Tag: mash-up

Monday, July 22
MarketVolt’s Monday Mash-Up

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Marketing Guidance
There Are No Universal Truths in Content Marketing (Sort Of)

This is a great article. I encourage you to set aside a few minutes and read it. The key idea: “How you choose to approach content needs to differ depending on what you’re trying to accomplish.” The article goes on to outline different approaches for different goals. 

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For the “Bad Advice” File
I Hate This Article So Much I Have to Share It

I came across this article from Forbes this morning. It’s a curated collection of tips from an expert panel asked to discuss how to build a B2B marketing campaign. The article is loaded with contradictory points and invalid advice. I’ll elaborate in the email I send on Wednesday. Meanwhile, take a look and let me know what you see. Can you tell what I found so annoying and wrong?

(p.s. Sorry… I try to keep this Mash-Up as positive as possible, and I generally only share content I think is strong. I made an exception in this case because sometimes we can learn from others’ mistakes.) 

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Marketing Funnies
What Does “Disruptive” Mean? 

I met a guy last week who was raving about a new company that he said was “perfectly disruptive.” I hear about “disruptive” companies a lot. It’s supposed to be a compliment. But it may be the most overused cliche in the business world today. Here’s a funny cartoon and accompanying blog post that gets at this idea. 

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Music Discovery
This Site Offers a Quick Way to Find New Music

When I’m looking to discover something new to add to my playlists, I go to AllMusic.com’s New Releases page.  I’ve written before about AllMusic.com. It’s a great resource for learning about artists and reading reviews about their releases. AllMusic reviews music in all genres. Music that doesn’t get reviewed elsewhere gets space on this site. I’ve discovered tons of great music here. The New Releases page is always a great place to start.

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Quotable 

Emma Lazarus was born on this day in 1849. She was the American poet who wrote “New Colossus,” the poem on the base of Statue of Liberty. Here’s that poem: 

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

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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

Monday, July 15
MarketVolt’s Monday Mash-Up

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Excellent Advice
Four Email Marketing Goals For Your Business, With Examples

This is a great article from MarketingProfs. Excellent advice with how-to examples. You have to sign up for a free MarketingProfs membership. But it’s easy to do that, and the content on their site is well worth it!

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Amusing Enlightening Video
Generic Brand Video Mocks Messaging Cliches

This video is funny. And it probably will seem familiar. That’s the point. It demonstrates how easily marketers fall into familiar, cliched patterns to deliver their messages — how they rehash tired cliches, thinking they’re saying so much when they’re actually saying so little.  

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More Email Marketing Tips
How to Get More Email Clicks

Here are some excellent tips about how to make your emails more engaging and increase clicks.

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Recommended Viewing
If You Like the Beatles…

I recently saw a movie I liked: Yesterday. The premise: A struggling singer/songwriter in England gets hit by a bus. When he wakes up, everyone in the world — including Google — has no recollection of the Beatles, except him. When he performs a Beatles song for his friends, they think he has written a masterpiece. Guess what happens next? There’s nothing very deep about this film. The romantic stuff is predictable. There’s a twist at the end that makes some people cringe. But, still, I liked it, and I recommend it. 

If you’ve seen it, let me know what you thought. 

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Quotable 

Russian author Anton Chekhov died on this day in 1904. He said this: 

Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice.

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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

Monday, July 8
MarketVolt’s Monday Mash-Up

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Marketing Tips
Encourage Customers to Review Your Business

Here’s a great article that describes how to use email to encourage customers to submit online reviews. Reviews can help you build your business — especially if you actively respond to the reviews. This article has some great tips about how to solicit reviews and how to respond to them. 

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Presentation Advice
Ditch the Fancy Language and Buzzwords 

When it comes to public speaking and presentations, my friend Fred Miller knows his stuff. I love this post from his website in which he reminds us that “plain, simple language rules.” Great advice for public speakers and writers. 

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Sales Tips
Cold-Call Emails that Worked

For some businesses, email pitches to cold leads can work well to fill the funnel (This is entirely different than email marketing to subscribed followers). This article has some excellent tips for writing cold sales emails and includes five examples of emails that worked.

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Myth Busting
Eight Marketing Myths Debunked

Good stuff about social media, email, search marketing and more in this article.  

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Quotable 

Businessman and former US Vice-President Nelson Rockefeller was born on this day in 1908. He said this: 

There are many other possibilities more enlightening than the struggle to become the local doctor’s most affluent ulcer case.

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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

Monday, July 1
MarketVolt’s Monday Mash-Up

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Marketing Tips
How to Humanize Your Marketing and Share Brand Values

You’ve heard me say it many times before: Marketing should not be all about pitching your products and services. Here’s a great article that describes “How to Share Your Brand Values Via Email.“

This is an excellent read. 

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Great Advertising
Shampoo Company Urges You Not to be a Head-Scratcher

I love this ad campaign from Head & Shoulders. It’s funny and effective. Rather than explain it, I’ll let you see for yourself. (Be sure to click on the thumbnail images below the main one so you see all the ads in the campaign). 

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Marketing Resource
A Collection of Great Ads, Updated Weekly

I found that Head & Shoulders ad on a site called Ads of the World. This is a great resource for marketers to find great advertisements for entertainment and inspiration. Each week Clio highlights several can’t-miss ads, selected by their editors. 

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Mindset Reset
You Have Permission to Fail
I love this article about “failing up.”  Not only should you embrace the learning that comes with failure, you should also be courageous enough to admit your failures. Your brand and your business will benefit from it. 

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Happy Independence Day

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

– From The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America, ratified on July 4, 1776.

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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

Monday, June 24, 2019
MarketVolt’s Monday Mash-Up

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Myth-Busters
My Pal Adam Blows Away the B.S. About Email Marketing

Adam Kreitman is my friend and one of my marketing heroes. He knows his stuff, and he shares it in emails he sends every Monday through Friday. You can sign up here.  He sent an email last night that I especially liked. It starts like this: “Recently I’ve been struck by the glaring lies and misconceptions that still permeate out there about email. So I want to take this moment to clear the air for you dear readers so you don’t fall for the email BS the folks I talk about below do.” It continues here…  

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Website Tips
Are You Making These Mistakes

I like this article: 10 Web Design Mistakes You’re Making That You Love (& Your Visitors Hate).  Great advice that has us re-thinking a couple of things about our own site. How’s your site doing?

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Marketing Insights
Why Do People Buy

This is a great summary to help you understand what drives human beings to make buying decisions. Helpful stuff for marketers and salespeople: The seven cognitive shortcuts that dictate what people buy – and what they don’t

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Recommended Viewing and Listening
Movie and Soundtrack Echo the 60s California Sound
Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles was the center of folk rock in the mid-1960s. A new movie called Echo in the Canyon tells the story of Laurel Canyon and tracks the creation of a new album on which current artists, led by Jakob Dylan, recreate songs from the era. The movie and the soundtrack are both great — must see/listen for anyone who likes folk rock — such as the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, The Mamas and the Papas, The Beach Boys and similar artists. 

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Quotable

Of course it could be better.
That’s not the question, not really.
The question is, “what are you going to do about it?”

– Seth Godin

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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

Monday, June 17, 2019
MarketVolt’s Monday Mash-Up

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Last Wednesday, my beloved St. Louis Blues hockey club won the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup Championship for the first time in franchise history. On Saturday, I was among the 400,000+ fans who celebrated at the championship parade in downtown St. Louis. 

In honor of all of the above, here is the Stanley Cup Edition of the Monday Mash-Up. If you’re a Blues fan, you get it. If you’re not a Blues fan, you’ll still find plenty of useful information in what follows…

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Leadership Lessons
Business Lessons from Blues Coach Craig Berube

After a slow start at the beginning of the season, the Blues fired head coach Mike Yeo and tapped Craig Berube to replace him. Berube pushed all the right buttons in leading the Blues to the championship. Here’s a great article in Forbes, written by St. Louisan Shep Hyken, that draws business lessons from Berube’s leadership this season.       

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Marketing Lessons
Blues Journey Offers Blueprint for Business Recovery

On January 3, the Blues had the worst record in the NHL. Six months later they were hoisting the Stanley Cup. This is among the greatest turnaround stories ever in professional sports. The qualities and practices that led to this turnaround can be applied to a business that is struggling. Here’s an article that describes how…

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Celebrate Good Times
Blues Parade Reminds Us to Cheer Victories — Big and Small

Saturday’s parade was a celebration for the ages. Celebrations matter and they motivate. Too often in business, we don’t celebrate enough. Here’s a great article I clipped long ago that reminds us that we should celebrate small successes, not just the huge, once-in-a-lifetime achievements. 

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The Economics of Winning
Championships Generate “Psychic” and Actual Income
What’s in it for a city and its residents when the local team wins a championship. This article in Forbes, says a championship can confer great benefits on a city. Both St. Louis and Toronto (which just won the National Basketball Association crown) are currently reaping those benefits. The article shares some fascinating data about the benefits for both cities. 

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Recommended Listening…
One Song Defines Blues Championship Run

I admit it. Gloria is not the greatest song. But it’s currently my favorite song. And thousands (maybe millions) of Blues fans would say the same.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about… If you didn’t know that the Blues adopted “Gloria” as their victory anthem, here’s the story.

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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

Monday, June 10, 2019
MarketVolt’s Monday Mash-Up

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More Important than a Game
Blues Stanley Cup Run Introduces World to Inspiring Girl

I live in St. Louis, and I root for the St. Blues hockey club. So I’m disappointed this morning that the Blues lost last night to the Boston Bruins and didn’t clinch the Stanley Cup championship on home ice (they’ll try again on Wednesday in Boston). 

To cheer myself up, I watched this video last night — the story of Laila Anderson, a young Blues fan who is battling a rare disease with courage and grace. Her story inspires everyone who hears it — including Blues players. I love this story. It reminds me that so many things are more important than a hockey game.         

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Marketing Guidance
Email Marketing Tips

I like this article from Search Engine Journal and agree with the advice: 
11 Powerful Email Marketing Tips You Need to Know

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Recommended Reading
Mary Karr is a Master

Mary Karr is one of my favorite writers. Her first memoir, The Liar’s Club, is great — funny, insightful, heartbreaking, riveting. in 2015, she published The Art of the Memoir — a book about writing, particularly about the art of writing memoirs. This too is a great book. It’s full of great insights for anyone who writes, not just a memoirist. 

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I’m Listening to…
Joe Walsh’s Hit that Turns 41 Today
            
Joe Walsh is one of rock’s greatest guitarists and bad-boys. On this day in 1978, he released Life’s Been Good, a song that celebrates and satirizes rock-star life.

Here are some fun facts about the song, from SongFacts.com

Here’s a rockin’ video of Walsh performing the song soon after it was released. 

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Here’s a quote I like from Mary Karr:

“I once heard Don DeLillo quip that a fiction writer starts with meaning and then manufactures events to represent it; a memoirist starts with events, then derives meaning from them.”

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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

Monday, June 3, 2019
MarketVolt’s Monday Mash-Up

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Website Development Tip
Use a Honeypot to Reduce Garbage Email Signups

If you have an email signup form on your website, you might suffer from fake signups, generated by automated bots. Adding a CAPTCHA field (i.e. “enter the letters you see to verify you’re human…”) helps prevent this, but this approach can clutter the appearance of your site. Another option is to add code to your web form to create a Honeypot that will detect the automated, fake sign ups. Honeypots are not foolproof, but they’re effective in most cases. Here’s an article that describes how Honeypots work and how you or your web developer can add one to your web form.             

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Quick Read
Seth Godin on Culture

I love this short blog post from Seth Godin about culture.

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Marketing Tips
How to Get Your Business Listed Online

My friend Will Hanke shared some great tips about how to get your business listed online (and tools to manage your listings) at a recent meeting of Experts For Entrepreneurs in St. Louis. Great advice. 

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Recommended Viewing
Aretha Returns to Her Gospel Roots

Aretha Franklin was the daughter of a preacher. She first performed publicly in her father’s church. In January 1972, with eight Grammy Awards and 12 Billboard Top-10 hits under her belt, Aretha returned to her gospel roots. Over two days, she performed live at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles’ Watts neighborhood, backed by the Southern California Community Choir. Audio recordings were released later that year as the “Amazing Grace” album which many consider to be Aretha’s greatest. But video footage from those concerts was never released — until last month. The film “Amazing Grace” is now playing in theaters nationwide. I saw it last week. I highly recommend it. 

Here’s the trailer. 

Here’s a fascinating article about the concert and the history of the film.

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Here’s something Aretha said about music (it helps to explain why I like to share music in the Monday Mash-up:

“Music does a lot of things for a lot of people. It’s transporting, for sure. It can take you right back, years back, to the very moment certain things happened in your life. It’s uplifting, it’s encouraging, it’s strengthening.”

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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

Monday, May 20, 2019
MarketVolt’s Monday Mash-Up

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Relevant Data
Must-See Stats re: Email Marketing

Here’s an interesting article from the Convince&Convert website:
13 Email Marketing Statistics That Are Shaping 2019 and Beyond
             

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Business Tips
Tear Down the Silos

We see it often: Businesses that separate business functions into separate silos. Here’s an excellent article from Marketing Week that explains why this is such a problem: Why silos are the enemy of effective marketing. 

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Great Infographic
How to Put the Customer First

I love this graphic that is loaded with great ideas and case studies from businesses that market more effectively by putting the customer first: Your Guide to Customer-First Marketing.  

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Recommended Viewing
Jazz Great Delivers Great Commencement Address

I’m a proud papa. On Saturday, my daughter, Maddie, graduated with honors from Kenyon College in Ohio. Jazz great Wynton Marsalis delivered the commencement address. The speech was fantastic — full of relevant insights and advice for all of us, not just graduates. Here’s the video.                

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My favorite excerpt from that speech:

“Be aware of where you are in time and space, and mind how you experience and digest events, because: Things happen. Little things you repeat every day that slowly make you into yourself with every repetition, like practicing an instrument, or playing your favorite videogame, or having your morning coffee; big things that you choose, like getting married; big things you have absolutely no choice in, like health issues or natural disasters; things that you think are glorious, but they aren’t — like what you liked, that everyone liked, when you are at any age that a lot of people like the same things together, and y’all feel that your sheer numbers will make it significant, but it won’t (like the latest fad); and then there are earth-shaking things that will never happen again, but you don’t know it until it’s too late, like the last time you saw a close friend who then passes away. Things happen, and it’s just not possible to pick and choose a menu of experiences you would like to have from the arc of your life journey. Some of the most profound things that will happen to you won’t be your choice.

“You see, though we all envision our future and work towards it, the present is all we can actually experience. And it is often pressurized, chaotic and overwhelming. In response, popular pastimes distract us from a terrifying reality: the future is always now. So I ask you: Please be present today for your friends and loved ones, and allow the presentness of today to develop into a daily presentness throughout your adulthood.”

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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

Monday, May 13, 2019
MarketVolt’s Monday Mash-Up

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Sales Tips
The Art Of The Email Introduction

Email tools like MarketVolt are great for mass mailing a list — or delivering targeted follow-ups to people who respond to your mailings or other content. 

But what about those one-to-one emails that you send to cold leads or other prospects? How do you break through the noise, get someone’s attention and get them to act? 

Here’s a great article from Forbes with some excellent tips: 
The Art Of The Email Introduction: 10 Rules For Emailing Busy People
             

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In Case You Missed It…
False Opt-Outs Can Kill Your Email List

Last Wednesday, I sent this email to you and the rest of my list to describe how email security software can accidentally, automatically click opt-out links in the emails you send. This means people who don’t want to opt-out may be unsubscribing from your list. I describe how you can test whether this is happening to you and what you can do to correct the problem. 

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Happy Belated Mothers Day
SNL Sketch Captures Challenges and Insecurities of Motherhood

Being a mother is hard work. No mother is perfect — even though they strive to be. This sketch, The Perfect Mother, from two nights ago on SNL, is hilarious and spot on. 

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Recommended Viewing
Darkest Hour Portrays Churchill at a Critical Moment in History

On this day 79 years ago, Winston Churchill delivered his first speech to the British Parliament as Prime Minister. Known as the “Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat” speech, it’s a famous, inspirational statement in which he promised “victory at all costs” for a country on the verge of war with Nazi Germany. Here’s an audio recording of that speech. I also recommend that you see Darkest Hour, the film starring Gary Oldman as Churchill. Oldman won the Oscar for best actor.               

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On that very same day as Churchill’s speech, Bruce Chatwin was born in Sheffield, England. He went on to become a celebrated novelist and travel / adventure writer. His book In Patagonia is one of my favorites, a classic of travel / adventure literature.


. . He said this: 

“Man’s real home is not a house, but the Road, and that life itself is a journey to be walked on foot.” 

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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