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Wednesday, 8:46am
Saint Paul

Do you remember ‘teacup pigs,’ the tiny pigs that people kept as pets?

I don’t either.

But apparently that’s a thing.

Turns out…

Continue reading “Remember Teacup Pigs?”

8:01am Tuesday, March 26
Saint Paul, Minn

This morning, I read an article about a police SWAT team who used Apple’s “FindMy” service to track stolen goods related to a car-jacking.

This was in Saint Louis, Missouri.

And the SWAT team ransacked the wrong house.

Continue reading “SWAT Research”

12:01pm Friday, Mar 22
Saint Paul, Minnesota

I’m going through the slow process of uploading older episodes of my Persuasion Play Podcast onto YouTube—where you can listen to them… for free.

Continue reading “How to Write a Book”

8:51am
Saint Paul, Minn

My son Sam has been taking piano lessons for two years.

And at this point, he’s just OK.

He doesn’t hardly practice, which is evident—and embarrassing—when we go to his lesson.

And when we can get him to practice, he’ll ask after each song or scale,

“Was that good?”

There is no right answer.

Generally, no it wasn’t good. He isn’t counting his beats, so the rhythm is wrong.

But if we point it out, we’re playing with fire.

He’ll break down in anger. Throw books. Slam the piano keys.

So, should you give feedback when someone asks for it?

What if they become angry or defensive when you give them the feedback they asked for?

Here’s my take.

Most people don’t really want feedback.

They don’t want to draw attention to their failures.

Instead, they generally want praise and confirmation of their efforts or opinion.

So to avoid an argument with this person, you have a few options.

You can start with honest praise and appreciation for her efforts, and then ask (confirm) if she is open to a suggestion to improve one aspect or another of her efforts.

Or you can start with criticizing your own self and your own mistakes, in a story perhaps, in a way that highlights your feedback and suggestions without directly pointing to that person’s mistakes. Then, either let him draw his own conclusion, or you can make it more obvious by saying how this story relates to his situation.

One more option is to refuse to give feedback. Point to previous examples of this person asking for feedback and how she reacted when you gave it. Then, maybe, the other person is aware of their behavior and willing to hear what you have to say.

Feedback is key to improvement and growth. But if the recipient isn’t really open to it, you’ll just strain your relationships.

Last week I gave a (pre-recorded) presentation at the Agorapulse Social Pulse Summit: Retail Edition, an online marketing conference.

(And at the end, I asked for feedback—because I genuinely want it!)

I presented on Eugene Schwartz’ Five Levels of Customer Awareness and Five Levels of Market Sophistication, and how to use that info to grow your social media account.

The session is titled, “Grow or Sell: Targeting The Right Audience On Social Media.”

And if you’re a marketer, it may have some useful information for you.

Register here to watch this session for free as my guest (before they pull it down):

https://social.agorapulse.com/summit/retail-edition?utm_campaign=en-social-summit-re-q12024&utm_source=JeffreyThomas&utm_medium=influencer

Have a blessed day.

9:59am
Saint Paul

Last week I finished the Walter Isaacson biography, Elon Musk.

I’ll write up some of the interesting facts I found, and send them your way soon.

But one thing that stands out is how involved Elon is in every decision and activity at his companies.

The man is busy.

And he doesn’t trust many people to handle their own jobs without his input. He just has too many new ideas to test and try, and he likes taking risks.

Where does he get all his ideas?

Continue reading “Why do some people get all the good ideas?”

8:43am
Thursday, Jan 4.

The “new” Beatles song, Now and Then, “feels calculating and cold, like the tech mimicking a late Beatle,” writes The Ringer.

The new release is an older song that never made the cut until Paul McCartney used AI to recreate the late John Lennon’s voice.

The Ringer article goes on to say,

Continue reading “Calculated marketing lessons from The Beatles & Taylor Swift”

Wednesday, Jan 3
7:55am

Get any weird mail lately?

Postcards for Senior Living, Gold Bullion investments pitches, or maybe a Medicaid sales packet?

I’ve found, the longer I’m in marketing, the more odd things arrive in the mail.

“Junk mail,” I used to call it.

Now?

Continue reading “I love junk mail.”