Athletic coaches in team sports have long figured out that a team needs an overarching system that guides their strategy, practice, games, player selection, coaching hires, and everything else. Coaches often commit to a single system and build the franchise around it. The Patriots (of American football) have their 3-4
Here are three stories from software startups that inadvertantly advertised to a very different audience than expected, followed by easy steps to check if you’re making a similar costly mistake, and tips for avoiding it in the future. Selling a Data Science Platform to Snake Charmers In 2015, Domino
Why are consultants paid to tell you what you already know? Why are some otherwise intelligent people bad at expressing their ideas? Why do some websites have so little information on them? The answer is clarity. The ability to convey a message or idea in a direct, clear, and precise
I used to draw and sell single-panel cartoons to magazines. From the years I did this, I learned to reject the first ideas that came to mind during a writing session, because they’re too obvious and shallow. The gems—those that got published by the likes of Wall Street
Business relationships are built on trust. Startups, agencies, freelancers, and consultants try to gain your trust by showing they’ve worked with other people or companies like you. To that end, they show off their customer logos. That’s fine. It does help to know whether they have a portfolio
I get asked about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) a lot. Is it worth doing? How is it done? Are SEO agencies legit? Is it that complicated? This post will answer those questions and help you get more customers, leads, or users from search traffic. Search traffic matters. It’s free,
(Updated May 20, 2020) Do you rely on web forms to get users, customers, or leads? Then you probably want to capture URL parameters, and specifically UTM parameters, to track how visitors found you, what referral code they used, or what marketing campaign brought them there. Having that data can
This is a story of how a software company was able to start a conversation with 8x more of their users by cutting the length of their emails by 90%. You could set up a test of this method in less than an hour. The Problem One of the most
Too many software companies and startups treat their blog as a personal journal, startup diary, a place for release notes, or an intern project. If that’s you, stop it. You’re missing a huge opportunity to: * Get more leads, users, or customers * Get more fans and evangelists * Get more
This is a culmination of my thoughts on the issue of wasting money on online advertising, spurred by an article on the uselessness of traffic from Google AdWords and Facebook Ads. In the article, the author concludes that “Google [AdWords] and Facebook [Ads] traffic is 90% useless,” because: * Every 9
Bad advice is everywhere, especially in marketing. Reading and keeping up with marketing advice is overwhelming because there’s so much of it, and so much of it is awful. While professional marketers and consultants eventually build up the experience to discern the junk from the gems, everyone else risks
I used to dread setting up email automation and email campaigns. Why? Because before a single sales or marketing email could be sent, it needed a design. In my attempt to sidestep this time-consuming process, I learned that plain emails not only save time but work better. Why Design is