Editor’s Note: This newsletter was originally published on Aug 2nd, 2021.
Summer's End Is Here!
For kids in Georgia, school starts this week!
While my youngest (starting 5th grade) is looking forward to it in some ways, the early morning wakeup isn’t going to be a welcome change.
Note: My oldest will be starting college this fall (#Shocker) so he gets a bit of a reprieve for a couple of more weeks.
With the return to school comes that blessed time of the year when Football (both College and Professional returns)!
Even though Labor Day marks the “official” end, school (and possibly school traffic) is a visible marker for the change of seasons.
(Thanks to the Atlanta Braves who, even with their issues and injuries, have been at least interesting to watch during the hot summer months. Nothing is more frustrating over the summer than your Baseball team stinking the joint & being irrelevant in June & July!)
For those who enjoy video games, I found GoG Galaxy where you can play a number of “retro” games. In my case, I’ve enjoyed a real “old-timer” from my past, Ultima IV. It’s been fun to burn a little free time with the game which was the first to break from the standard see-hack-kill dungeon-crawler games of that period.
Reminder: If you missed it, you can read last week’s edition (#55) where I shared some of my thoughts on Agile Transformations and the tougher spots with which I’ve been involved going through them.
Take a moment to go back and check it out if you didn’t get the chance the first time.
We have all heard this singular point, but it is amazing how knowledgeable business professionals fall into this same trap. For whatever reason, people keep falling into the trap of Selling the Thing versus Selling the Solve!
I came across this idea again reading One Million Followers by Brendan Kane. Here’s a non-affiliate link on Amazon if you are interested in checking it out.
It is weird that marketers who know better still repeat the same behaviors that they intrinsically know are less effective.
For those of us who know better, it is unclear whether it is hubris (“It’s not the best, but I can make it work.”) or fear/pressure (“I have to do it because…”) that leads us to do things proven not to get the results we ultimately seek.
We see it every day!
- The serial LinkedIn connection requests that IMMEDIATELY respond to an acceptance with a messaged sales pitch.
- The never-ending business (and political) calls from organizations who purchased unscrubbed (and inaccurate) lists to which they direct unsolicited calls and email contacts.
- The unsolicited emails and calls offering case studies and white papers from companies that you never knew existed.
It is almost epidemic how businesses and organizations, knowing better, continue to try to deliver Radio/TV style mass marketing via digital means.
If you are a marketer (or a business doing marketing), this simply does not work with the myriad of platforms and choices that consumers enjoy today. Gone are the days of viewers having to settle for “Whatever was on” ABC/CBS/NBC (plus your local UHF independent)!
There is no shortcut to identifying an audience, targeting to get their attention, building a relationship with them, and working to develop a mutually benefiting interaction with them.
This is how it works in 2021! If you’re not interested in playing the game, it’s time for you to get out of it. Businesses and marketers relying on loud, shouty-cap ads & continual “Right-Hook” practices are not going to survive and you’re frankly just poisoning the environment for everyone else!
#JustStop
For those checking out the book reviews, I reviewed E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. You can check out my notes at this link.
Keep a lookout as I just finished One Million Followers by Brendan Kane and will be posting my notes for that one soon.
Copywriting tip: write for clarity, not for show. Your marketing copy will resonate when you avoid jargon and prioritize understanding.
— Jeremy Moser (@jmoserr) July 31, 2021
Other Links
Google Ads “Three Strikes” Program coming in September
Many companies use Google Ads as one part of their digital marketing activities. Google, starting in September, will begin implementing a “three-strikes-you’re-out” policy for advertisers violating their platform terms of service.
If your business is in one of the “questionable” markets that online marketplaces are targeting (weight loss, tobacco, firearms, etc), you are already on the front lines of advertising in the digital space. If your business is in a “shoulder” market (or you behave in a manner outside their standards, don’t be surprised if you merit additional attention.
Note: Even those of us who are NOT in some of these more closely watched arenas will do well to take this seriously and be vigilant with our advertising practices & adherence to platform rules.
Optimizing for Google Discover
Those of us who own Android phones or use Chrome on other platforms are familiar with Google’s story/article recommendations tailored to our patterns, interests, and consumption history. Optimizing for your content to show on these feeds has unique characteristics, but reaching & driving traffic from it could be a valuable target for your business/website.
Beware – Zimbra cloud-based collaboration attack vector announced!
While I use predominately Microsoft and Google-based collaboration tools, Zimbra is an open-source cloud platform used by a lot of enterprises. If yours uses it, you’ll definitely want to familiarize yourself with this attack vector and ensure that your organization is not a risk for this hack.
Automating Keyword Clustering for SEO
Automation of SEO activities (especially content creation) is a reality in today’s world. To most of us, it probably seems more like technical sorcery, but this article from SearchEngineJournal does a good job of demystifying it. Even if you’re paying someone to help automate your content creation, it is valuable to have an understanding of the tools and techniques being used on your behalf.
More SEO:
- Performing a Site Audit with Google Search Console (GSC)
- SEO Audit Tools List
- Common Google My Business (GMB) Issues & Solutions
