How To Predict The Future
Editor’s Note: This newsletter was originally published on October 4th, 2021
Many of you have heard “SwamiDave’s Rule of Choice”.
The speed of decision-making is inversely proportional to the number of available choices.
Translation: Fewer Options – Faster Decisions
We can now add to this my process for Predicting the Future. It is based on two things.
- Past Behavior
- Selfishness
If you simply consider these two principles, you will develop an uncanny ability to predict how others (and you) are going to behave!
Past Behavior
Past behavior is the first key to this process. It is predicated on the simple idea of predicting the future based on past results.
It can be summed up by the idea that lacking outside direction, we are creatures of habit and tend to do the same things that we’ve done before regardless of the previous outcome!
We like to think that we “learn from the past”, but our continued return to (often) harmful behaviors and actions highlights that it is not outcomes that usually guide change.
Need Proof? No amount of negative outcomes (health-wise, relationships, etc) usually lead to successful changes. Most successful lifestyle changes come when an external authority (either real or perceived) holds us accountable for our actions!
Lacking the outside influence, we usually revert to our past habits and behaviors.
Selfishness
The second key element to predicting behaviors is an acknowledgment that we, as humans, are selfish and usually act in our own self-interests.
Very few people are evil or malevolent. Most of us see ourselves (and want to be seen) as “good” people. You need to look no further than how we view our actions based on our intentions but judge others based on their outcomes!
It is not that we are “bad”. We are simply acting in a way that achieves our goals in the easiest way for us!
If you want to predict a decision or outcome, just determine what choice will achieve the objective of the decision-marker in the most comfortable manner for them.
By combining Past Behaviors and Selfishness as your guides, you can harness a magical appearing skill of predicting how situations will unfold.
Enjoy practicing this new skill this week! I’d love to hear your thoughts on it and how it might have worked for you in practice!
Update
It was a mixed result among my favorite teams this weekend. Kudos to my Georgia Bulldogs who improved to 5-0 (3-0 in SEC play). It was definitely fun to watch! Likewise, congratulations to my Atlanta Braves who swept the Phillies to win another NL East Division championship.
Alas, the results were not so positive as the Atlanta Falcons lost again at home to the Washington Football Team in another 4th Quarter collapse. It’s looking like the best hope for a team from Georgia showing well in Mercedes-Benz stadium might have to be the Dawgs (if they continue on their current trajectory).
This quote is featured in my long-form blog post (Content Marketing For Bankruptcy Attorneys). It clearly highlights why Content as a tool for attracting and engaging an audience is (in my opinion) a requirement today!
Purchasing Leads & Buying Digital Ads have simply become a cost-prohibitive model for many businesses and organizations. It is too expensive to follow the mass-marketing and placement ad practices that were norms as recently as a decade ago. They dominated print, audio, and video platforms before, but audience segmentation & the wide availability of specialized channels means generalized targeting is no longer effective (from a cost standpoint).
Interestingly, advertising in the digital space, which was comparatively cheap before, has evolved into one of the highest-priced mediums. The increased functionality around targeting has made them more valuable than ever.
Today, the key is getting the most value out of your advertising spend and that is why the development of your own platform for content publishing and audience engagement has become so important.
When you spend money running ads, you need to have a way to include them within your captive, permission-based engagement platform. It is through that platform that your interested audiences can become potential prospects and develop into onboarded clients & customers.
If you’re not building yours, you definitely need to put that on your marketing roadmap!
When you understand the demographics, devices, and location of your audience, you can curate content to suit those specific audiences and create a more human-centred approach.
— 1827marketing (@1827marketing) September 29, 2021
Read the full article: How B2B Marketers can use PPC Insights to Enhance SEO
▸ https://t.co/AhDsqUiYrH pic.twitter.com/ZEiixxnUVH
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.
When you finally understand this .. life can get much happier ❤️💛💚❤️🩹 pic.twitter.com/UpdPLN2cGL
— Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee) September 25, 2021
Other Links
Most Valuable Digital Marketing Skills of 2021 (Neil Patel)
For current readers, most of you are aware that there are a few folks who I follow and from whom I try to learn as much as possible. Neil Patel is one of them and this is a good general post of skillsets to develop (or hire) if you are looking to use Digital Marketing.
How To Find What’s Trending
A key to good Content Strategy and Development is the identification of relevant and current topics that you can integrate as part of your message. By associating your ideas with trending topics, you connect your brand story to the conversations atop the minds of your target audience.
For Google, a Link is just a Reference!
There’s a lot of focus within SEO on Link Building. If that’s where you are right now, be sure to check out this post as John Mu (one of the chief experts on search-engine function & the algorithms behind them) shares that the inherent value of links to your content are the links. At least now, Google is not weighting the effectiveness or traffic generated through links; it is only noting that the link exists!
Additionally, check out this post for More good SEO practice suggestions from Google
Licensing Questions (re: NFTs)
I’ve included some art-related & NFT-related material recently. Having a very artistic wife, it’s definitely a topic that we’re keeping an eye on because there appears to be quite a bit of disruption within the markets related to art, how it is bought & sold, and protecting the rights of creators for the value of their work! More definitely to come.
Top 7 Strategies to Increase Website Traffic Without SEO
— Richa Pathak | Digital Marketer & Blogger (@richapathak_dm) September 29, 2021
1. Content Marketing
2. Paid Ads
3. Social Media Strategies
4. Link Building Strategies
5. Interact With Other Blogs
6. Email Marketing
7. Provide Excellent Customer Service and Ask Customers to Review Your Brand#seo pic.twitter.com/szXqDhHB71
