Lately, my social interactions have been restricted to immediate family and a few people who are nearly strangers, such as the people who hand me my take-out food. I really miss my friends, and I'm starting to realize I need to cultivate more interaction with the few people I do see. This article explains how interactions that fall short of 'making new friends' are still valuable. BBC Worklife: Why your ‘weak-tie’ friendships may mean more than you think, 2020-Jul-2 by Ian Leslie Gillian Sandstrom, now a senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Essex, [decided] to investigate the extent... Continue reading

I debated whether to leave the word "inclusive" dangling in the headline of this post. Inclusive of what? Everybody that's different, although really that's an impractical approach. We're all different but some of us have suffered more discrimination. I remember in business school being told that people with red hair are "not a protected minority." A past history of discriminatory abuse has identified people to whom we owe reparations. However, a legal approach of tit-for-tat doesn't change people's behavior. Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar has some interesting suggestions on how to reset the corporate acceptance of diversity. Inc.: Defund Corporate Diversity... Continue reading

According to Adam Ferrier, founder of Thinkerbell, our communications strategies should not be driven by the customers' wants and needs. They just want to be left alone until a need crops up in a specific category. Then they want efficient communication: Where? How little can I pay? To establish a brand image in people's minds, we have to assert the brand value before potential customers are ready to purchase. The needs and perspectives of the brand have to be front and center. As brands, what do we have to contribute? How can we best connect with people we can help? Continue reading

I have always thought about empathy as a trait people have in varying degrees, but now I see that it really is a skill you can build by being curious, then connecting with people who are different from yourself. Adweek: Advertising Has a Crisis of Apathy and Otherness, 2020-Jun-8 by Yusuf Chuku The answer to the problem of otherness is not sameness; it’s connectedness. Immersive, deliberate and compassionate connectedness. A connectedness between people that’s embodied in a willingness to embrace empathy. A connectedness to our cultural history, and by that I mean a relearning of American history. And a desire... Continue reading

I know all about selecting the correct target market for a product or service, but I've never seen a methodology for deploying for an audience that I can AFFORD. I wonder how much money I've wasted? I better not think about it too much. Bar & Line: How to Identify Your Audience, 2020-Mar-19 by Duncan Geere You have limited resources to reach people, and you need to deploy them carefully to maximize your impact. By identifying the goals of your project, you can immediately narrow down your audience further. Think about who's most likely to be do the things that... Continue reading

I'm not sure I agree with all of this, but it really calls 'one-to-one' marketing into question. In a good way. I'm a member of many loyalty programs, but I've never earned a reward for a referral. Rather than introduce my friends to a brand, I want to connect with the other people who appreciate the brand. We all have diverse tastes, and I like meeting new people based on one specific shared interest, not because we share a bunch of interests. LinkedIn: Why taste communities are the future of marketing, 2020-Jan-21 by Ana Andjelic Thanks to the Internet and... Continue reading

Creative Houston is a venture to support Houston’s creative economy by providing evidence and experiences that help creative professionals in their work and their lives. We publicize information about resources in Houston. We also foster a better understanding of how Houston offers a superior environment for making a living through one’s ideas. Since I started reading the writings of Ana Andjelic, a marketing consultant and sociologist, I've come to see Creative Houston as a "modern brand." Our goal is to leverage culture, build relationships, and spread awareness of a unique experience. Our customer is someone who has the time and... Continue reading

A membership program helps your customers become brand ambassadors, proud to share their insider status with the larger community. If customers can learn from one another, they can build something together. Being a member is much more satisfying than being a customer. The Sociology of Business: From Loyalty to Membership, 2020-Feb-11, by Ana Andjelic In the modern aspiration economy, consumers are fans, influencers, hobbyists, environmentalists, and collectors. Membership programs are designed for them.... The keyword here is not necessarily prestige and exclusivity, but identity and belonging. There’s a pure pleasure in the intimacy of consuming together, along with enjoying status... Continue reading

Currently, all these newsletters are monthly and free. Streams & Loops A newsletter about newsletters and more Sample Subscribe Creative Houston Sparks People, places and projects which show the relentless inventive spirit of Houston Sample Subscribe Free for now, donations appreciated. Health Guide USA Tips & Trusted Links Links and recommendations for reliable sources of health information Sample Subscribe Continue reading

I love the idea of being the lone dissenter so other people have an opportunity to dissent as well. The Atlantic: The Perks of Being a Weirdo, 2020-Apr by Olga Khazan Psychologist Solomon Asch is famous for his 'conformity experiments,' but he also studied how dissenters influenced group behavior.... Having just one person who broke with the majority reduced conformity among the responses by about 80 percent. Perhaps the participants in those trials felt as though they and the dissenter could at least be weird together. Interestingly, they were less likely to conform even if the dissenter disagreed with the... Continue reading

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I've been writing newsletters since 1985, the email variety since 2000, and I thoroughly enjoy it. It distresses me to hear people moan and groan about doing them. Maybe I can show everyone they can be fun. I'm also a collector of newsletters. I have them all sent to a... Continue reading

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Recomendo is "a weekly newsletter that gives you 6 brief personal recommendations of cool stuff," curated by Kevin Kelly, Mark Frauenfelder and Claudia Dawson. These are just a few words of advice that I had saved, which have become much more meaningful to me lately: “If all you did was... Continue reading

i hope you and yours are healthy or at least receiving good care. if not let me now if i can help. i am finding comfort in doing everything i can to keep everyone else safe. since i'm highly introverted, being alone never bothered me anyway, but i do miss... Continue reading

The DO Lectures: 'It's Just Me' Manifesto EXCERPTS: 3 Musts of a Big Idea. Does it capture my imagination? Does it make me intellectually curious? Does it offer me the opportunity for transformation? Good questions to ask. What unresolved conflict do they have. (Some goal they have not yet achieved... Continue reading

Based on the story spine and John Hagel's opportunity narratives and the 5 w's of journalism. Once there was a WHO. Every day they did WHAT (action). One day they decided... WHY (challenge). Because of that they took action (HOW). WHEN they did that, the result was... That led to... Continue reading

For years I've been using Bill Jensen's Behavioral Communication Model when writing an email that I hope will lead to something getting done. In order, the email should answer the following questions in the reader's mind: How is this relevant to what I do? What, specifically should I do? How... Continue reading

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I've read many explanations lately about why people are not convinced by debate. Fortunately, James Clear points the way toward persuading people: treating them as friends. JamesClear.com: Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds, 2018-Sep-10 by James Clear Be Kind First, Be Right Later The brilliant Japanese writer Haruki Murakami once wrote, “Always remember that to argue, and win, is to break down the reality of the person you are arguing against. It is painful to lose your reality, so be kind, even if you are right.” When we are in the moment, we can easily forget that the goal is... Continue reading

Mistakes are a chance to collect information. Plan them carefully. New Statesman: It’s impossible to live in a state of error-free perfection: the trick is to make the right mistakes, 2019-Jan-29 by Ian Leslie On an individual level, it can be liberating to accept that the whole trick of life is deciding how, not whether, to screw up. A student may do better in an exam once she feels that nobody is expecting her to answer every question correctly. Every day, somebody starts a new business, fully aware that it may go kaput, having weighed that possibility against another error:... Continue reading

We actually can't change someone's values by talking with them. We could possibly affect their values by doing things with them. But more immediately we can show them that the values they currently hold are consistent with more options than they realize. Stumbling and Mumbling: Conservative arguments for radical ideas, 2020-Jan-03 by Chris Dillow ...we don’t persuade people by telling them that their worldview is wrong and by demanding that they change the ideas of a lifetime. We are more likely to succeed by showing them that their ideas are consistent with things they might not have considered. Here are... Continue reading

These days our emails are so complex, and our email sending platforms put out a firehose of data. If we could only get one piece of data, what would it be? For most of us, it's whether the email we're sending is delivering our target audience to the web site. If 3% of the emails we sent resulted in a link-click. Then we're performing as well as can be expected. Email Optimization Shop: From the Boards: CTR or CTOR? 2020-Feb-1 by Jeanne Jennings CTR gives you a good read on how interested your recipients are in your message. That’s pretty... Continue reading

Sputnik ATX: What Entrepreneurs Really Need (and It Isn't Funding), 2019-Nov-19 by Joe Merrill What you think holds you back: Startup Funding (from investors) Bug fix (make it work better) Design (make it easier to use and pretty) What actually holds you back: Launch (get product to market) Design (make it easy use and pretty) Pricing (create consumer surplus) Remember, high growth covers a multitude of sins. Short on cash? Sell more. Product buggy? Get code fixes to market now. Alternatively, Failory did a study that patterned start up data to identify why some fail and some succeed. The 4... Continue reading

For years I've helped companies send hundreds of newsletters to active customers. However, the newsletter that I'm working on now will serve a community. A much different approach is required. You don't want people to click to order--you want them to engage in a conversation. Person-to-person recognition is required, and if the community will really grow, then we have probably have to staff employees to members at around 150-to-1. The total audience can be larger, but not the active community. Local News Lab: Journalism’s Dunbar number: Audience scales, community does not. 2019-Mar-4 by Damon Kiesow To succeed, local media have... Continue reading