2:24pm
Saint Paul
The internet is dying.
What was once a place of fascination and connection has become a wasteland of uninspired, templated content created by, well, pretty much everyone.
More people are opting out of an always-connected lifestyle…
Buying devices to lock up their smartphones (because they can’t control themselves)…
And returning to living in the real world.
Example:
(more…)Did you watch my conversation with David Newman?
We covered his career in marketing and his books, especially his newest book Market Eminence about becoming a celeb in your niche.
Well tomorrow is his online launch party for that book. 1pm US Central time.
(more…)1:45pm
-1° in Saint Paul
A year ago I took Derek Johanson’s CopyHour course, a 90 day journey of handwriting successful sales letters to embed their lessons into my subconscious.
One thing I’ve learned in marketing is that most people don’t complete the thing they buy:
(more…)11:47am
Saint Paul
Longtime readers of this website may know how it got its start back in 2016:
Reading and summarizing the lessons found in the books from Scott Adam’s “Persuasion Reading List.”
And while I didn’t summarize all of the books –– persuasive copywriting became my main focus –– I did write up a good number of the books on his list (and I read others that I didn’t summarize).
Well, if you haven’t heard, Scott Adams died from cancer yesterday at age 68.
Scott, through his blog and livestreams, changed the way I saw the world in profound ways.
(more…)12:55pm
Saint Paul
“It’s time to get back to how, as a human, I can help other humans.”
Last week I caught up with an old marketing friend.
We discussed a lot of things, including AI, and when he dropped that quote above, I had to write it down.
As you may know, I’m working with Denny Hatch and Paul Bobnak to re-release their book, “The Secrets of Emotional, Hot-Button Copywriting.”
And I’ve reached out to a number of big-name direct response marketers to see if they’d be open to promoting Denny’s book.
(more…)10:59am
Saint Paul
“I hate Wizards.”
And with that, six of us –– my wife’s two cousins, their spouses, and my wife and I –– enter The Wizard’s Tower.
Have you ever been in an Escape Room before?
You get “locked in” a room and have to solve puzzles, sequentially, to get out.
(more…)12:58pm
Saint Paul
Hey, the end of the year is near.
And like the end of 2024, I have a new podcast epi to drop!
Marketer, speaker, and writer David Newman, author of Do It! Marketing, joins me for Episode #018 to discuss his newest book:
Market Eminence: 22 Strategies to Build a Bold Personal Brand, Become a Business Celebrity, and Drive Unstoppable Growth
In this episode, David explains why being “good” is not good enough to stand out in a very noisy world –– and the 22 steps you can take to build up your own fame (among your chosen audience).
• What is Market Eminence as a concept, and what’s in the book? (2:26)
• The 3 jobs that need to be done if you want to get noticed in 2026 (3:19)
• How to make it dangerous, risky and dumb for a buyer to choose someone else (5:02)
• AI has ONE type of intelligence –– and it’s helpful if these 2 things don’t matter to you or your customers (6:55)
• How-To content is everywhere –– and it’s dead, says David. Stick a fork in it! Here’s what comes next for marketers (8:44)
• Why a good rant can make YOU more *|FNAME|*-ic (10:45)
• The convergence of the business world and celebrity happened 50 years ago –– but today you can use this same personal branding to increase profits too (12:39)
• The ONE reason to build up your own eminence (15:15)
• How should a ghostwriter approach building someone else’s personal brand? (18:20)
• David quotes Kevin Halbert from his Persuasion Play Podcast appearance: a copywriter’s “Number One Biggest Mistake” (22:40)
• Excerpt from Market Eminence: 3 questions to ask yourself to find your contrarian positioning in the marketplace –– grab a pencil and paper and write your answers now (24:20)
• Most people fear this –– but when you see it, it means you’re doing something right (27:55)
• Unplug these 2 ideas from your brain ASAP (29:21)
• How to install a magic, electro-magnetic fence around your company to attract the right audience… and repel the wrong one (32:40)
• Are ALL of these parts of your business in alignment with your branding? (36:30)
• David’s book Market Eminence is NOT for brands who are comfortable starting at “Square Zero” with every new client (40:20)
• How to out-position 90% of your competitors (41:10)
• Mind-blowing advice David received early in his career that will help YOU make more sales (43:40)
• Should you be a Tugboat or a Lighthouse for your customers? (46:16)
• David’s other books, Do It! Marketing and Do It! Selling and Do It! Speaking are how-to books –– here’s how they compare with Market Eminence (47:53)
• The BIG IDEA you should take away from this conversation that will amaze you with the results (51:15)
• David’s “ethical bribe” he wants to offer you: FREE resources to build your own market eminence starting today –– no purchase required (52:45)
And so much more. Watch episode #018 of the Persuasion Play Podcast with David Newman here.
You can find David’s book Market Eminence at MarketEminence.com or on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Market-Eminence-Strategies-Celebrity-Unstoppable
And you’ll find more episodes of the Persuasion Play Podcast on YouTube, with guests such as Drayton Bird, Bob Bly, Doberman Dan, and more.
Thanks for watching!
9:50am
Saint Paul
Click click click.
“Maybe it’s the oil,” my son says.
We check. Oil is good.
But the snowblower still won’t fire up.
Click click click.
Not the morning I was hoping for after a foot of snow fell last night.
Click click click.
“Maybe it’s the spark plug?”
(more…)