Month: January 2018

Categories
Monday Mash-Up

Monday Mashup #4 – 2018.01.29

Hello: Here’s the fourth edition of MarketVolt’s Monday Mash-up. We’ll kick off every week with this quick collection of tips, recommendations, observations and other interesting, valuable stuff.

– Tom 


Monday, January 29, 2018
MarketVolt’s Monday Mash-Up

I’m reading…

Leonardo da Vinci — by Walter Isaacson, who wrote great biographies of Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, and Benjamin Franklin. This book is entertaining and educational. We all can learn from studying geniuses, and Leonardo rates on two fronts — art and science. Lots of business lessons in this book. Watch for an email from me on Wednesday that shares one of those lessons. 

I’m listening to…

…Albums that should have won a Grammy (at least, according to the Washington Post). In an article previewing last night’s award ceremony, the Post argued that “the Grammy’s never get it right.” The article listed the past 38 years of Album of the Year nominees and winners. The critic lists the albums he thinks should have been nominated and won. 

Some of those albums are among my favorites already. Others I’m hearing for the first time. Quote we’re pondering…

In the book The Power of Habit (by Charles Duhigg), former Starbucks president Howard Behar says, “We’re not in the coffee business serving people. We’re in the people business serving coffee.”

I love it. No matter what product or service you offer, you’re in the people business. Some of the books I’ve recommended (Setting the Table and Crucial Conversations) are all about that. 
  
Great Resource

Pixlr — a suite of digital editing tools. We recommend Pixlr to all of our clients who want an online tool for resizing, cropping, and processing digital images. It’s simple to use, but it also has plenty of advanced features. Best of all, it’s free. 

Reason we’re grateful…

We’ve been getting a ton of feedback on our new Monday and Wednesday emails. Lots of positive reactions. Some constructive criticism which we’re taking to heart. We’re grateful to all of you who are reading and to those who have offered feedback. Keep it coming!

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Any reading, listening, quoting, resourcing that you think we should share? Send us a tip.

Until next time, enjoy the rest of this week and the weekend.

Tom
Categories
Monday Mash-Up Weekly Story

Weekly Story 2018.01.31 – Leonardo’s Perfection Problem

In Monday’s email, I recommended the new biography Leonardo DaVinci (by Walter Isaacson).

Great read. Lots of interesting stories. Many business lessons. 

Here’s one: 

In 1480, monks hired Leo to create a painting of the Adoration of the Magi.

Leo started the project, but he stopped before finishing.

Leo imagined the perfect painting, but he couldn’t achieve that perfection.

So he abandoned the unfinished work (Leo had lots of unfinished works).

The monks canned Leo and gave the job to Filippino Lippi.

Art historians say Lippi’s Adoration is way worse than Leo’s… except…

…it’s finished.

Leo was the better painter. But Lippi met deadlines, delivered the goods, and cashed in.

Today, we call Leo a genius and gawk at his works in museums.

But back in the day, Leo was just another starving artist who sucked at running his business.

The bottom line: Leonardo DaVinci had a perfection problem.

Do you have a perfection problem?

Action drives business. Inaction kills it.

Remember that the next time you’re thinking, “I can’t launch an email campaign because I’m not a good enough writer.”

(You’re good enough, or you can hire someone who is good enough.)

Think of Lippi cashing in the next time you re-edit content, over and over again, because it’s “not quite right.”

(It’s right enough or you can hire someone who can quickly make it right enough.)

If you wait and wait and wait and wait and wait and wait and wait…

…until your stuff is practically perfect, you choose inaction over action.

Then, like Leonardo, you will have a perfection problem that becomes a business problem.

Thanks for reading (reply with feedback if you want to share some thoughts) and see you next time…

Tom

p.s. If you want some help moving from inaction to action, here’s how I can help:  I’ve built a team of marketing almost-geniuses who meet deadlines and get the job done. Email strategic planning. Template design. Copy writing and editing. Automating follow-up tasks. Connecting your email system to other systems, such as your CRM. Sending. Tracking. Reporting. You name it, our team can do it. And it costs less than most people assume. 

Gimme a call (314-529-1431) or shoot me an email if you want to learn more or move forward. 

Categories
Weekly Story

Weekly Story 2018.01.24 – Dump the Grammar Guide

Back in high school I had a basketball coach who didn’t win any spelling bees or grammar contests.

Once, after we failed to run the play he called during practice, he stormed onto the court, screaming:

“Jeez, yous guys! Don’t you know the American language!?”

Smart-ass kids that we were, we used to mock Coach for mangling the English language.

All these years later, though, I remember Coach fondly as a good communicator.

Sure, he used small, simple words. Sure he was grammatically challenged. But when Coach spoke, we ALWAYS got the point.

I thought of Coach recently after getting an email pitch from a sales guy who wanted me to advertise in his magazine.

Here’s how the pitch began:

“(Our magazine) has been an apex platform reaching out to 45,000 qualified subscribers in the U.S, offering a renewed aspect in understanding the latest innovations and technologies in the Education industry. Following a peer learning approach, (our magazine) spearheads in highlighting education industry’s latest trends and technologies, and brings forth the ideas and unique offerings of market leaders to assist education experts in establishing institutions alike.”

My first reaction: Jeez, thems some fancy words and big sentences!

My next reaction: What in the hell is he talking about? (Pardon my American).

I’m sorry to pick on this poor guy.

His note was only the latest among gazillions of rotten emails I have received. I just happened to open his as I was preparing to dream up a new weekly email.

This guy’s not unique. Rotten, overwritten, lingo-laden copy litters emails, websites, social media posts, letters, brochures, broadcast advertisements and every other form of marketing content on earth.

It’s always been like that.

And here’s what makes the problem worse: Bad copywriters think they’re good copywriters because they learned how to “write well” in school.

Forget about it. Forget about those grammar lessons. Forget about those complex sentences. Wipe from your memory the difference between a gerund and a participle. None of that helps you write good marketing copy.

Here’s the bottom line: If you want to write smart, effective marketing copy, quit trying to sound so smart.

Drop the fancy phrases and latest lingo. Don’t tell me you have an “apex platform.” Don’t tell me you offer a “renewed aspect.” Don’t say you “spearhead in highlighting…”

Just spit it out. Clearly. Concisely. Without clutter. Keep it simple…

…So anyone who understands the American language will ALWAYS get the point.

Thanks for reading (reply with feedback if you want to share some thoughts) and see you next time…

Tom

Categories
Monday Mash-Up

Monday Mashup #3

Hello: Here’s the third edition of MarketVolt’s Monday Mash-up. We’ll kick off every week with this quick collection of tips, recommendations, observations and other interesting, valuable stuff.

– Tom 


Monday, January 22, 2018
MarketVolt’s Monday Mash-Up

I’m reading…

Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High. This book may be the one I recommend more than any other. And it’s one I re-read every few years. This book has made me a better communicator in business and my personal life. 

Here’s how the publishers put it: “When stakes are high, opinions vary, and emotions run strong, you have three choices: Avoid a crucial conversation and suffer the consequences; handle the conversation badly and suffer the consequences; or read Crucial Conversations and discover how to communicate best when it matters most. ”  

I’m listening to…

St. Louis-based soul singer Brian Owens.  I’ll keep this short. Check him out: Covering Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire (!)Killing it on Sam Cook’s A Change is Gonna ComeHis original Love, Love (The Anthem), written in response to the events in Ferguson, MO
Quote we’re pondering…

“Copy cannot create desire for a product. It can only take the hopes, dreams, fears and desire that already exist in the hearts of millions of people, and focus those already existing desires onto a particular product. ” 

Eugene Schwartz (from Breakthrough Advertising)

Great Resource

Instapaper. When I come across an article or other online content I’d like to read later, I click the “Instapaper” button built into my browser (extensions for Chrome, Firefox and others). A stripped down version of the content is saved to my free Instapaper account. Later, I load my Instapaper app on my phone, tablet or computer and all of my saved content is there to read — even if I don’t have an internet connection. 

Reason we’re grateful…

Most of us at MarketVolt live and work in St. Louis, MO. We’re grateful to be here. I was thinking about St. Louis over the last few days as news broke that it isn’t among the 20 finalists for Amazon’s second headquarters. The news prompted me to read the proposal St. Louis submitted to Amazon.  The proposal described  what I already knew — this is a place with a vibrant business community, great housing that’s way more affordable than coastal cities, a central location, terrific cultural resources and good people. Yes, we have our challenges. In praising this place, I don’t mean to ignore or diminish those issues. But despite those challenges, I’m happy to be raising a family and running a business in St. Louis. 

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We’re grateful to you for reading.  

Please email me with requests, suggestions and feedback. What do you like? What don’t you like? Any reading, listening, quoting, resourcing that you think we should share? Send us a tip.

Until next time, enjoy the rest of this week and the weekend.

Tom
Categories
Weekly Story

Weekly Story 2018.01.17 – Fastest Surgeon

I’m not a surgeon. And I don’t play one on TV. But I know this much:

If you’re operating on ONE patient, and THREE people die, you’ve botched the job.

That really happened — to Dr. Robert Liston, who was famous in the 19th century for being the fastest surgeon around.

In those days, before anesthesia, patients sought surgeons who were all about: The faster, the better.

Think about it: You have to lie wide wide awake on a cold slab, no soothing drugs coursing through your veins…

…while a guy in a white smock is slicing you open or sawing off a limb.

I’d be thinking,

“…HURRY UP!”

So haste was not the real problem with Doc Liston.

Ego was.

Dr. Liston was a show-off. He filled his operating room with spectators. He would burst into the room and say, “Time me, gentlemen.” And then, with a flourish, he would get to it.

One time, he accidentally sliced off a patient’s privates while amputating a leg.

But that was nothing compared to the three-in-one butchery…

While cutting through a patient’s leg, Doc accidentally sliced off his assistant’s fingers.

Then, while changing instruments, he accidentally sliced through a spectator’s coat.

The spectator wasn’t wounded, but he thought he was. He freaked out and died of shock.

The fingerless assistant died from infections.

The patient didn’t make it either.

One patient up, three innocent people down.

If only Doc Liston had focused more on the desired outcome and less on showing off.

So it goes with marketing — especially with social media and other content.

It’s not about you and how important, brilliant or accomplished you are.

It’s about your followers, and how they’ll benefit from interacting with you.

Your content has to educate, entertain and inform your followers. That applies to social media, email, your website or any other content you share. 

Too much content is…

…Look at us…

…We’re so special…

…Here’s our great stuff…

…You should buy it…

That stuff is great if you’re out to stroke your ego.

Not so great if you’re out to serve your followers.

Thanks for reading (reply with feedback if you want to share some thoughts) and see you next time…

Tom

Categories
Monday Mash-Up

Monday Mashup #2

Hello: Here’s the second-ever edition of MarketVolt’s Monday Mash-up. We’ll kick off every week with this quick collection of tips, recommendations, observations and other stuff that you may value — all designed to entertain, educate and enhance. Enjoy!

– Tom 


Monday, January 15, 2018
MarketVolt’s Monday Mash-Up

I’m reading…

Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business by Danny Meyer. Here in St. Louis, we recently celebrated the grand-opening of our city’s first “Shake Shack,” the burger joint created by famed restaurateur (and native son) Meyer. He built his restaurant empire on strong customer service, and he shares his philosophy of “enlightened hospitality” in this book.  The lessons apply to any business.   

I’m listening to…

Lots of David Bowie.

January 8 would have been his 71st birthday, and January 10 was the one-year anniversary of his death. 

I went to high school in the 80s, when the threat of nuclear war with the Soviets was still a real thing. This was my yearbook quote: “In the event that this fantastic voyage should turn to erosion, and we never grow old, remember it’s true: Dignity is valuable, but our lives are valuable, too.” (David Bowie, “Fantastic Voyage” from the Lodger album)Sadly, this seems to be a timely message again. 

Some Links: Earlier this month, HBO debuted a great documentary called David Bowie: The Last Five Years (trailer here).Video of Bowie and Bing Crosby singing “The Little Drummer Boy / Peace on Earth” (from 1977). That brightens the day. Recording of Bowie as guest DJ on BBC in 1979, playing his favorite songs at the time. Martin Luther King said…

“…If you can’t fly then run. If you can’t run then walk. If you can’t walk then crawl. But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.” 

Useful and Fun Resource 

The Wayback Machine saves archived versions of web sites over time.

“What was the name of that guy who used to work at that company back in 1998?” I can jump way back to the 1998 version of that company’s web site and look at the “About Us” page. 

I’ve used it to research companies I’m prospecting, to help with competitor research or just to have fun…

…Here’s how MarketVolt.com looked  way back when — 13 years ago. 

And look who owned the domain “facebook.com” before Mark Zuckerberg started his little business…

Reason we’re grateful…

We get great, constructive feedback from our readers. Last week, one (politely) suggested it would help to link to my website if I promote it in an email. Last week, I mentioned the website without including the address or a link (D’Oh!). My bad. 

Thanks for that and all feedback. We strive to improve, and your feedback helps make that happen.

(Our recently renovated website can be found at MarketVolt.com. We’d welcome feedback.) 

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We’re grateful to you for reading.

Please email me with requests, suggestions and feedback. What do you like? What don’t you like? Any reading, listening, quoting, resourcing that you think we should share? Send us a tip.

Until next time, enjoy the rest of this week and the weekend.

Tom