When you wake up each morning, your to-do list is already too long. But what if, instead of doing “a little bit of everything,” you tackled your most threatening problem first? I call that eating the frog. It’s hard, unpleasant, but transformative. In conversations with dozens of business owners, I ask: “What’s holding you back?” The … Read more
Why hire a consultant? Small businesses of all sizes can benefit from hiring a consultant, in large part because of the wealth of experience, industry knowledge, and problem-solving ability consultants bring to the table. Consultants, because they have often worked with dozens—if not hundreds—of similar brands, are a force multiplier for small businesses, allowing them … Read more
What is a content production mindset? The content production mindset refers to belief held by some marketers that to win at content marketing brands must single-mindedly focus on producing and sharing more content than their peers. The thinking goes that the more blogs and other website content brands produce, the better their chances of showing … Read more
The story of how I learned that going viral is overrated is as painful as it is vivid in mind years after the incident. It begins with a Midwestern friend and fellow angler who was enjoying a comfortable retirement until I chose to fish with one of his hair jigs on a fishing trip that … Read more
[updated 03-31-2023] Most brands’ content marketing fails because it lacks adherence to solutions ideally suited to their businesses. That is, they’re trying to execute a strategy that’s not optimized for the content marketing success they hope to enjoy. Simply put, their strategy is neither well defined nor in line their brand’s content marketing goals. Take … Read more
Brands as publishers? Rubbish! Your brand doesn’t need to be a publisher to be successful at content marketing. In fact, publishing your own content could actually be a detriment to your business. I attacked the logic of brands as publishers before, making the point that publishing content is one thing but attempting to adopt a … Read more