The Long Halloween

The threat to man does not come at first from the potentially lethal machines and apparatus of technology. The actual threat has already affected man in his essence.

—Martin Heidegger

Heidegger said technology would either crush or uplift mankind, depending on our response to it. 2017 may be the year we learn which.

A minority of spiteful and uninformed voters has elected a Commander in Tweet. Every day, he dispenses candy-coated lies, for which we're to be grateful. Every day is Halloween.

And what costume are you wearing? Stormtrooper or Rebel?

Assist or resist; there's no middle ground.

NOTE: Opinions expressed on this blog are my own.

Call Me

Nearly all B2B marketers (94%) plan to use content in 2017, according to a new survey by SnapChat.

But 40% lack the resources to create enough content to make any difference to their success.

B2B marketers have flocked to content because it works.

In 2016, as a result of using content, 50% of B2B marketers saw open rates increase by at least 20%; and 65% saw click-through rates increase by more than 5%. Substantial improvements!

B2B marketers' failure to produce more content puzzles me.

Time and again, I see them waste good content—or, more accurately, ignore opportunities to extend or repurpose that content, and profit from what they already have on hand.

The remedy's pretty simple.

Pick up the phone and just call me. You don't have to go without.

Happy New Year!

While You Were Out

Tuesday, 1:59 PM...

From: Rush Newsjack

To: Chuck Manners
Subject: Please approve Tweet

Please approve the attached Tweet before I send it. Thanks.

Rush Newsjack

Social Media Director
Cinnabon

Tuesday, 2 PM...

From: Chuck Manners
To: Rush Newsjack
Subject: Automatic reply: Please approve Tweet

I am away on a well-deserved vacation through next Tuesday, and not checking emails or accepting phone calls. If you need to send a Tweet while I'm away, use your best judgement. Thank you and may the force be with you.

Chuck Manners

Vice President, Good Taste
Cinnabon

Tuesday, 3 PM...

Tuesday, 4 PM...

From: Kat Cole
To: Chuck Manners
Subject: Today's Tweet

Chuck, don't bother coming back. May the reduction in force be with you.

Kat Cole
President & COO
Cinnabon

The Mighty Copywriter's New Rule for Gender Marking

Among the "lessons" recited at church on Christmas Eve was the annunciation to the shepherds.

My wife complained on the sidewalk outside about the lesson's loss in euphony.

"Glory to God in the highest," the angel proclaimed, "and on earth peace, good will toward all people."

King James had been neutered.

The inclusive "good will toward all people" sounds wrong for a reason: it's too stately. "Good will toward men"—like a shepherd—is plain and unadorned.

"Prose is architecture, " Hemingway said, "and the Baroque is over."

The King James editorial crew should have let it stand, as the US Navy has sagely done, for example, with "messman," letting it stand over the gender-neutral "culinary specialist."

And so here is The Mighty Copywriter's new rule for gender marking:

If it ain't baroque, don't fix it.

Just Add Water

Once in a while, people complain about Goodly—namely, that my posts are obscure; that, in my effort to be terse, I ask readers to connect dots that can't be connected.

To those folks I reply: I offer not sermons, but summaries.

I do so because most other bloggers write long, offhand posts. They do so, mainly, to save themselves time, or to satisfy Google's absurd preference for 1,800-word articles.

That serves their purposes well, I'm sure. I'm not sure it serves yours.

Offering summaries, on the other hand, is my way to be different—brief and to the point.

Short story writer Raymond Carver nailed it. “Get in, get out. Don’t linger. Go on.”

I hope you'll think of my posts as bullion cubes. There's a whole cup of soup condensed into these tiny foil packages.

Unwrap what's inside.  

And just add water.