Hey All,
Here are a few things I've been reading and pondering lately. If you'd like to share some of your favorite writing, please do let me know. I'm always looking for interesting things to share, regardless of the topic, medium or industry.
Enjoy and if you're feeling inspired, pass it on.
1. Letter to My Younger Self by Ray Allen
Thanks to my friend @smalter for sending this my way. It's a great piece of writing and while it has nothing to do with marketing, it's filled with interesting stories and meaningful life lessons.
Don’t ever put yourself in the position to wish you could hop in a time machine, Ray. You need to stay focused, because things will only become more complicated as you have more success on the court.
2. Pearls Before Breakfast
Gene Weingarten is a two-time Pulitzer prize winning writer. His work is some of my favorite to read and re-read. Again, this has little to do with marketing—but that's just the point. Looking to great writers is one of many ways to draw inspiration that we can bring into our own creative work.
Hands down, this is some of the best writing you'll find anywhere in the world.
No one knew it, but the fiddler standing against a bare wall outside the Metro in an indoor arcade at the top of the escalators was one of the finest classical musicians in the world, playing some of the most elegant music ever written on one of the most valuable violins ever made. His performance was arranged by The Washington Post as an experiment in context, perception and priorities -- as well as an unblinking assessment of public taste: In a banal setting at an inconvenient time, would beauty transcend?
If you like this, you'll also like his chilling piece (and other Pulitzer-winning article), Fatal Distraction.
3. The Worst Lessons Marketing Ever Taught Content
Thank you Rand Fishkin for clarifying some of the junk advice out there.
4. The Math Behind the Long, Slow Ramp of Death
Slow incremental growth might feel like failure, but it's actually the lifeblood of successful companies. This post from Price Intelligently is heavy on math and great insights for SaaS businesses.
5. Random Links
- Kevan Lee's tips for busy content marketers
- Segment and Clearbit are making signups frictionless
- Refly looks like a nice Markdown editor for Mac. It's a little buggy, but promising.
- A new concept in mobile marketing: Lifecycle SMS
- My favorite content marketing links
- Hiten Shah's content marketing assembly line
- Intercom's John Collins on how they decide what to write about
- "Is this noise?"
- Seth Godin on how much is enough
Have a great week!
Jimmy