One of my corporate clients is an icon of the virtual world, a pioneer that took a process as old as civilisation itself – the visceral exchange of cold, hard cash – and converted it into a convenience of clicks and bits. The firm’s customers love it and it invests heavily in supportig them with […]

Richard Thaler, one of the founders of behavioural economics, is the winner of this year’s Nobel Prize for Economics. As co-author (with Cass Sunstein) of the book Nudge, Thaler has had a huge impact on the field of influence whether in government (the UK government, under David Cameron, established the Behavioural Insights team in 2010) […]

Five tips for good writing, grounded in the works of Charles Bukowski: Write with emotion Write with brevity Write with clarity Write with honesty Write with style Read the full post, here.   Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash

From Wallace Collins and Stage32: “When properly negotiated, an option agreement can be a win-win situation for both the writer and the producer. The writer is paid to lease his or her screenplays for a limited period of time, while the producer attempts to get the project green-lighted by a studio or production company.” Read […]

The power of properly constructed online experiments is explored in September-October’s Harvard Business Review. Microsoft’s Ron Kovani and Harvard’s Stefan Thomke include some powerful examples of results achieved as well as cautionary tales on the dangers of poorly constructed tests and misinterpreted results. Highlights include: How a subtle change to online text colours (against the […]

Larry Alton at AdWeek has three tips for creating compelling social media content. Tell a story Go visual Continuously gather ideas. “The nature of social media puts a lot of pressure on businesses to constantly create content. More, more, more is the mantra. … It’s time to be honest with yourself and consider the quality […]

The Mind Circle has 10 peaceful cottages, perhaps places to retreat and write…  

In July’s update of the Gartner Hype Cycle for Digital Marketing & Advertising, Content Marketing has reached the very bottom of the Trough of Disillusionment. That’s great news for both marketers and their clients. At last, exaggerated expectations have been washed out and the impressive reality remains. It also means that many of the wannabes […]

LinkedIn is becoming a powerful channel for B2B content marketers. Interesting article in AdWeek. Authenticity and polite discourse are two reasons why business periodicals have embraced LinkedIn as a publishing platform. Since the beginning of this year, Bloomberg’s LinkedIn follower count has doubled to roughly 1.5 million, says Havens, while user engagement is literally off […]

We all know, deep down, that there’s something just a little bit suspect about paying for endorsements. This month’s Harvard Business Review (September-October 2017) has a short summary of research that shows how paying for reviews can actually backfire – reducing the number of reviews as valuable reviewers shy away from being seen as paid […]