improving your input, iteration, and output processes. (Check it out here if you missed it.) This time, we’re looking at something darker. It’s an AI cover-up that the government, the airlines, the internet providers, Big Pharma, Little Pharma, and Carl who sorts out the IT closet don’t […]
How to avoid AI’s garbage answers (and the 3-step fix that’ll make your work sing)
Today, I’d like to do something a little different if that’s alright with you. Instead of writing about a single topic and moving on to something else next week, I’d like to share a three-email series on how to get better results from the chatbot of your choice. I originally wrote them as internal emails to help […]
The party trick that cures “backwards marketing” for good
My buddy Kevin just got a new job and asked me for an informal critique of his company website. This can sometimes be a delicate proposition, especially between friends. Because however constructive, criticism is still criticism. And some people simply don’t have the strength to shed their defense mechanisms and welcome the unvarnished truth. But Kevin […]
The marketing “insurance policy” that keeps your leads from slipping away
It took nearly 54 years. But, at long last, I’ve finally heard the expression “like swallowing a sausage sideways.” I took that to mean complicated, if not impossible. Then, I remembered this picture of Wylie … That’s him at his first-ever baseball game eating his first-ever hot dog. And as the photo clearly reveals … […]
Timeless advice from a door-to-door oven salesman
Among the many comforts of knowing Jillian is my forever lady is the assurance I’ll never have to dive back into the dating pool. That’s because I’ve simply run out of interesting things to say. You see, I’ve immersed myself in the worlds of marketing, copywriting, and influence so obsessively, I fear the pendulum can […]
Why marketers who call this “annoying” are getting it all wrong
It’s never my intention to startle anyone with the advice I share in this newsletter. That’s why I was blindsided by the small but savage outcry I got after Nugget 51 where I mentioned a service for people who email their list … every day. These readers felt emailing that often was suffocating. That it choked the life […]
When being concise can kill you
Knowing I now have 50 of these newsletters in the history books, you might think I’d have a tough time coming up with weekly topics. And sometimes I do. So, you can imagine my delight when I found a service that gives me a fresh idea every day. It’s called “Daily Email Habit.” Here’s how […]
