The Marketing Matters Newsletter

2025 may be the last time I’m doing annual planning. Half the campaigns I’d planned back in January feel stale and disconnected from what my audience is interested in now. The themes I thought would resonate have either been proven less successful than I hoped, seem ridiculously outdated, or have already been beaten to death…

Decision-makers trust thought leadership content 3x more than your marketing materials. 73% say it’s more trustworthy than product sheets for assessing capabilities. Yet only 15% rate what they read as “very good.” That gap between what we create and what actually influences decisions? It’s a competitive advantage hiding in plain sight. And honestly, it makes…

I recently caught myself doing something embarrassing. I was reviewing my content production calendar from the previous quarter, looking at a messaging theme I’d been exploring consistently for three months. Good engagement, meaningful replies, steady lead generation. Exactly what you’d want from your marketing efforts. And my first thought? “This is getting stale. We need…

When I heard that Mary Meeker dropped her AI trends report this week—the first in her signature format after a five-year pause—I did what any self-respecting stats nerd would do. I abandoned my carefully planned Wednesday and disappeared into 340 slides of data. For those who don’t know her work, Meeker’s annual Internet Trends reports…

What if I told you that having fewer ideas could make you more influential? I know. It sounds backwards. We live in a world obsessed with fresh content. New insights. Original takes. The next brilliant thought. But there’s something we often miss: It’s not about having more ideas—it’s about expanding the surface area of the…

There’s this moment when you realize you’re solving the wrong problem entirely. For me, it happened while staring at a LinkedIn post I’d recently published. Good engagement, solid comments, all the metrics looking healthy. But something felt off. Over the past month and a half, I’ve found myself creating content that felt… forced. Like I…

When I walk into a new room full of strangers, my first instinct isn’t to speak up. It’s to observe. I’ve been a shy child and, if I’m being honest, somewhat uncomfortable in unfamiliar settings. I’m the person who spends the first twenty minutes of any event quietly analyzing the room, listening more than talking,…

Is your work environment designed to “let you cook”? I stumbled across this fascinating concept while listening to Tim Ferriss’ interview with fantasy author Brandon Sanderson. The interview took place at Dragonsteel Books, Sanderson’s 70-person publishing company in Utah. Ferriss commented on how the company seemed designed to support Sanderson’s creative work. The author replied…

“We, marketers, are the story builders. We craft stories, together with leadership. But how do we identify the story tellers?  The people within the organization who can express that story in the right way, in a way that resonates with your minimum viable audience?” That was me. At a microphone. Asking Seth Godin a question.…

ChatGPT is already two and a half. The model should now be able to eat with a spoon, scribble on paper, and turn the pages in a book.In marketing circles, it feels like we’ve been using it forever.  My relationship has pretty much grown from skeptical curiosity to daily dependency. But lately, I’ve been thinking…

You’ve definitely seen the latest ChatGPT image updates. The jump in quality is nothing short of remarkable. We’ve moved from obviously AI-generated images with telltale distortions to product mockups so convincing they could pass for professional photography. But this rapid evolution presents a fascinating paradox for marketers: As AI-generated content becomes indistinguishable from reality, audiences…

The sky outside my window is still a stubborn shade of gray, as if winter is desperately clinging to its last days. Much like this weather that refuses to transition, I find myself in a post-Q1 slump. That moment when you’ve poured a ton of energy into getting your new year projects off the ground…

An unexpected question came up after I sent last week’s newsletter: What actually makes someone a thought leader? The term “thought leadership” makes many of us cringe a little. It feels elusive, vague, and almost mystical—something that happens to a select few through some combination of luck, timing, and natural talent. But after working on…

67% of professionals believe ghostwriting is acceptable—but only if done right. That statistic comes from a poll I ran last week ​on LinkedIn​ (the comments are GOLD!). While the results are far from representative, they perfectly capture the central tension in modern thought leadership: We crave authentic expertise for our content marketing while acknowledging that…

Furrowed brows. Confused glances. That uncomfortable silence that stretches just a beat too long. It’s never a good sign when talking to a client. We had been working on their content marketing strategy for weeks. With support from their internal team and validation from stakeholders, I felt confident in the approach we’d developed. But as…