Goldmine Marketing

Here’s what I’m up to…

  • “Remember,” she said, “money isn’t real.” And the screen lit with hearts.

    9:10am
    Saint Paul

    “People don’t respond to discounts any more.

    “Especially if Corporate is paying the bill.

    “And remember: money isn’t real anyway.”

    Lots to unpack from this quote (from memory) I heard at an online marketing conference earlier this year, which caused a lot of people to react with heart emojis.

    Let’s start at the end:

    Is money “real?”

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  • Mental health programs in schools: Working or Nah?

    2:52pm
    Saint Paul

    It’s mental health month in the Catholic church.

    Well, officially it’s “National Catholic Mental Health Campaign” month.

    Anyway, it brought to mind this article in the Guardian that schools that offer mental health and wellness programs for all children aren’t very effective.

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  • Your #2 Job in Business… (and a P/T Job Opportunity)

    12:20pm
    Saint Paul

    Customer service is Job #2.

    (Job #1, Dan Kennedy reminds us, is marketing.)

    So when the fence company put in our new fence posts…

    While we were in California…

    Unable to approve the installation location…

    And now the posts are in the wrong spot…

    With an unexpected HOLE in our new driveway…

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  • Breakthrough Social Media

    2:16pm
    Saint Paul

    Today I started Brian Kurtz and Chris Mason’s Breakthrough Advertising Bootcamp.

    Written by Eugene Schwartz in 1966, Breakthrough Advertising is a dense book focused on marketing psychology so that your message speaks to readers on a level deeper than just “lose weight” or “make money.”

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  • Don’t think of a King

    7:23pm
    Saint Paul

    The classic “don’t think of an elephant” idea.

    Where you can’t tell someone to NOT do something… because the very command puts the idea in his head.

    Parents know and use this one.

    “Don’t eat that” can (and should) be rephrased “Keep that out of your mouth.”

    “Don’t hit your sister” can be rephrased “Hands to yourself.” (Used this one today even!)

    And on and on.

    Point is, you don’t often want to say what NOT to do, because…

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  • Why I should be able to have my own iPhone

    1:41pm
    Saint Paul

    “Read this.”

    My daughter handed me a 3 page sales letter.

    The headline:

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  • Would you watch beetles mating? This guy would.

    2:42pm
    Saint Paul

    Hey, I spent the past few days in Wine Country, California.

    But we weren’t there for the wine or the weather –– both of which were pretty great.

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  • If at first you don’t succeed…

    12:01pm
    Saint Paul

    Few weeks back, I emailed a fascinating story about growing grass in my back yard.

    HERE’S AN UPDATE.

    Grass is doing fine.

    But a squirrel keeps digging holes in it.

    I patch ’em.

    And within hours, there are new holes again.

    Some in the same spot as before…

    But the varmint ain’t burying nuts or anything.

    The squirrel is just tormenting me for fun.

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  • Insult or Income?

    9:17am
    Saint Paul

    My first decently paying copy client was back in 2018.

    I wrote Facebook ads at first, as lead generation for Medicare reps. It was my second Medicare role.

    Then we expanded into life insurance lead gen for a well-known Christian insurance company.

    We started that campaign with quizzes and a VSL.

    I wrote both.

    But the guy who hired me had an employee record the VSL voiceover.

    And it was terrible.

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  • LinkedIn is harvesting your data for AI.

    4:04pm
    Saint Paul

    Earlier today I read a LinkedIn post warning us that the platform is using your posts to train its AI.

    And apparently, everyone is auto-opt-in unless you toggle this switch:

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