marketing writing Archives

The Oxford Comma and Why We Argue Over Grammar

This post is an expanded version of my biweekly newsletter content, which features a letter from me to you along with ideas worth sharing and a healthy dose of fun. Not on the list? You can subscribe right here. Nothing ignites fire in the gut of righteous grammar geeks more than the serial—aka Oxford—comma. Why is that? Maybe you heard about the Maine dairy-truck drivers’ recent legal victory that hinged on a comma—actually, the lack of a comma. The truck drivers won an appeal against their employer, Oakhurst Dairy, regarding overtime pay. Last week Oakhurst settled the case and paid up. What’s a serial/Oxford comma? It’s the final comma in a list of things in a sentence. As in: Marketers love clever creative, remarkable ROI, and respect. The Oxford comma is that comma after “ROI.” Here’s a well-known explanation of how the Oxford comma adds critical clarity: One Morning […]

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Slow Marketing Moment: A Snack Mix Story from 30,000 Feet

We want everything fast, don’t we? In marketing, we want more leads, more pipeline, more brand awareness… and more fans, followers, and friends. We want more content. We more content marketing programs and more channels (more ways to reach our customers). But, ironically, the companies that have the biggest, most sustainable business wins won’t get there by going faster. Instead, they will get there by… wait for it… slowing down. (And by doing less. But more on that another time.) More specifically: they will get there by slowing down at the right moments. The key to success in modern marketing is to flip from As SOON as Possible (move fast all the time) to As SLOW as Possible (move slowly at critical moments). In an era of content abundance and channel overload with possibilities everywhere always and all the time and immediate and OMG Why are there only 24 hours