Happy Sunday, Everyone! I hope everyone’s having a good week. Happy (belated) Valentine’s Day to those who celebrate - may your significant other appreciate you as much as Google appreciates your ad budget (which is to say: quite a lot, but mostly when it’s convenient for them). This week, I want to talk about something timely that’s been on my mind. Over the past few weeks, Marty Weintraub and the team at AIMCLEAR published a fantastic two-part “Gut Check” series. Part 1 focused on...
20 days ago • 13 min read
Happy Superbowl Sunday, Everyone! I hope everyone's having a good week and - if you’re like me stuck in the northeast US - finding a way to stay warm during the “hard freeze” (or whatever meteorological branding is now in vogue). The idea for this week’s issue started earlier this week (yes, I do write these every week!). After months of putting it off, I finally organized my closet. Donated bags and bags of stuff I never wear to people who will (hopefully) appreciate them. Took dozens of...
27 days ago • 16 min read
Happy Sunday, Everyone! I hope you're all having a fantastic final week of January. If your inbox looks anything like mine, it's been flooded with hot takes about OpenAI's announcement that ChatGPT ads are coming. Everyone has an opinion. Let’s be honest: most of them are wrong. First, the facts. Here’s what actually happened: OpenAI announced they will be testing ads in the US for free users and their new $8/month "Go" tier. The operative phrase is "will be" - the ads aren't live yet....
about 1 month ago • 16 min read
Happy Sunday, Everyone! I hope you're all having a good week! We’re at that point where January feels like it’s (finally, blissfully) nearing its end. Last week's issue on the 5-Interaction Rule hit a nerve. I received more than a few emails back — most of them about the "fired" part. Turns out, telling people to fire their leadership team if they don’t talk to customers is... provocative. Who knew? But buried in the outrage (and the enthusiastic agreement - the split was ~50/50) was a more...
about 1 month ago • 14 min read
Happy Sunday, Everyone! I trust you're all staying warm and having a fantastic weekend. If you have Monday off, enjoy it. If you're like most of us and you don't, well… at least you're in good company. Before we dive in, a quick note: this issue is a continuation of last week's piece on killing your content calendar and building a Content Engine. If you missed it, I'd recommend giving it a read first. If you're short on time, the tl;dr is this: most content strategies fail because they're...
about 2 months ago • 12 min read
Happy New Year, Everyone! If you made it through this week, congratulations - you survived the first gauntlet on the calendar – between the "circling back" emails, the "new big ideas”, the “I need it yesterday” requests and aggressive goals, the first business week of the year is always a challenge. So: take a deep breath. You made it. Now that the dust is settling, I want to talk about the one thing that likely made your week more challenging - whether for your company brand, your personal...
about 2 months ago • 9 min read
Happy New Year, Everyone! Welcome to 2026! I hope you managed to get some rest, relax, rejuvenate (or, if you’re a parent, merely survive) the break – because if my inbox is any indication, next week is going to be absolute pandemonium. I’m already getting sales emails “circling back” from the 15 I’ve already ignored, a baker’s dozen new business inquiries and more meeting requests than I have bothered to count. That’s a lot of ways to say: we’re back at it. If you missed Part 1 of my 2026...
2 months ago • 17 min read
Happy Final Sunday of 2025, Everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas / Hanukkah / Kwanza filled with laughs, family and friends….or just some well-deserved peace and quiet. It’s difficult to believe, but this is the 52nd and final issue of 2025. The year that (at times) felt like it would never end is drawing to a close. But, before celebrating the ball dropping, the calendar changing and every goal/target resetting to 0, I took some time to reflect on 2025 - the good, the bad and...
2 months ago • 13 min read
Happy Sunday, Everyone! I hope you’re all surviving the frantic dash to complete your 2025 holiday shopping & to-do lists…all while simultaneously trying to plan for 2026, execute Q5 and enjoy a little bit of rest/relaxation/family time. There’s no doubt about it: holidays are always a challenge. And, if all that wasn’t enough, there’s a never-ending refrain of "Expert Takes" flying in faster than Santa on his sleigh. Everyone has a theory on what you need to change, what you need to buy and...
3 months ago • 13 min read