A Newsletter on Marketing (and Life) #002

Hey there, friend 👋

I can call you that now, right? Maybe after two emails? Ok.

Since the last newsletter, life’s been hectic. My wife had an infusion, my parents visited for the weekend, and have been busy with agency work.

I’m guessing you may feel a similar way.

One thing that’s helped me is to find myself in the current moment. Do I feel my feet on the ground? How’s my breathing? What sounds do I hear?

Doing that usually pulls me back into a calm state where I can peacefully progress.

How do you manage moments when the world feels as if it’s falling?

Podcast Takeaways

(Time to read: 1:23 minutes)

Brooklin is on a mission to make (B2B) marketing that isn't boring AF.

Which is needed as ChatGPT and other new tools make content creation easier. With more content comes a higher bar to pass to be considered quality.

In my dialogue with Brooklin, he shares a handful of tools to help make your content stand out, why he switched from freelance to an agency, and how he sees marketing evolving.

Enjoy the insights from our conversation from over a year ago (listen to the conversation here):

Takeaway 1: The importance of leveraging data and expert voices in content marketing

Guess what? No one wants to read/hear/watch your content.

To get people to engage, your content must be different.

Some ways to make your content different (i.e., perform better than the pack)?

• Collaborate with credible and expert voices in your content

• Use data and qualitative research to drive content ideation and creation

• Use a personality and perspective that others can't copy

Another pro of data-led content from Brooklin?

"... it's more long-lasting because you can then use that to support a ton of other types of content later on."

He also emphasized how this will help you move beyond the traditional focus on SEO and explore other content marketing methods that resonate with your target audience.

Takeaway 2: Good marketing allows the audience to identify themselves in the content

Stellar content results in the audience saying, "Did they read my diary?"

"Good marketing will allow the audience or the prospect to immediately identify themselves in what you're talking about." How you achieve this is by using words that they are already thinking, touching specific pain points, and focusing on their unique outcomes.

Rather than simply focusing on the features of your product. "It's about setting the buyer up for success versus pointing them to a tool."

Doing this right shows you are genuinely concerned with providing value and solutions to the buyer's needs rather than just promoting your product.

Takeaway 3: The changing role of marketing in organizations

Marketing used to be contained to certain parts of the funnel (i.e., awareness). Brooklin sees this evolving:

"Marketing has a much more significant role to play than just generating MQLs for sales.

Whether through content, field, or customer marketing, marketing can support the entire go-to-market organization throughout the buying process from the top of the funnel (demand gen) through to renewals, upselling, and cross-selling."

When marketing focuses on the buying process and provides buyers with the resources and support needed to make informed decisions, marketing teams will create more value for their companies and ensure long-term success.

Three quotes. Three books.

"The manager seeks compliance. The leader seeks to create the condition for people to make a change happen."

– (The) Seth Godin

"Judgment is like a free throw: however hard we try to repeat it precisely, it is never exactly identical."

– Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony, Cass R. Sunstein

"Experience and expertise, which are your friends when things are complicated, can become your enemy when things are complex."

– Jennifer Berger and Carolyn Coughlin

Links to the three books quoted above:

• The Song of Significance: A New Manifesto for Teams by Seth Godin

• Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment by Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony, and Cass R. Sunstein

• Unleash Your Complexity Genius by Jennifer Berger and Carolyn Coughlin

Personal (micro) Essay – Why are people different?

(Time to read: 2:41 minutes)

When you see another person, what do you notice?

If you're like most, you'll notice similarities—things you have in common.

For me, I notice the difference.

So that naturally leads me to think more often about what makes people different. The answer is infinitely long. So I'll save you the time.

But one area I focus on is the theoretical/spiritual piece of humans. Why do some people see differently? Why can they flow through life while others sludge?

Some call it an evolution of consciousness: enlightenment or awakening.

For me, it's more about how someone thinks—how their mind sees. The increasing desire to see more clearly is at the heart of my faith.

This became increasingly clear through conversations. Why do some flow while others fall flat?

Specific terms and concepts resonated with certain people more than others. And we could then build upon these concepts in real-time—grow in consciousness together.

This confused me for a long time until I found a simple and profound hypothesis.

Before I share what I believe to be behind the phenomenon, let me share a story that fully illustrates this, or at least did for me:

Pull out your iPhone.

Mine's a 14 pro. The iOS is 16.5.1
You have a 14 too. But your iOS is 12.

Guess what yours can't do? A lot of things. Some things are purely entertainment. Many improve efficiency and effectiveness.

Until you upgrade your iOS, you can't do dark mode, camera upgrades, widgets, or use FT while using other apps. Life sucks with iOS 12.

This positions optimizing iOS upgrades as the most critical task for users to increase the value they get from the device.

Now can I make a radical hypothesis?

The goal is the same for us.

So, what's our device? It's not solely the body. It's more than that.

It's also our mind and how we think. It's our spirituality, consciousness, and, ultimately, our being. Rather than call it cOS or bOS (see: body odor), let's keep with iOS. With "i" standing for individual (operating system).

As you update your operating system, you can do more and achieve more (cheesy but true).

Some examples include:

• Being able to deal with and think through complex situations, problems, and people

• Not letting things sway your emotional mood, allowing you to be present

• Have a healthy self-image and future state that may include impressing you and your family (not others on social media)

I'm putting out the hypothesis that the most critical goal for humans is to upgrade their iOS. To think and live better.

Learn new mental models/concepts. Upgrade existing ones. Grow in virtues. Leading to thinking better, leading to more flourishing.

The goal is for you and I to live well.

The Greeks called it Eudaimonia, meaning happiness or flourishing.

The way they pursued it was through "Arete," a Greek word often translated as "virtue" or "excellence."

"It was a central concept in ancient Greek ethics and referred to the idea of living up to one's full potential and fulfilling the purpose or function that is unique to a thing. The term was used by many ancient Greek thinkers, including Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle." (via ChatGPT)

We've come a long way since those men. We have the technology and many other inventions to aid us in achieving eudaimonia, yet so many of us struggle more than we need to.

So much has progressed. Yet so little has within our operating system.

That's why I'm here inviting you to help me write this guide on the human iOS.

I can't do this alone. I won't try to cover everything. And with your help, what we create will be meaningful and helpful.

I aim to be useful to you and one person you share the idea with.

Let's grow together. Let's update our iOS.

Next week I'll cover the guide's purpose and who it's NOT for (and who it is for).

Contribute (comment) your thoughts and stay up with updates here: https://jordanogren.notion.site/The-Guide-to-the-human-iOS-98df3dcdd98349c48a15721417a22a11?pvs=4

Thank you for reading this week’s email. May you progress in peace 🙏❣️

– Jo