"What will be different in marketing a year from now?"

While a fun question to ponder, I believe there's a better question to ask:

"What won't change in marketing in one year?"

I believe the answer(s) to that question provides greater insight as to what you should do with your marketing.

Last week, I interviewed Lia Zneimer and asked her that question (regarding social media marketing). Her answer was spot on:

People's desire to be seen and heard.

This means we must continue to market (and communicate) in a way that helps our audience feel seen and heard. Simple, right? No. It is much easier to broadcast to them and speak in a robotic (corporate) tone.

But if you can connect with your audience humanly while remaining open to changing things (ai), you will succeed in 2024.

Enjoy this week's letter:

Marketing Micro Essay 💡 3 Ways to Steal Content Without Copying It (collab)

(Time to read: 3:57 minutes)

Preamble: This is a first for me: content collaboration. It was a lot of fun and helped me improve my thinking by writing and working together. Thanks for doing this Syeda Alessha🍒!

If you’re up for some content collaboration via writing, I’d love to craft a fun essay with you. Click here to find a time for us to chat virtually.

It stops you mid-scroll.

You can't turn away. It's so engaging/entertaining/educational.

You need to use it for your own content. You're like Sméagol in Lord of the Rings, and the ring is copying the content verbatim. You need it.

DON'T DO THAT.

Instead, repurpose the content in a healthy way. Don't copy; steal (use as inspiration).

While for many, this isn't the case, for some, they can't help but copy and paste content. For them, we want to present a better way.

And for others (likely you), we want to provide helpful tips on how to steal content—repurpose other's content—without copying it.

When I saw we, I mean Syeda Aleesha and me. I connected with her as I enjoyed her content and beautiful design. This led us to collaborate on this piece of content.

When Syeda suggested the idea for this essay, I couldn't resist. The process we share will help you go from struggling with content ideas to having a steady stream. Rather than come up with ten ideas every month, you can begin with ideas from others, which will inevitably generate your own ideas.

In the end, few (content) ideas are original.

So steal other's ideas and make better content (you didn't hear that from us).

This "guide" shows you three ways to repurpose content that enriches the digital dialogue and respects the dignity of the creator.

Way #1: Summarize and synthesize

Rather than copying and pasting the content, add your thoughts to the conversation. Go a step further and provide a reflection that leads to deeper understanding.

One way I recently did this was with a video from Gary Vaynerchuk. In it, he (beautifully) answers a question on AI. Rather than steal his answer and post the story as my own, I shared my thoughts on the concept of the questions we ask of AI and how that is tied to our mindset about AI.

The problem? Synthesizing is a challenging skill to develop and something I'm still working on.

The solution? Doing it is the only way to grow the skill into a core competency eventually.

Rather than act as if the post was my own, I share where the idea comes from to validate the worthiness of the idea. Then, I add my perspective and nuance.

Now what?

• Follow insightful and contrarian people in your space

• Save (bookmark) content from them that you could add your 2 cents to

• Write a post that incorporates the original content idea with your summary

Way #2: EIC Method (Syeda)

Syeda here; when I want to repurpose someone's content, I use the EIC method. Here's the gist:

Extract - Identify the essence of the existing content. What's the main takeaway or central theme? Distill it down to its purest form.

Inject - Next, add your spice and flair. Share your thoughts, tell relevant stories, and provide real-world examples.

Clean - Finally, organize everything into a cohesive new piece. Shape it with your tone and formatting. Add visuals if it will help.

This forces you to understand the original content idea while expanding your thoughts by injecting your perspective to create new content.

How does this look in practice?

1. Take the content piece you intend to steal (ethically); what's the crux of it?

2. Take the main idea out.

3. How would you write that post? This decides the tone/feel of your content.

4. Then, write your (new) genuine opinion on the post.

5. Add a "P.S." to share where the original idea came from.

Step five would be recommended if you heavily lean on their thoughts and wish to continue the conversation with the original content creator. We almost always recommend doing this.

Now what?

• Find compelling content and extract the essence

• Practice injecting personal perspective around the essence

• Craft into a complete piece with your style and branding

Way #3: Capture and expand

Content is NOT contained only to social media (aka digital channels).

Content lives in the real world, too.

It's a keynote speech, a book, or even a passing conversation with a peer at a conference.

Content is everywhere around you.

So let's use an example of offline content to showcase this third way:

Imagine you attend a killer keynote on creating content for social media. One thing they only briefly covered was content pillars. They focused more on the HOW than the WHAT of social posting.

Take a picture from the event (🤳 selfies work great) and then expand upon the importance of creating content pillars to create content that resonates. Use learnings from the keynote but expand further, adding your thoughts and linking to helpful resources.

This will begin to develop a useful skill for marketers: Turning observations into clear thoughts.

Observe something you see in the wild, then expand on it with your unique point of view. You can still use the original content; just ensure you expand with your own thoughts.

Now what?

• Attend events/speeches or engage with books/videos and capture key insights

• Write expanded posts based on your observations

• Tag or share back with the original creator to continue the conversation

Final thoughts on stealing (repurposing) content

Most artists begin with imitation. Think of cover bands.

Then, once they've mastered the fundamentals, they begin creating their own stuff. Which is heavily influenced (explicitly or implicitly) by the things they imitate.

The same applies to you and us (with content creation).

Rarely do you start off creating unique and purely your own content. This is why many fall for copying other's content to get started.

They fail to realize that remixing (I.e., stealing content ethically) is how you develop content differentiation. Only through repurposing (not stealing) other's content ideas will you gain the skill to create unique content.

Using the tactics (ways) above consistently will improve your ability to imitate other's content.

Never copy; steal.

Three Books / Three Quotes

"The ability to look deeply is the root of creativity. To see past the ordinary and mundane and get to what might otherwise be invisible.”

– Rick Rubin (The Creative Act: A Way of Being)

A few final quotes from this incredible book:

• "Progress requires both optimism and pessimism to coexist.”

• “Not maximizing your potential is actually the sweet spot in a world where perfecting one skill comprises another.”

• “One of the most useful life skills – enduring the pain when necessary rather than assuming there’s a hack, or shortcut, around it.”

– Morgan Housel (Same as Ever: A Guide to What Never Changes)

“‘To be able to understand people and be present for them in their experience–that’s the most important thing in the world.’ – Mary Pipher.”

– (NEW) David Brooks (How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen)

Heard / Saw / Experienced

Heard:

Have you ever "heard" of Chris Do (from The Futur)?

I was introduced to him via YouTube years ago. I never went deep into his content, but I enjoyed his style and the limited insights I derived from him.

He recently released a video on The Art of Listening, and I had to watch. It was illuminating on a few fronts:

• The grace and skill Chris has when presenting

• The insights Chris delivered by asking the crowd questions

The emphasis on listening (questions) being the key to better work

It was insightful both from a learning perspective and as a model of how to do skillful and helpful presentations.

Take notes, at least, I did...

Click here to watch the video

Saw:

I'm terrible at drawing.

As a kid, I quickly gravitated toward writing vs. drawing. This resulted in my drawing ability to hover around a third-grader skill.

Last week, our church had a game night where we played Telestrations, a party game in which players are prompted to sketch a word on a card and guess what the other players have drawn.

Kate and I were able to team up, which resulted in a far better outcome. She is a talented drawer, and I could use my intelligence to guess what others drew.

It was fun to use each other's strengths while laughing about the poor drawing skills of others (like me). It was also unusual for Kate and I to slow down on a Tuesday to play some games.

What would you be able to do if you slowed down and were open to the unusual?

Experienced:

I am not usually a social guy. I like staying in.

But there's something special about a nice dinner out. Last weekend was my wife's birthday, and we celebrated with her parents at Chives.

The food was spectacular, and the vibe was immaculate.

It made me think about how grateful we are to be able to have this experience. This was unfathomable only 150 years ago—fine dining for more and the luxury of parents who live beyond 45.

I'm thankful for my wife and experiences like these.

Personal micro essay 🙆‍♂️ ON being late.

(Time to read: 1:49 minutes)

If you know me, you know my “on time” is a few minutes late.

I’m rarely early.

Yet, I get heated whenever I’m put into a similar position. I feel disrespected.

I have thoughts such as: “How could they waste my time like this?” or “Do they not know I have things to do!?”

I’m writing this essay at a coffee shop, waiting for a friend to get done with another meeting (45 minutes late). The anger within me prompted me to work through this in a proper space (rather than online or even in front of him).

Before I dive into this concept and look back at its history, I want to share why I hate it when others are late.

The irony of valuing your time.

Time as our most limited resource

No one can generate more time.

Once our “time is up,” it’s game over. No do-over or re-run. This isn’t a dress rehearsal.

That has prompted me to become a bit crazy with my time.

I schedule most days in 15-minute increments

I’m aware of my chronotype and act accordingly

I have extreme anxiety about wasting time (getting off track from my schedule)

The truth is, most act in the opposite direction; they disrespect (devalue) time. I did for the longest. I let the day direct me, wasting much time in the process.

While neither approach is likely healthy, I believe respecting time is the better option. But it can backfire (as it had for me).

It can slowly build hubris in that you believe your time is more important than others. You (subconsciously) view your time as being of higher value as you put more stock into it, which raises its (perceptual) value–the irony! And this could eventually lead to being late yourself, as you care more about your time than others.

Being late is selfish

This was revolutionary to accept. When I am late, I value MY time over THEIR time.

For me, this is true. A reason I am frequently late is that I am writing or reading. These are selfish activities. Other times, I try to schedule too much, so even if helpful, it is selfish because I wanted to do ALL these things (to look good, likely, at least for me).

That’s one of the dangerous things about being late; it doesn’t feel selfish. It feels dirty, but it never felt selfish or egotistical to me. Now, I can’t help but see it.

This has helped me emphasize devoting time to be early so I can respect people’s time vs. doing more for Jordan. My ego isn’t pleased, but realizing my time is no more important than yours is important. I now must act out from that belief.

Continue reading the essay here (and comment your thoughts!)

Click here to find all my micro essays

It means the world you read this email.

Just you, not 10,000 other subscribers (I only have 42, 40 without my parents). If you’re open to it, I’d love to connect and have you help me further develop my thoughts, concepts, and mental models.

Shoot me an email, and let’s find a time to connect.

– Jo (every second counts)