Text and messaging apps – asynchronous or synchronous?
… and the anxiety of expectation. Here’s a great piece from Julie Beck on TheAtlantic.com: How It Became Normal to Ignore Texts and Emails. People don’t need fancy technology to ignore each other, of course: It takes just as little effort to avoid responding to a letter, or a voicemail, or not to answer the door […]
Magicians and neuromarketers – @rogerdooley
Neuromarketing expert Roger Dooley has a great post on the lessons we can learn from stage magicians For example: The Unexpected Attracts Us When I watch a magician, I’m always trying to pay close attention to spot any shady moves. So is the rest of the audience. It’s rare to spot a skilled magician’s tricks, […]
The weight of paper
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, Nudge and the Nobel prize for economics #Writing #ContentMarketing
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) […]
Beautiful image – @ToddDiemer
Just because. I was searching for something else on my favourite image site, Unsplash.com, and I came across this beautiful image by photographer Todd Diemer. I thought it was too good not to share. Photo by Todd Diemer on Unsplash
The Bukowski guide to copywriting – @HubSpot
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
Better writing – Nicholas Bate #Writing
Seven tips towards better writing, from Nicholas Bate: “2. Re-read some of your favourite writers. Step back from the content and notice the form.” Read the full list, here. Photo by Mike Tinnion on Unsplash
The power of A/B testing – @HBR
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 […]
Tell a story: 3 tips for original social media content – @Adweek #contentmarketing
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 […]
10 cottage retreats – #Writing @themindcircle
The Mind Circle has 10 peaceful cottages, perhaps places to retreat and write…