Writing
The Dangerous Problem of Lazy Content
There’s a scene in the new Ghostbuster’s movie where Abby points to the reality TV show “Ghost Hunters” and goes, “See! This is why people don’t take us seriously!” That’s how I feel every time I open my browser and see headlines like “3 Ways To Make More Money By the Holidays.” It’s not a bad headline. On the contrary,…
Kevin Smith’s Advice On Content Contradicts Everything You’ve Ever Read
Usually, when you have a celebrity at a niche conference it’s the event organizer’s way of apologizing for the lack of good content. “Don’t come for the marketing stuff, come see Mandy Moore!” #facepalm That’s how I felt about Kevin Smith, who was the keynote at Converted this week. Turns out, I was wrong. At 4:45 PM,…
The Real Reason Things Go Viral (It’s Not The Algorithm)
For 24 hours this week, I lost my mind. I read this article and my brain went, “STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING. TELL EVERYONE TO READ THIS RIGHT NOW!!” like it was some sort of content emergency (it wasn’t). Text. Email. Slack. Heck, I’m sharing it with you right now. Turns out, 49,000 other people also lost their…
The Inbox Booty Call: Why You Need to Protect Your Inbox The Way You Protect Your…Other Stuff
I hate my inbox. At any given moment, I have 647 unread messages from people who want something from me. Not just email. It’s Facebook Messenger. Slack channels. SnapChat. Twitter. Text messages. My tombstone is going to read: Here lies Margo, died of trying to respond in a timely manner to all the incoming requests…
The Pressure To Write Something That Doesn’t Suck
Last week a reader asked me if I’d review her work before she published it publicly. I said that I could, but it wouldn’t help her solve her problem. Her problem was this: “It’s like I know I have a Picasso ready to be painted, but I only know how to do f$%^*@# stick figures.” There are two…
Why You Need Specificity in Your Marketing If You Want It To Work
One thing you should never do is listen to Revisionist History episode 6 while you’re at the gym. The episode is titled “King of Tears” (if that wasn’t a dead giveaway), about the man behind country music’s biggest hits and why country music is so gut-wrenchingly sad compared to other genres. After putting you through “He…
How Long Should Your Content Be?
How long should your content be? Email. Blog post. Sales page. Instagram caption. What’s the right length? That’s the most common question I get asked about writing. (The next question is “how often?”) Every successful writer and copywriter will tell you the same thing: Content needs to be as long as necessary to convey the message.…