A Newsletter on Marketing (and Life) #004

*Rushes into class late (Jo)
*Teacher doesn’t notice nor care (you)

Howdy!

Hope things have been going well with you. It’s been busy since the last time we spoke.

I was on a podcast that will be coming out next week (That’s Deep with Eden and Jess). It was 2 hours long and full of some of my most distilled thoughts on life.

It’s fun to change seats and be a guest v. a host. Yet I will always prefer asking the questions. My favorite question is the one that gets this response, “I’ve never had someone ask me that before.”

Anyways, enough talking and let’s get into this week’s podcast takeaways:

Podcast Takeaways

(Time to read: 2:24 minutes)

"I'm a no BS marketer."

Hiba wasn't lying. She cuts through with honesty and critical thinking.

That's likely why we talked for almost 60 minutes. I loved her thoughts on marketing, content, and startups.

She is brilliant. Please follow her as she paves a new path at Copy.ai as Head of Content.

Enjoy the insights from our conversation (listen to the conversation here):

Takeaway #1: Content creation is a critical skill for marketers.

Hiba argues that Content is not just about writing blogs or landing pages but forms the core of marketing. If you think hard, almost everything in marketing (and business, may I say) involves Content.

Without being able to think, strategize, and create Content (I.e., write), you will be dependent on those who can. So, I propose that all marketers, even those in technical marketing roles, learn content creation.

Why? Because an inevitable outcome of (good) content creation is teaching. And as one teaches, one grows in the subject matter.

It's a beautiful giving relationship. And it could be a hidden benefit of mastering content creation that is overlooked.

I want to put what Hiba said on a t-shirt: "Content is marketing. Everything falls under Content."

Without Content, marketing can't go far. Content is like fuel.

What to do next?

• Find one way to create Content weekly - 20 minutes (eventually daily)

• Follow great content creators and try to understand what makes them so enjoyable

• Take time to understand yourself (or your company) to create Content that is personable and resonates

Takeaway #2: The importance of talking to customers in shaping marketing strategy

*The film starts:

A group of tidy-looking businesspeople sit around a wooden table, smoking cigars and strategizing. There's an overflowing of jargon, unreal expectations, and complete confidence in what the customer wants (who's miles away and never spoken to). Everyone leaves feeling it's the plan to help them achieve record growth! Like no year before.

How believable is that? Not very.

"Talking to customers... was the biggest change for me in terms of being able to think more strategically, to produce a better marketing strategy, to produce better content."

Hibe stressed the importance of breaking down barriers within companies that prevent direct communication with customers.

I love her advice for marketers: "Go talk to them yourself."

No excuses. Work with sales or customer success if they are "gatekeepers," ultimately, you're responsible for talking with customers. Get out there!

What to do next?

• Schedule one true conversation with one customer (and come and tell me you did it!)

• Create a rhythm to have 2-3 conversations a week with customers

• Build a customer advisory board to consistently get feedback on marketing, product, Content, and more

Takeaway #3: The power of template libraries in content marketing

I was surprised by this. This was a nonobvious insight Hiba shared:

She found that template libraries improved search engine rankings for long-tail keywords and significantly increased customer acquisition and conversion rates. The reason why they built a template library builds off takeaway #2:

"We noticed that managers have so much going on... So how do we reduce that? How do we give them resources because they're searching for them?"

That's a critical insight. They had empathy for their customer and then figured out how to help them make progress where they were stuck.

Sure, you could build a template library if it applies to your business and would help your audience/customer. But there's a more significant lesson:

Good Content helps your audience make progress (on what matters to them).

Figure out what progress they are trying to make. Help them make that progress with Content (re: marketing simplified).

What to do next:

• Audit how well you understand the progress your customer is trying to make and document the friction in the way

• If a template library would help, create one. If a resource library works better, build one.

• Create a section in your marketing strategy where you experiment with something such as template libraries

Three quotes. Three books.

"The purpose of the beehive isn’t to make honey; honey is a by-product of a healthy hive."

– (The) Seth Godin

"Whatever the outcome, once it has happened, casual thinking makes it feel entirely explainable, indeed predictable."

– Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony, Cass R. Sunstein

"We cannot handle the complexity outside us unless we are able to notice–and ultimately change–what complexity does inside us."

– Jennifer Berger and Carolyn Coughlin

Links to the three books quoted above:

• Write for Life by Julia Cameron 

• 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 Note from Jo

(Time to read: 1:55 minutes)

"I'm sorry."

Why do we frequently tell that to the people we love most?

(I'm not talking about those people, like myself, who say sorry for everything)

That happened to me a few nights ago with my wife. No details, but I was an ass. And it got me thinking, how could I treat the one I love worse than strangers? What a horrible person I am!

Too far? Probably. But still, I was defeated as I thought of how I dumped the anxiety from work and other things onto her, even though I love her.

It's like the public get's best version of Jordan.
And those who love me the most get the worst.

That was hard to write. Sometimes the truth is difficult to swallow.

Maybe this is a non-issue for you. If so, please mail me your top 5 tips. I've thought a lot about this public v/ private person paradox.

So, I went to Mr.ChatGPT and got some cool takes on why this is the case. I will share it below. Over time, I likely will create a larger piece of work on this paradox and tips to improve, for now, a messy investigation.

Let's first look at why this happens:

One theory is that we are more patient with strangers because we have lower expectations of them. We don't expect them to meet our needs or understand us as we hope our loved ones do (source: Medium).

That rings true. I have much higher standards/expectations of those close to me than those far. Makes sense.

Another theory is that we are more patient with strangers because our interactions with them are more straightforward and less loaded with history and expectations. We can interact, acknowledge each other, and part ways without further commitment (source: Kripalu).

Interesting... Less "baggage" is involved, resulting in minimal friction to a positive interaction or at least avoiding negative.

Another theory is that we may subconsciously reserve our energy and patience for interactions with more significant social consequences, such as interactions with strangers or acquaintances.

That's likely true. I have a perception and narrative going on about myself in public. I don't want that to (negatively) change, so I will not get upset or say something regretful. To my spouse in private, I'll say whatever...

I hate all of this, and I'm glad I'm aware of it. Only with some awareness can we attempt to rewire the cords.

After awareness comes an intentional effort to strive to treat those close to us better. Say "I love you" one more time. Hug them harder. Call them on a Sunday evening.

And continue being a fantastic human to strangers.

We need more kindness. We need to make sure we also have it at home.

Have you ever thought about this paradox?

Let me know your thoughts and if this is something you think is worth exploring.

– Jo (every second counts)

P.S. Here is what I’m working on:

• Guide to the human iOS (no new updates): https://www.notion.so/jordanogren/The-Guide-to-the-human-iOS-98df3dcdd98349c48a15721417a22a11?pvs=4