A domino the size of a fingernail can knock over one taller than a man. How I break big goals into small dominoes, and why they go in the diary.
Neil Martin · Beats, Business & Life
Business
Marketing earns you the conversation
Backstage at BizX I asked Jeb Blount about phones nobody rings. Why marketing’s job is to earn you a conversation, and why the phone still matters.
My toughest interview yet: Cyril Squirrel on sales
A toy squirrel took the guest chair at our live podcast recording. Why his debut interview says a lot about what people engage with.
Your marketing isn’t about you: my chat with James Vincent
James Vincent opened our podcast chat by asking if MrBeast is a good marketer. Where that took us, and the word that quietly gives most marketing away.
Two boxes of LEGO, two kinds of business
An old LEGO advert got me thinking. One box gives you the model on the front. The other lets you build something nobody else would.
AI just made good free. Here’s what got expensive.
Eight podcast guests kept landing on the same answer: AI has made good work cheap, and emotional intelligence is now the scarce skill.
AI didn’t take the job. It took the bit that trained people for it.
AI can do the junior work in seconds. The trouble is, the junior work is where people learned judgement in the first place.
Nobody starts a four-hour movie
Nobody wants a four-hour movie, but we will binge four episodes without blinking. Your video content works the same way.
The self-checkout camera nobody watches
The self-checkout camera records everything and nobody watches it back. Most businesses treat their own data the same way.
Nobody buys because they understand you
People don’t buy because they understand you. They buy because they feel understood by you. Most businesses have it backwards.
The machines don’t check your follower count
AI tools cite useful, honest answers whatever the size of your audience. I’ve watched this pattern once before, with a blog.
You’re invisible. And you don’t know it.
Market narrow. Serve wide. If your ideal customers can’t say who you’re for in one sentence, they don’t call.
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About
Hi, I’m Neil
DJing since 1987, three decades in business, and the author of Done Beats Perfect. This is where I write it all down.