The sound you hear is Tina Fey high-fiving a million angels… because it’s launch day for Everybody Writes! Good writing helps good marketers become great marketers. And today, the book is finally in stock at the bookseller of your choice. Which means the sound you might also hear is thousand book spines being cracked […]
Content
13 Writing Rules
Many hold a notion that the ability to write, or write well, is a gift bestowed on a chosen few. Writing well is considered a kind of art, linked murkily to muse and mysticism. That leaves us thinking there are two kinds of people: the writing haves—and the hapless, for whom writing well is a […]
What’s the Formula for E-book Success?
One of the tenets of my new book is this: Good writing is like good teaching. Good writing and (more broadly) good content strives to explain, to make things a little bit clearer, to make sense of our world… even if it’s just a product description or a blog post or a video or a […]
Scrappy Video Content Marketing: What If We Didn’t Try So Hard?
What if we stopped trying quite so hard with our video content marketing? What if we just told our true stories honestly and simply, and with empathy for the very real problems our customers have? A video from a tiny Arizona startup busts some common myths about using video as part of a content marketing […]
Introducing ‘Everybody Writes’ and a Free Gift for Anti-Mediocre Writers (This Means You)
This is the official announcement of my new book, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to finally be sharing some details with you. I’m also excited to talk about a fun freebie for those who buy the book in the next few weeks (more on that in a sec). Writing a book is like birthing […]
Two Things to Love About Weird Al’s ‘Word Crimes’
There are two things to love about poor-grammar-shaming Word Crimes, “Weird Al” Yankovic’s spoof of Robin Thicke’s rapey Blurred Lines. If you haven’t seen it, it’s here: Here’s the back story: To promote the release of his 14th album, Mandatory Fun, Al is releasing eight videos over eight days. Monday was a Happy parody called […]
Why I Built a Tiny House
I’m writing this now from a cramped second-floor office in my house. I’m sweating just from the exertion of typing this sentence. Even with air conditioning, it’s 450 degrees up here. I could mix a tin of muffins and set them to bake on the shelf behind me, and in 20 minutes breakfast would be […]
Breaking Out of Boring: Tell Unexpected Stories
What does a brand known as buttoned up and boring do to broaden its appeal? I get this question a lot. One great model for inspiration is LinkedIn, which has become the poster child for a staid brand evolving its brand by telling unexpected stories. In the early 2000s, UK musician Matt Henshaw was living […]
Make Your Customer the Hero of Your Story: ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ Video
The Fault in Our Stars opened this past weekend to become number-one at the box office. Which thrills me – because I’m a fan of the young adult novel the movie is based on and of its author (and video blogger) John Green. But more importantly: It thrills me because good writing deserves to find […]