The Big 4

I personally want to continue to live in a country where I can think as I please, go to any church I please, or to none if that is my desire; say what I please, and within the limits of any free society, do what I please. I want the right to work, and I want that opportunity to be extended to all my fellow citizens. I want them to have an equal opportunity for educational development, for health and for recreation, which is all part of the building of a human being capable of coping with the modern world.

— Eleanor Roosevelt, My Day, July 4, 1940

When Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president a third time, in November 1940, the country was in trouble. Economic insecurity gripped most Americans, and imperial armies threatened the nation from abroad.

The president thought it necessary to deliver a State of the Union Address the following January that would sound an alarm. Too many Americans, he felt, were caught up in make-believe. If every citizen just minded his or her own business, they said, the country could weather the storm.

So FDR turned to his top advisors and speechwriters and, after seven drafts, hammered out an address as famous as any in American history, the "Four Freedoms Speech."

America had to steel itself, the speech went, for the sake of four freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.

Important ideas.

This July 4, think about the four freedoms while you enjoy the day. And steel yourself for an assault.

We're under the thumb of a psychotic pack of robber barons, both elected and appointed. And, with help from their lapdogs, they're hell bent on stripping you of all four freedoms.

Why? To shore up their unhealthy egos and feed a biblical lust for wealth and dominion.

Steel yourself.

Callender: An American Musical

"Fake news" is the reason Alexander Hamilton—George Washington's Treasury Secretary and the leading voice of the Federalists—never became president.

And, though he may not rate a musical, you can thank the infamous journalist James Callender for it.

A renowned drunkard and scalawag, in 1796 Callender was paid by the Treasury Secretary's chief rival—Washington's Secretary of State and the leading voice of the Republicans, Thomas Jefferson—to see to it Hamilton would never become president.

Callender achieved Jefferson's goal by publishing a juicy book detailing two Hamiltonian indiscretions: the first, an adulterous affair between Hamilton and a 23-year-old married woman, Maria Reynolds; and the second, payments of blackmail by Hamilton to Mrs. Reynold's husband (who had colluded with his wife to entrap Hamilton in the affair).

At first, Hamilton's fans cried "Fake news!" But the Treasury Secretary decided he could exonerate himself by admitting, in writing, to both deeds.

The American public never forgave him; and so he's only the subject of a musical, not the second or third POTUS.

But the story has an ironic second chapter: Callender turned around and attacked his sponsor, Jefferson.

Fined and imprisoned in 1800 for defaming the then-sitting President John Adams—he had called Adams a hideous hermaphrodite—Callender wrote to Jefferson asking for his help.

But Jefferson, elected to the presidency a month after Callender's trial, betrayed the journalist. Although he gave him a pardon, Jefferson cut all ties. A president, after all, shouldn't associate with a drunken scandalmonger.

So Callender retaliated.

First, he published documents proving he'd colluded with Jefferson to defame both Hamilton and Adams; then, he published newspaper stories about "Black Sally," the slave he claimed was the president's mistress—and the mother of his many illegitimate children.

Callender's stories went viral; but they won him no new sponsor. He was deemed too reckless to be trusted by anyone, including Jefferson's enemies.

He died in July 1803, when, in a drunken stupor, he fell into the James River at Richmond and drowned.

“It was the happy privilege of an American that he may prattle and print in what way he pleases, and without anyone to make him afraid,” Callender once wrote.

When it came to fake news, he was fearless.

How to Succeed at Blogging without Really Trying

Want to make your blog "a machine for lead generation?" It's easy, says Michael Brenner, CEO of Marketing Insider Group:

Craft Your Hook. "The average time someone spends on a post is a whopping 37 seconds," Brenner says. Create a strong opening, so they'll  spend at least that much time on your posts. "Try asking a question, leading with a beguiling fact or statistic, or just going all out, guns blazing at the beginning and present the reader’s problem and answer all within the first three sentences." A highly personal opening hooks readers, too.

Write Long-Form. Readers unwilling to spend more than 37 seconds on your post are tire-kickers. Write for the readers who are qualified leads. "They are more likely to take action after reading." Long-form posts generate nine times more leads than short-form posts.

Use Many CTAs. Pepper your posts with calls-to-action. Add links that direct readers to more resources. Remember: they may never get to your punchy closing.

Post on a Schedule. When you post regularly, you boost your Google rankings and give readers a reliable resource. "Your readers may even come to expect a new post, seeing it as something to look forward to while waiting for the bus or stopping by their favorite coffee shop for a work break," Brenner says. "Don’t rob people of their blog reading rituals because you post intermittently."

Use Visuals. Add more emotion to your posts with visual content―and not just photos, drawings, videos, and infographics, but illustrated CTAs. "Illustrations will help your readers know how they can take that all important next step to download content, sign up for your special offer, or in any other way become a lead."

Satisfy Readers. Your efforts are for naught, if your content doesn't inform readers and inspire them to read further. Be sure readers "are confident that when they need more information on your business’s niche subject, they know where to turn for more―your blog," Brenner says.

Trade Shows Take the Art World by Storm

Unless brick-and-mortar galleries make a comeback, you may buy your first Basquiat at a trade show, says The Art Newspaper.

Brick-and-mortar galleries once guaranteed collector confidence, but no longer.

Today, collectors are accustomed to buying art at trade shows, on line, and directly from the artists, making a dealer's "home base" irrelevant.

Art Basel, king of the art show organizers, still insists dealers operate a gallery to qualify to exhibit.

As global director Marc Spiegler told The Art Newspaper, running a brick-and-mortar gallery signals you're a "real" dealer.

“Paying rent, staging shows and employing people simply represents a higher level of commitment to the artists the galleries are working with and to the cultural landscape of the cities in which they are sited,” he said.

But the rule is under scrutiny; and the pressure's on to drop it.

Most of the other 270 trade shows allow dealers without fixed abodes―dealers who only sell art on line, or through coops, popups, or trade shows―to exhibit.

Only Art Basel excludes them.

And the stakes are high. Last year, 41% of dealers' sales took place at trade shows.

Dealers are loving them.

Another reason dealers are loving trade shows: they enable collaboration.

They can rent adjacent booths and commingle the works of a single artist or school.

Hungry collectors can see many related works displayed together―maybe even go on a buying spree.

HAT TIP: Appraiser Todd Sigety pointed me to this story in The Art Newspaper.

Never Trust Anyone under 30

With apologies to '60s activist Jack Weinberg, never trust anyone under 30.

With exceptions, they lack any sense of propriety―and all sense of history.

Case in point.

On behalf of content marketer Sally O'Dowd, one of these young invincibles―a hired social media expert, no doubt―posted the following comment on my blog today:

Adlof Hitlar has left a new comment on your post 4 Keys to Content Marketing for Events:

Thanks for the great information. I mostly follow sally O'Dowd's blogs. Her writings are really creative, follows an innovative and different style. She's my favorite.

Sally looks to be an extremely delightful and imaginative soul, judging from her two blogs.

She's either that, or, as her agent's comment suggests, an unrepentant anti-Semite with bad grammar.

When everything's a cartoon, everything goes.

Never trust anyone under 30.