When AI recommends a business, it now judges like a friend giving advice. Why your reputation is what gets you recommended.
Neil Martin · Beats, Business & Life
Marketing
Don’t use AI to make the ad
Oddbox used AI to work out why an ad flopped, then a human found the fix. A better use of AI for anyone running ads.
Marketing starts the conversation
The purpose of marketing is to start a conversation. Why selling too early creates friction, the five jobs marketing really does, and why satisfaction equals experience minus expectation.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“The same as yesterday”: Rory Sutherland’s basement test
Rory Sutherland shared a dark little thought experiment with me at BizX. It explains why businesses that only follow the data never surprise anyone.
A one-hour show is six ten-minute shows
What selling live on home shopping TV taught me about attention, and why your marketing has to work for people who only catch ten minutes.
Your customers are looking for you. The question is whether they can find you.
Before anyone picks up the phone, they look you up in four or five places. What they find decides whether they call.
Every week
Get The Mix
One short email a week. One track, one idea, one thing worth your time.
Two minutes to read. Unsubscribe in one click.
Free stuff
Free downloads
Planners and one-page guides to print and scribble on. No email needed.
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.