Harassment marketing

Harassment marketing

Seth Godin wrote the book on permission marketing — the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them. You know, like a mailing list. Marketers have turned this on its head with a new kind of marketing: harassment marketing. Those are marketing messages that…

The client cascade

The client cascade

In January of 2020, nearly two years ago, I got an email from an executive at a large streaming entertainment company. Would I consider conducting a business writing workshop for the company? Sure, I said. He asked for details and references. I sent the prospect — let’s call him Oliver — my one-page writeup for…

The price of pushy
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The price of pushy

One afternoon a couple years ago I was sitting peacefully in my den reading when I heard a loud buzzing sound. It got louder and softer, but never went away, and I’d never heard that particular sound in my house before. Like any other homeowner, I carefully looked around my house to determine if some…

Annoying people at scale is profitable. It shouldn’t be.

Annoying people at scale is profitable. It shouldn’t be.

I was astounded to read a Twitter thread from a go-getter named John Plumstead, who harassed 58,408 people to get one or two deals. He can do this because there is no cost to harassing people. Let’s change that. Plumstead’s business is finding property owners in financial distress and buying their properties for less than…

Why are brand identity statements so generic?
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Why are brand identity statements so generic?

In his latest cartoon, Tom Fishburne of Marketoonist expertly skewered those “brand promise” statements you often read (and retch at). He’s completely right that corporate values and “reasons to believe” are filled with cliches and buzzwords. But why? Why is so hard for brands to differentiate? Having helped several companies write these sorts of statements,…