Their Marketing Does Not Apply to You

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22 COMMENTS

When it comes to watching sports, I am far from what you would call a “superfan.” Football? Occasionally. Baseball? Only if I’m at a live game. Hockey? No interest. Looks like something a bunch of middle schoolers invented after their moms told them to turn off the TV and go play outside. But basketball … that I like. Plus, because I play each week in my town’s middle school gym, there’s some potential for me to take what I learn from watching the professionals and apply it to my own game. […] Click to read more…

Everything is Marketing

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14 COMMENTS

One of the benefits of being an intergalactically famous email newsletter guru (in addition to the groupies) is the freedom to take a day off whenever you like. And so, yesterday, that’s exactly what my wife, Linda, and I did. We put the bikes on the back of the car and headed off to the Norwottuck Rail Trail, which runs between the Massachusetts towns of Northampton and Amherst. It was a beautiful day, and everything was going exactly as planned. Until (cue scary music) we arrived in Amherst for lunch and I realized […] Click to read more…

Pricing Isn’t Just About Price

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8 COMMENTS

“Do you want to go to the zoo?” This seemed like a trick question, coming out of the blue, as it did. But, since it was my wife, Linda, doing the asking, I figured I had better play along. “Sure, I’ll go to the zoo.” As it turned out, the reason for Linda’s offer was that our local zoo was having a Father’s Day special: dads admitted free! So, the next day, off we went. It was a lot of fun. Giraffes, kangaroos, tortoises, a ton of little kids, and a beautiful day […] Click to read more…

Make Your Stories Better

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12 COMMENTS

I had dinner last night with two of my oldest friends. Rick, Terry, and I first met in 1982, when we all belonged to the same karate school on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. For the next several years, it was a central part of our lives; we saw each other, in and out of the school, all the time. Thirty-nine years later, we still get together. Not often – about once a year – and always for dinner at the same restaurant. Interestingly, our dinner conversations are almost entirely confined to […] Click to read more…

Lessons From 500 Newsletters

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(Listen to this post, here.) You hold in your hands (sort of) the 500th edition of this newsletter. I published the first one in September of 1999. Just to put into perspective how long ago 1999 was, in that same year, Lance Armstrong won his first Tour de France; Ricky Martin’s “Livin’ La Vida Loca” went to #1; and Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, was just an annoying, self-important adolescent (okay, not everything has changed). But I have learned quite a few things in the course of publishing 500 newsletters. So, I thought I might […] Click to read more…