I'm all for short and snappy content. But sometimes, if you are too short, you will fail to cover your pitch fully. This leaves the reader unsure of who you are and what you're selling. This leaves them confused, which typically doesn't drive results. Today's ad feels a little empty and lifeless. I hope to pump some life into it. Who: ...

I never thought I would say this: I’m part of a (Saas) startup. (Do I buy a tesla now or later?) Seriously though, I’m excited for this opportunity and for the fact it’s with the same group of people I’ve dedicated the last four years of my life with. Stop The Vanilla went on a mission two years ago to figure out an answer to surviving...

Another week down. How did you do? I did okay. There were a few things I wish I got done, but overall, it was a productively peaceful week. What did I do this week? • Released episode 4 of my NEW podcast (listen here: https://share.transistor.fm/s/e70af690) • Prepared to release V2 of MyTalentPlanner's website next week (See V1 before ...

I have some big news... I'm starting a weekly newsletter. It's called a Newsletter On Marketing. It will showcase podcast episodes, interviews, and hopefully longer-form articles I plan to write. But that's not the point of this email. I was recently at dinner with a friend. We were eating some fantastic pizza, and I told him I was sta...

Have you ever heard of the generation effect? Even though I have been doing it for over a year now, I didn't. So, let's define what it is: “The generation effect is a robust memory phenomenon in which actively producing material during encoding acts to improve later memory performance.” That's the highly scientific definition of it. I ...

"Copywriting is sales at scale." Rather than selling to one person at a time, copy allows you to sell to many at once. The challenge is writing copy that is as compelling as you would sell. Unfortunately, most writing on websites, cold emails, or sales pages is robotic and not persuasive. It's much easier to charm someone through speec...

Most marketing books are useless. They preach fading strategies. They contain survivor bias. And are usually a slog to read through. There are fewer than 20 books on marketing you need to read. Some examples of must-reads are: • Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy • Everybody Writes by Ann Handley • Scientific Advertising by Claude C...

A superpower of mine is being critical. I can poke a hole in just about anything. I can find something to improve everywhere. But, as you can imagine, this quickly turns into my greatest weakness. I can be overly critical and focus only on what’s missing (just ask my wife). One night, this became apparent when Katie and I went on a dou...

The more you do, the less you can accurately test and measure. Think back to science class and experiments. When experimenting, you start with a hypothesis. You believe that by altering X, Y will happen. The experiments’ goal is to prove or disprove that hypothesis. The five main components of an experiment are: 1. Control variable: An...

Content is not free. Just because you can post it for free or email it to 100 people doesn’t mean it doesn’t cost you anything. There’s the production cost. Whether it’s your time writing an article or paying someone to edit your podcast, creating content costs money and time. There’s also the opportunity cost. Rather than shooting tha...

Not everyone flew a Lockheed P-38 Lightning during WWII. Not everyone will give birth to a wet-looking alien; I mean human. So, to gain specific life lessons, you need to seek out those with specific experiences we will never have. Now, some of the lessons from the legendary fighter pilot man could be the same as the woman who was the ...

Go to the roots. That’s a mantra I tell myself religiously in marketing. It helps ground me in what is true by asking better questions. Let’s say we are trying to run an ad in our local paper. Of course, you could start by asking what it should be about, what the design should be, or the headline. But that’s not starting at the roots. ...

Everything is personal. Not in that way. What I mean is that everything is personalized. What love feels like for me is different than what it feels like for you. What heartbreak feels like to me is different than for you. What grief looks like for me is different than for you. That’s a lesson I’ve learned in my short time on earth. Th...

36,969 words. That’s how many words are in a Word Doc that holds my written content for this email. While I have a few posts that I’ve already written in the doc, most of the content is unreleased. That’s like a book of content I’ve created. So how did I do it? By writing every day for 30 minutes. It’s that simple. The more I commit to...

What’s one easy way to make effective ads? Make a ton of them. And make them highly personalized for the product, audience, or both. This lesson comes from Gary Vee and is another episode in our Wizdom from Gary Vee miniseries. One thing Gary routinely preached was the importance of creating a plethora of hyper-personalized ads. If you...

Today I want to share something massive with you. It's something I've never done before and am scared to share. You will want to read until the end to find out what it is. *End of role play* Hooks and teasing the reader with a payoff is what good writing does. But tangling the carrot so far in front of them while making them work ridic...

I love Survivor. My wife and I try to watch a little bit during dinner each night. We pick seasons from the past with high ratings and have fun picking who we think will win. I am surprised with who wins every time. Of course, it’s usually someone you would expect, but it’s never an easy pick. It’s not always the best player. Or the st...

Nothing is worse than getting sick. Sadly, that's what happened to me last weekend. Thankfully, I'm feeling much better now and didn't lose much because of my head cold. I kept my routines and a healthy mindset while also moving forward personally and professionally. What about you? How was your week? Top learnings 1. The Paradox of YE...

It felt like I was going to die. My chest hurt, and my left arm tingled. Everything flashed in front of my eyes. Do you know what I didn't see in what I thought were my final moments? The Netflix series I didn't watch. The number of hours I spent working. Or the copious amounts of weed I've smoked. Not that those things didn't matter (...

Imagine I have a purple pill. Taking the pill will give you clarity. Pop it every morning, and you'll have extreme clarity for the rest of the day (did someone say Adderall?). Would you take it? I would. I'd even snort a purple line of it every morning (🤧 wipes nose). Why would I? Because clarity is everything. When I struggle most in ...

While distribution is important, we shouldn't focus solely on that. What brought this to my attention was a recent book I purchased. I followed the author and saw their posts about their book, but it wasn't until they retweeted someone noting how great their book was that I bought it. Why? I'm not sure. But two reasons initially come t...

The audacity to promote an ad that's all about yourself is mindboggling. It's like buying a billboard to put your face on it so that you can see yourself driving to work every day. It sounds like Kanye would do. The sad reality is that many ads I see do this, whether directly or indirectly. Today I share how to avoid that and what to d...

““The solution is not to try to convince your people that what you made is awesome, it’s to make better stuff.” — Jonathon Stark.” Marketing is not convincing people to care. Marketing is finding the right people and sharing with them something worth caring about. To illustrate that, let me share a story from my lifeguarding days. Towa...

That week felt like it was on 1.5x speed. Not sure if that's good or bad. My word for the week was too-good-to-be-true. Life has been going oddly well, which makes me wonder what's around the corner. Regardless, I'm enjoying it. Also, we got a new cat. Her name is Mylo! How was your week? Top learnings 1. Bias toward critical thinking ...

It’s my first podcast of the day. I’m in the zone. Asking what I think are great questions and having the guest open themselves like a book. Then it happens. I try not to notice, but I can’t help but see it. And the more I fixate on it, the worse it gets. It’s embarrassing. What is it? My neck. Whenever I’m talking in front of people, ...

At the center of marketing is something I struggle with: Tracking and targeting people. To run ads, you must target someone based on their data. I get this. It could be location, whom they follow, or if they have children. But what if you got more specific and possibly went too far with targeting? That’s what churches have recently bee...

I’m late on almost everything. One of those is miniseries. While they aren’t new (e.g., Band of Brothers in 2001), they are taking over again. In the last few years, Netflix has adopted the strategy full-blown. They’re pumping them out like a catholic family pumps out babies. Have you ever watched one? They are usually 5-10 episodes lo...

Have you ever ordered something at a restaurant that comes out looking "blah?" A better word than "blah" might be underdeveloped. It comes out short on the fries, or the burger is half the size as the bun—sad face. Some content has a similar effect. It underdelivers. Today's ad is "blah," and I'm going to try and spice it up. What I li...

"It needs to be short." "No one reads that much anymore." "No one watches videos over a minute." If you ever hear someone using this heuristic, run the other way. It's not true. People will watch a 30-minute video of Mr. Beast holding onto a box to win a million dollars. People will also listen to an hour-long podcast with Brené Brown ...

Howdy 🤠 Did you have a nice week? My week in one word was content. I have a newfound awareness and acceptance of where I am in life—both professionally and personally. I want to achieve more, but I am satisfied with where I am and the person I am slowly becoming. How would you describe your week in one word? Top learnings 1. Say "yes" ...