Time to read: 2:30 minutes
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Life is good.
Life is evil.

We can find plenty of data to support both.

Which type of data are you seeking today?

Enjoy this week's letter:

1. One (marketing) Idea

3 reasons why there's a disconnect between:

The content we consume (+ enjoy)
vs
The content we create for our audience

I call this the Marketing Delusion.

We produce marketing (content) that would NEVER "work" on us.

I believe this stems from 3 reasons:

1. (Quiet) Hubris

   1. The subconscious stance that we know MORE than our audience

   2. Our ego gets in the way of us being honest with our content

2. Lack of a content standard

   1. From research (consuming top-tier content)

   2. From documenting a standard for your content

      1. Aim for personable/human vs a crazy high-quality

         1. Low-fi content STILL works

3. Lack the mental models to create good content:

   1. Collaboration is golden (with customers and "partners")

   2. Document (openly share) vs Create Mindset

   3. Macro/Micro Content Framework

Why does this matter: We pour a ton of money into content, and we're not getting a good ROI.

I'm not even talking about companies ACTUALLY investing in content (I.e., videos + podcasts).

This goes for any company spending 5-10 hours a week creating vanilla content on social. Or producing frequent blogs that NO ONE reads (besides your mom).

It's time we stop this.

It's time we figure out HOW TO MAKE OUR CONTENT WORK.

That's what this new series is all about.

I will share tips, mental models, and contrarian advice on how to make your content work.

The next episode will touch on the most important aspect of content:

Who it's for….

2. One Quote

No one cares what you've gone through.

Unless we can relate it to ourselves.

We only (mainly?) care about ourselves (at least, that's true for me).

When writing, you use your experiences and relate them to your reader.

You take the unique and make it general:

"Finding universals is what gifted storytellers know they must do to create work that rises above a routine report." – Jack Hart (Storycraft)

For content, messaging, and even podcasts, you must pull the universal threads (for your audience). The last part is vital:

There are macro and micro universals.

Groups, like designers or marketers, have micro unversals.
While there are macro universals for the collective.

Tap into both to create work that resonates.

3. One Episode

The message is no longer the most important thing.

The messenger matters more.

Mark Kilens has been living this out for as long as I've followed him. Listen to how he sees (b2b) marketing shifting:

Enjoy 👉 https://open.spotify.com/episode/2kZ6jIoxliIh9cXeKs3w66?si=d2717410ac6d4014

4. One (life) Idea

How can I serve today?

That's a question I ask myself every morning.

All because of a podcast convo with Joel Klettke.

He believes the purpose of life is "to serve and make the path a little bit easier for others."

I can't stop thinking about how to actualize this.

One simple way is to ask the question daily. And follow through.

A few examples:

• Vacuuming the vestibule for our tenant (we live in a duplex)

• Providing three pieces of insight to help whoever I meet with make progress

• Doing the dishes an extra day (my wife's pregnant, so this is nothing compared to her!)

The second part is a bit deeper. And harder when you're "just starting."

One way I do this is by creating content for early-stage marketers.
And regularly meet with anyone starting in marketing.

I aim to help them avoid what I had to unlearn.
And gain the power of (re)thinking (strategy).

In the future, I hope to provide more pathways for marketers and others.

How can you serve and make the path easier for others?

5. One Photo

Friends of On Marketing (Coming soon…Nov 10th!)

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– JO (every second counts)