Time to read: 3:16 minutes
———

1. One (marketing) Idea

It surprises me how many marketers don't understand the internet.

They continue crafting content and media strategies straight out of 2010.

Sure, they're on LinkedIn and new platforms, but they're missing the larger opportunity.

Why is innovation hard in practice?

I rarely see any horse carriages.

From this, I infer we're good at seeing better ways and effortlessly adopting them.

But it was likely painful if you lived through the transition from horses to cars.

While it provided many new things (speed), it also introduced problems (death).

While I don't want this to be a history lesson, I find it crucial to learn from yesterday and to do better tomorrow.

What the hell is a "horseless carriage?"

When cars were first invented, few people called them automobiles or cars.

Most called them "horseless carriages." And with the name came people using them identically to how they used horse-drawn carriages.

Ignorant to their potential to reshape transportation infrastructure, city planning, and social habits.

This phenomenon has been coined the horseless carriage syndrome for that reason.

But I prefer the more "scientific" word, skeuomorphism, as it makes me look smarter.

Skeuomorphism (in the digital world)

Skeuomorphism occurs when new technologies mimic the functionalities and aesthetics of the old, often limiting their potential.

Early internet applications mirrored traditional media like newspapers and brochures instead of leveraging interactivity, real-time updates, or user-driven content, which are strengths of digital platforms.

Why does this happen?

To think differently requires updating your beliefs.

It's hard for us to rethink when a novel technology comes along. Rethinking contains the realization that you were wrong, whether slightly or significantly. So we do the same thing.

But only through being wrong do we become more right.

The same phenomenon is happening with marketing strategies (specifically, media strategies).

They have antiquated approaches that "work." Missing the new ways to approach media.

(Continue reading the work-in-progress essay)

2. One Quote

"While the internet has changed how we consume information, few have changed how they communicate (write) on it." – Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, Roy Schwartz (Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less)

A funny phenomenon I've observed is how we dissociate our actions from our beliefs.

I may believe that the internet has changed how we communicate.

Yet, I still use long paragraphs and extended statements when I write online. I still obey my fifth-grade English teacher's rules.

This permeates many areas of marketing.

Step 1: Be aware of the discrepancies.
Step 2: Find the easiest areas to make changes.
Step 3: Continue making changes and staying current.

Two tangible examples are one-sentence paragraphs and no periods.

On social media, a sentence can be a paragraph

While also being a bridge

to the next sentence.

To write better online, you must update your beliefs and ensure your behavior aligns.

3. One Episode

"You haven't earned the right to my attention; get to the point."

Learn how that advice shaped Anna's approach to marketing.

Here's a few more things Anna shares:

• The art of being brief without sacrificing your message

• How to balance confidence with curiosity in marketing

• Why kindness could be our most powerful skill

Enjoy 👉 https://podcastonmarketing.transistor.fm/52

4. One (life) Idea

It's time for an oil change.

But your mechanic finds a few extra issues.

And your $50 job turns into a $1,500 job.

What can I do to "move through this?"

Find a new mechanic? Vow only to ride my bike around? No.

The only option I have is to accept it.

But not like when someone voluntold me to do something, and I reluctantly do it.

I must RADICALLY accept it

I need to surrender to what is.

Strange enough, that is where I find God (most).

(P.S. Listen to this 3-minute video exploring the idea of radical acceptance: https://youtu.be/yiKo8xSYjqU)

5. One Photo

Do more "firsts."

(This is my first time on the Zippin Pippin roller coaster)

---

Ever heard of this concept: The Dark Night of the Soul?

Here's Eckhart Tolle explaining:

The “dark night of the soul” is a term used to describe what one could call a collapse of a perceived meaning in life…an eruption into your life of a deep sense of meaninglessness.  The inner state, in some cases, is very close to what is conventionally called depression. Nothing makes sense anymore; there’s no purpose in anything.

Other spiritual teachers explain it as a veiling of God. Even though you do your daily practices (i.e., pray), God feels far away.

The inherent peace, joy, and happiness that is the Spirit of God is veiled.

Have you ever been there?

I have. I'm there right now.

While not completely engulfed, I'm "going through it."

I cling to the fact that God, that inherent peace, is always here.

Sometimes, it's harder to find and experience.

If you need someone to talk to during your dark night, I'm here.

– JO (every second counts)