MackCollier.com

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Understanding Substack’s Three Growth Stages

Growth on Substack is easier to track than you think. In May of 2024, I started investigating Substack. I had heard from peers that Substack was growing and that I should build a presence there.

For those that aren’t familiar with Substack, it’s a newsletter site that has a social component built on top of it.  From a functionality perspective, it’s sort of a mish-mash of a newsletter provider like MailChimp, plus a social media platform like X.

Which intrigued me.  For years I had written a newsletter, but I rarely received feedback from subscribers. This was very frustrating and honestly the lack of feedback on the content I created made it very difficult to stay committed to the newsletter. So when I learned that Substack had a social element built on top of it, I was very interested in learning more.

Is it Possible to Actually Make Money on Substack?

This is what I really wanted to know. If I was going to commit to Substack, I wanted to know that I could eventually make enough money to justify my time there.

I started studying successful writers on Substack to see what their experiences were. Surprisingly, I found that almost every successful writer on Substack followed a very similar pattern of growth.  In fact, the typical successful writer on Substack followed three stages of growth.

The first stage of growth typically lasts 6-12 months.  The writer will average 0-3 new subscribers a day. Typically, writers in the first stage of growth will have 0-5 paid subscribers.

The second stage of growth typically lasts 3-6 months, or half as long as the first stage. The writer will average 4-10 new subscribers a day in the second stage. Writers in the second stage typically have 0-10 paid subscribers.

The third stage of growth is called the ‘hockey stick’. This is where growth accelerates rapidly. The number of free subscribers spikes dramatically. In addition, the number of paid subscribers takes off. In fact, most writers typically have few, if any, paid subscribers until hitting the third stage.

Here’s a graph from one writer that shows a very typical growth trajectory for a successful writer on Substack:

You can see on the graph, around May 19th, Anna moves into the second stage.  Then around July 1st is when she moves into the third stage of growth.

Social Media Growth is Not Linear

One of the biggest problems with building a presence on a social media site is attempting to predict future growth. Growth on most social media sites is not linear, in fact it’s usually anything but. Often, growth will be slow if non-existent, then one day, inexplicably, growth will begin and will typically increase over time. But there are usually few if any ‘warning signs’ before the growth kicks in. As a result, users will often quit using a site because they can’t gain any traction after a few months.

While growth on Substack isn’t linear, it is a bit easier to anticipate. The end point of the first stage of growth is the key. The amount of time spent in the second stage of growth is typically half the amount of time spent in the first stage of growth.

For instance, if it takes a writer 14 months to move from the first to second stage of growth, it should take that same writer around seven additional months to move to the third stage of growth.

In talking to successful Substack writers, they all gave me the same advice: Stick with it. They all agreed that the first stage of growth was a ‘slog’, and if you can make it through the first stage, you will be fine.

Which is exactly what I needed to hear. Otherwise, I would have stopped writing at Substack after about 3 months. I am now entering my seventh month writing on Subtack, and it just now feels like I am starting to get some traction.

So if you want to build a presence on Substack, here’s some advice:

  • Commit to writing for at least 6 months.  A full year is better. From my research and personal experience, most writers take 6-12 months on Substack before they begin to see noticeable growth.
  • Spend at least half your time engaging with other Substack users. If you are serious about building a presence on Substack, you must engage with other users. Comment on their Notes, Like their issues when they share them. You have to engage with others if you want them to return the favor.
  • Expect to invest 12-18 months before you realize any significant income from subscriptions. From my research, most Substack writers in the third stage of growth make $500-$1,500 a month from subscriptions. If you can supplement that income with 2-3 other streams, Substack can definitely be worth your time.

And if you are curious, you can subscribe to Backstage Pass and follow along with my progress. I give an update in the first issue of every month on my growth on Substack.

 

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Blogging Isn’t Dead, it’s Morphed Into Substack

I started blogging officially in September of 2005. I launched my own blog for the first time in March of 2006.  This blog launched in June of 2009.

One of the things that blogging for that long affords me is the ability to know what blogging was like before Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms.

It was a different world. And in many ways, it was a better online world.

In 2024, if you want to catch up with your favorite content creator, you can likely find them on Facebook, X, Instagram, maybe even LinkedIn or YouTube. The point is, you have multiple options for engaging with them.

If you wanted to catch up with your favorite content creator in 2006, you had one option: Their blog.

Whereas social media is centralized today on massive platforms, it was decentralized then on blogs. Most people had a blog, and most people only created and published content on their blogs.

It meant we all blogged, and we all read blogs. That created a scenario where it was very easy to build community around your blog’s readers, and most of us did that.  We have a community of people that read our blogs, and we also participated in the communities on other blogs. Everyone engaged with each other via comments and it would even spill over to emails.

But the rise of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter changed all that. Conversations moved off our blogs, and onto social media.

Case in point: In 2011, this blog received 3008 comments.  That’s almost 10 comments every day.

Last year?  40 comments.  For the entire year.

As we all moved to social media sites, we moved off our blogs.

For the last few years I’ve heard that blogging is dead.  The precipitous drop in traffic and engagement on most blogs makes it easy to see why people say this.

What is Substack?

But a few months ago, I decided to join Substack. Substack is interesting, it’s kinda like a mishmash of newsletters and social media.

At its core, Substack is a place for you to write a newsletter. But where it differs is that Substack has a robust social layer over its publishing function. You can publish a newsletter on Substack but Substack members can then engage with your newsletter, even if they aren’t subscribed to it.  Substack writers can then promote their newsletter to Substack users, which drives even more engagement.

Recently, Substack even added a Notes functionality, which allows you to post short (or long) messages independently of your newsletter. Similar to a Facebook update or a tweet.

I’ve started calling Substack ‘social blogging’. It’s not just a newsletter, and it’s more than just social media.

And for now, at least, the community on Substack is absolutely amazing. You don’t see the endless self-promotion on Substack that you do on other social media sites.  You see people sharing what they are learning honestly, you see people openly talking about their failures. You see people supporting each other.

You see a real sense of community.  It very much reminds me of the early days of blogging, before we all left our blogs and went to social media. It’s why I titled these post that blogging isn’t dead, it’s morphed into Substack.

Please check out Substack if you haven’t already. I really do love it there, and that’s where you can find me these days. I’ve all but abandoned Facebook and Twitter, and only spend a bit of time on LinkedIn.  At least 90% of my time on social media is spent on Substack.

Come see why.  Follow me by clicking here.

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The Backstage Pass is Moving to Substack

A bit of housekeeping: I am moving The Backstage Pass newsletter from Mailchimp to Substack.  Effective next week. If you haven’t yet subbed to The Backstage Pass, please do so over on Substack.

Why the change?  Substack has two key advantages over Mailchimp for me:

1 – I can add more social elements. I’ve growth and nurtured The Backstage Pass for over 10 years now. One of the nagging problems I’ve had with the newsletter is the lack of interaction I can have with subscribers. Unless a subscriber reaches out to me directly or vice versa, I have no clue if the content I am creating is resonating with them. Other than looking at Clicks or Open Rates and guessing.

But with Substack, I can add social elements. We can have chats for each newsletter issue, discussions about each topic. It’s so much easier to connect directly with subscribers. Now, they do need to be on Substack in order to connect with me on Substack, but the signup process is as pain-free as it is on any other social channel. Please follow me here if you join Substack.

2 – Substack has monetization options built right in. As a result, I will soon be offering a premium version of The Backstage Pass, which will have more ‘premium’ content. This will also allow me to devote even more time to the newsletter, which is something that I’ve always wanted to do. But prior, it was hard to justify spending more time on a stream that isn’t producing revenue. Substack will help me solve that problem.

 

So if you haven’t already subbed, please do so.  As for Substack itself, I have to say, I am really enjoying the experience there. There’s a strong community vibe, it feels like early days excitement there before all the ‘influencers’, marketers and gurus find it.  I’m sure that’s coming, but for now it feels super cozy. In fact, it really feels like what I think a lot of us wanted to see blogging become: A way for us to connect and support our favorite writers and content creators.

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Easter and the Three Eternal Gifts God Gives to Christians

Today we celebrate Easter, which commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ three days after He was crucified. In the process of Jesus’ death, resurrection and return to Heaven, God granted three eternal gifts to all Christians. The first gift you know about, the second gift you are likely aware of, but may not appreciate its connection to Jesus. And the third gift you are likely not even aware of, but once you are, it will change your entire outlook on being a Christian.

The First Eternal Gift: Salvation

The first eternal gift you know of: When Jesus died on the cross, He gave us a path to salvation. Essentially, Jesus’ death covered our sins. We could not enter Heaven having the debt of sin hanging over us because sin cannot exist in Heaven. So by covering our sins, Jesus cleansed us, and removed the penalty of our sin. If we agree to ask Jesus to be our Lord and Savior, in return, He covers our sin, and gives us a way to enter Heaven.

John 3:16 may be the most famous scripture in all the Bible, but for this post, 3:17 will have significance as well:

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

God offered His Son as a sin sacrifice for the world. Note that 3:17 clarifies that Jesus came to earth in human form to save the world. This will apply to the third gift.

The Second Eternal Gift:The Holy Spirit

You have no doubt heard of the Trinity: The Father (God), the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit. Before I started reading the Bible daily in 2023, I really didn’t understand what role the Holy Spirit played in the life of a Christian.

When Jesus tells his disciples that He will soon have to leave them, they are obviously upset. But Jesus explains that they will be glad He is leaving, because when He leaves, the Holy Spirit will come. From John 6:5-15:

5 “But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me;10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more;11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He[c]will take of Mine and declare it to you.

Then Acts 2:2-4 explains how the disciples received the gift of The Holy Spirit after Jesus ascended:

2 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all [a]with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them [b]divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as a ‘helper’, and someone who will remind us of all that Jesus taught us during our time on earth. As I’ve spent more time over the last year reading God’s word, and talking to God, what I am often finding is that God talks back to me, through the Holy Spirit! Sometimes, I will be contemplating a decision or wrestling with a problem, and suddenly the solution will come to me, in my mind. And its delivered in such a way that I can tell the thought is being communicated to me via the Holy Spirit.

In dying, Jesus made His ascension possible, and that made us receiving the Holy Spirit possible. So this becomes the second eternal gift that God has gifted us through the death, resurrection and ascension of His Son.

The Third Eternal Gift: Lost Authority is Regained

The third eternal gift is one that you likely aren’t even aware we possess, I know I wasn’t before I started studying God’s word more closely.

Who has authority over the earth? Does satan?  That would explain all the problems we have in the world today, wouldn’t it?

Does God have authority over the earth? God is after all the Creator, it would make sense that He would have total authority over the earth. But if that’s the case, why are there so many problems in the world?

The final book of the Bible is Revelation. More specifically, the Revelation of Jesus Christ. I’ve written about Revelation before, it’s a book devoted to future events, including the ‘end times’.

Interpreting Revelation is tricky, and requires some degree of speculation as to true meaning. In general, many Christians have been taught that Revelation details how judgment will be poured out on earth in the End Times, and the earth will be destroyed and Jesus will return to destroy satan and save Christians from a literal ‘hell on earth’.

However, this may not be the case. First, let’s look at the common teaching among Christians that satan has authority over earth, and that Jesus will have His Second Coming in order to defeat satan and save us.

This line of reasoning leads to the idea that ‘only Jesus can save us now!’  The idea that things will simply continue to get worse and worse on earth until finally God shows mercy, and sends His Son back to earth to save us from ourselves.

So basically, humans need to sink further and further into sin and depravity until God says ENOUGH, and send Jesus back to save us.

How would that bring glory to God? Think about that for a moment: How is God glorified if He has to step in and save the world because His children are so awash in sin that they are destroying the earth and can only be saved by His direct intervention?

Hold that thought, let’s return to the idea of authority on earth.  Scripture, as it turns out, is quite clear on who has authority over earth.  Genesis 1:26-28 tells us who it is, it’s man:

26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over [g]all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that [h]moves on the earth.”

Unfortunately, man’s dominion over earth would be short-lived, as man forfeited authority of earth to satan when Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of Knowledge, disobeying God in the process.

Now let’s move forward to Luke 4:5-7, where satan tempts Jesus, and note what he says:

5 [d]Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. 7 Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”

This is a very important passage in the Bible. Note that satan claims he now has authority over all Jesus can see, and note that Jesus does not correct him. Also note that satan claims that authority has been delivered to him, and that he can pass it to whomever he wishes. This is telling, because it speaks to the properties of the authority itself: It can be transferred. If satan is telling the truth about the authority he possesses at this point, and Jesus doesn’t correct his claim, then it helps explain how the authority over earth was transferred from man to satan.

But here is the most important passage, Matthew 28:18-20. Jesus has been resurrected, and before he ascends back to Heaven, He gives His final instructions to his disciples:

18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.19 Go[c]therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”[d]Amen.

Note that here, Jesus claims HE possesses the authority that satan claimed ownership of in Luke $:5-7.

So either satan was lying, or he was telling the truth. And we know Jesus was telling the truth in Matthew 28: 18-20, because He cannot lie. Remembering that Jesus didn’t correct satan’s claim, we should assume that satan was actually telling the truth about having authority over earth.

But that was PRIOR to Jesus’ crucifixion. By dying for our sins, Jesus was becoming the perfect sin sacrifice for the world. He lived a sin-free life, then He was sacrificed to give the world a path to salvation.

And in the process, that also transferred authority over earth from satan to Jesus. And when Jesus reclaimed that authority, He did so in the form of a man.

Jesus’ sacrifice redeemed man. He redeemed the authority over earth that Adam and Eve lost in the Garden of Eden when they disobeyed God and introduced sin into the world.

Thanks to Jesus, man once again has authority over earth. This is the third eternal gift that God granted us through Jesus’ death and resurrection.

I know, this is pretty heady stuff, and much of it directly contradicts what many Christians are taught about their role here on earth, and in what will transpire in the future in the final days.

To help you better understand how man’s authority was lost and regained, and our true assignment on this earth according to God’s narrative, please watch this video where Johnny Enlow explains it all in detail, all backed by scripture. This was such an eye-opening video for me and it has truly changed my outlook on Christianity as a whole, and I believe it will help you immensely:

Let’s look at a few final scriptures from Revelation. First 1:5-6:

5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.

To Him who [a]loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, 6 and has made us [b]kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

And Revelation 5:9-11:

9 And they sang a new song, saying:

“You are worthy to take the scroll,
And to open its seals;
For You were slain,
And have redeemed us to God by Your blood
Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
10 And have made [a]us kings[b] and priests to our God;
And [c]we shall reign on the earth.”

11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands,

Jesus is indeed the King of kings, but the part that’s been hidden from us is that WE (Christians) are the kings that Jesus is King over. Jesus has gifted us the authority to be kings and priests on earth. Note above that even the 24 elders in Heaven said they would reign on the earth.  And that reign as made possible when the Lamb (Jesus) was found worthy to open the scroll.

This all suggests our true role as Christians is to fulfill the authority on earth that Jesus gifted us.

On the Third Day…

28 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone [a]from the door, and sat on it. 3 His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.

5 But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7 And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.”

8 So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.

The Women Worship the Risen Lord

9 And [b]as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.”

 

“He is risen.”  Perhaps the three most glorious words in the Bible. I hope you can spend this Easter reflecting on its meaning, the sacrifices Jesus made for us to fulfill the Word and the eternal gifts we have been granted as a result.

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Research: 97% of Loyalty Programs Fail Due to This Simple Design Flaw

loyalty programs fail

Would you believe that 97% of loyalty programs fail? And 77% of them fail in two years or less.

Why? It’s due to a basic design flaw that many loyalty programs suffer from. It’s a design flaw that reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of why people participate in loyalty programs.

The reason why the average loyalty programs fails is because it is designed to drive purchases from its own members. 97% of Loyalty programs rely completely on transactional rewards. If you participate in the program, you are rewarded with a free product. Or more likely, a discount toward the purchase of a product.

This indicates a fundamental misunderstanding of what drives real brand loyalty. Loyalty is created AFTER the purchase, not before. If you offer rewards to incentivize a purchase, you are building loyalty TO THE OFFER, not to your brand.

Customer Acquisition vs Customer Retention

The average loyalty program is designed like most marketing initiatives; The focus is on customer acquisition, with little or no thought given to customer retention.

Which goes completely against the concept of loyalty.  Customer loyalty IS customer retention. They go hand-in-hand.

When loyalty programs offer solely transactional rewards, the rewards build loyalty to the offer, not the brand. If you tell me that when I collect 1,000 reward points that I can get a free cup of coffee, I might push to get another 200 reward points to add to my 800 point balance to get that free cup of coffee.

But after I get it, my balance goes back to zero. As does my excitement for starting all over to get the next 1,000 reward points for the next cup of coffee.

Now this isn’t to say that transactional rewards don’t have a role in most loyalty programs. They absolutely do, but transactional rewards should be one tool in your loyalty program toolbox, not the whole garage.

Design For Retention, Not Acquisition

True brand loyalty is build after the purchase. It’s built by having a connection with a brand. And those connections aren’t built via coupons and discounts.

They are built by experiences. By access. By understanding. By shared values and passions.

If your loyalty program is rooted solely in transactional rewards, then the program with the best discounts wins. I will only be loyal to your loyalty program as long as you give me the biggest coupon. As soon as your competitor gives a bigger discount, I jump ship. That’s why the vast majority of such loyalty programs fail within two years.

So the key to creating a loyalty program that members are actually…loyal to, is to focus on rewards that offer a better experience for the member.

  • Access to the CEO and key executives at the brand. This communicates to members that they are special, and helps elevate them in stature as being equal with key decision makers at the brand.
  • Free webinars with SMEs. This is a nice perk for your members, and it helps them connect with and understand your brand. For instance, let’s say your brand offers a unique presentation tool for businesses. Having a free webinar with a top presentation expert not only benefits the members directly by educating them on how to become better presenters, it also helps them better understand your presentation software. And that helps them become better salespeople for your brand. And more motivated ones!
  • Early access to new products. This is a big-time perk that creates value for members, and it can be leveraged to create buzz for your new product’s launch! If your technology company has a loyalty program, 3 months before your newest laptop launches, give members early access so they can create online conversations about the new laptop to build excitement for its release. Then pick 10 members and give them the laptop for free to use and review. This will also generate excitement and buzz for the laptop building up to its launch, and that will generate more sales at launch.
  • Free training on how to use your products and services. For instance, if you sell cooking utensils, offer loyalty program members a free workshop with a top chef who shows you how to cook meals using your cooking utensils. This creates value for members, but it also helps them understand how to better use your cooking utensils, which makes them better salespeople for your products!

Notice that none of these rewards are transactional. Yet all will help the loyalty program members forge a deeper connection with your brand.

The best part? You are incentivizing your loyalty program members to sell more products for you. You are giving them rewards that help them better understand your products, and how to use your products successfully. All of the 4 hypothetical rewards above are experience-based. Yet all of them will increase the ability of your program members to generate more sales!

That makes them better salespeople for your products AND makes them more willing to happily promote your products to other customers.

So by simply shifting the focus of your loyalty programs rewards from transactional to experiential, you create more loyal customers AND more sales. 97% of loyalty programs fail because they focus on transactional rewards for members. The 3% that succeed focus on designing a loyalty program that creates amazing experiences for its members.

Is your loyalty program struggling? For the past decade, I have worked with companies like yours to optimize their loyalty programs to achieve greater success. I show companies how to increase signups and participation while also reducing churn rate. If you need help, email me today and we can discuss how to increase the efficiency of your loyalty program.

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Monday’s Marketing Minute: Reddit’s Banger IPO, X Launches Articles, Liquid Death’s CoFounder on Innovation

Happy Monday, y’all! Hope everyone is having a great early Spring and are ready for a productive week ahead. Here’s a few business, marketing and digital stories that caught my eye recently:

 

Reddit had its long-anticipated IPO last week, and it went surprisingly well! Shares ended its debut day up almost 50% over the IPO price.  I just checked and RDDT is currently at $50.58 on early trading, so it’s looking to be up again today. It will be interesting to see how Reddit does long-term, the same concerns over moderation and censorship that have plagued other social platforms are present at Reddit. So far the company is doing quite well in public trading, it will be interesting to see if that’s still the case 6 and 12 months from now.

Twitter/X has finally launched Articles. Elon has long promised that he would give Twitter users a way to write long-form articles similar to blog posts on the platform, now it’s live.  The catch (there seems to always be one these days with Twitter) is that it’s only available to Premium+ subscribers. I have all of 5 minutes checking out Articles, but it seems like this functionality could only benefit a creator who is primarily using Twitter as a communication hub and who doesn’t have an established blog or website. Twitter’s play is they want creators to post articles on its platform instead of having creators like me post a link on the Twitter platform and then link to here. Twitter doesn’t want you leaving its platform to come to my blog, they want me to publish this on Twitter, and keep the traffic on Twitter.

 

Liquid Death is a wonderful example of how creative branding and communications still packs a ton of impact. I’m currently enjoying this wonderful podcast with Liquid Death co-founder Mike Cessario where he discusses his branding philosophy, and how to think differently to disrupt markets when you have no money and no visibility. Lotta useful branding nuggets in this one, you will want to dive right in.

 

So that’s it for this week’s edition of Monday’s Marketing Minute. Look for a new post on loyalty programs on Weds, and a very special Bible Study post on Easter on Sunday.

I hope you have a wonderful and productive week, see you on Weds!

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“The serpent deceived me, and I ate”

In January of 2023, I started a daily practice of reading the Bible. It’s been a wonderfully transformative force in my life. One of the most surprising elements of reading the Bible every day has been the Bible itself. I am finding daily that the actual teachings of the Bible are quite different from what I assumed them to be.

A perfect example of this is the story of Adam and Eve and how the devil tricked them into eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Before I started reading the Bible, my loose understanding of this story was what I had heard in media.  Basically, I understood the story to be that Eve was tricked into eating the fruit by satan (in the form of a serpent) and she then took the fruit and convinced Adam to eat from it as well.

This story has led to the idea that ‘Eve introduced sin into the world’. In fact, Eve has almost been painted as conniving, almost in league with satan in this matter. She was selfish, evil, and she duped her unwitting husband Adam into falling into sin along with her. And in the process, she doomed all of humanity to being isolated from God here on earth.

At least, that is the story I was led to believe.

As I started reading the Bible, it became clear that I’ve greatly misunderstood Eve’s role in this whole sorted affair. I’ve misunderstood Adam’s as well.

First, let’s address my understanding that Eve was tricked by the serpent, and then she took the fruit to Adam and basically tricked him into eating it as well. It turns out, that is completely wrong. Eve wasn’t interacting with the serpent by herself, Adam was with her! It’s just that the serpent addressed Eve, not Adam. What’s important to note is that Adam didn’t intercede. Yes, Eve allowed herself to be deceived by the serpent, but Adam was there and did nothing. 

Now, let’s look at Genesis Chapter 3, when God calls out to Adam and Eve:

9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”

10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”

12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”

13 And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Eve said “The serpent deceived me”. Note that the author of Genesis (Moses) is careful to leave it there. Moses is careful to make it known that Eve was deceived.

But does that mean that Adam was NOT deceived???

Look at what Adam told God when God asked him to explain how he (Adam) knew that he was naked. Adam attempts to blame God! He says it is because of the woman YOU (God) gave me!

This is some heady stuff, y’all.  While Genesis isn’t explicit, it seems to be inferring that Adam was NOT deceived by the serpent. If so, that’s hugely profound.  That means Adam KNEW that the serpent was tempting him to disobey God and he did so intentionally.

Either way, it’s a very bad look for Adam, and it totally reframes my initial understanding of how this whole sad interaction took place.  To be fair, Eve didn’t act appropriately either, obviously. And even when God asked her what she had done, she admits to eating the fruit, only after first saying it was because the serpent deceived her.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from this story is that humans have always sinned, from the beginning of our being. And while we must bear the punishment for our sins, God also gives us a path back to Him.  A path back to where Adam and Eve began in the Garden before the serpent.

The path won’t be easy to walk, but is available to us, just the same.

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The Tourism Power List for January


Welcome to the Tourism Power List for January! The Power List features the Top 10 professionals in the tourism industry! You can view the previous Power Lists for the Tourism and Hospitality industry by clicking here.

Sponsorship options are now available for The Tourism Power List! If you want to sponsor this month’s list, click here for prices and info on sponsorship levels.

If you want to be eligible for The Power List, do this:

1 – Follow me on Twitter. Make sure you have your position and the technology company you work for listed in your profile.

2 – If you want to nominate someone else to be on the Power List, tweet me their username on Twitter and I will be happy to check them out.

 

Here’s where you can find all the candidates for The Tourism Power List. If you’re on that list, you are eligible for the Power List.

Here is the Tourism Power List for January.  There will be a number after their name in parentheses that shows the change in their score this month versus last:

1 – Kathryn Shea Duncan, Sr Director of Social Media, Lake Charles CVB, Power List Score – 95 (-). Another spectacular month for Kathryn to close out 2023 and continue her streak at #1. The end of the year brings it a lot of holidays in December and a chance for downtime. But there as zero slack in Kathryn’s Twitter game in December. She had her usual stellar volume of content, and at the end of the month covered the Rose Parade and other festivities from California with reposts and some original posts and photos. The standard once again, well done Kathryn!

2 – Jim Hagen, Sec of Tourism for South Dakota, Power List Score – 93 (-). Jim just keeps checking off solid month after solid month.  Good mix of content highlighting all that his great state of South Dakota has to offer, including traveling, tourism, sports, festivities, etc. Good close out to 2023 for Jim as he’s shown solid improvement for the life of the Power List.

3 – Ben Berthelot, Lafayette Travel CEO, Power List Score – 92 (-). Very good month for Ben, once again. I will say this: If Ben puts together a couple more months like his last few, it will be very hard for Jim to hold him off for the #2 spot.  Am loving the competition on this Power List, especially at the top!

4 – Leisha Elliott, Executive Director, Marion Co, WV CVB, Power List Score – 87 (-1). From this point on in the Power List, we will start to see a dip in scores. The Top 3 of Kathryn, Jim and Ben have started to separate themselves from the pack a bit. Leisha has another decent month as far as posting volume, but it’s all reposts. The lack of original content does ding her score a bit in my eyes. Still, 87 is a very solid score for even this Tourism Power List.

5 – Chris Landry, CEO Louisiana Travel Assoc., Power List Score – 85 (-). Chris had a decent December. He did well the first week or so, then posting became sporadic as Christmas and New Year’s approached. This is to be expected, and not a huge deal.

6 – Kyle Edmiston, President/CEO of Lake Charles CVB, Power List Score – 84 (-). Holding steady for Kyle. We’ll see what January looks like for him.

7 – Jessica Blankenship, Exec Dir of KY Music HOF, Rockcastle Co Tourism, Power List Score – 79 (+2). A quiet month for Jessica, but it’s all original content and photos, so she gets a small bump up.  Nice job, let’s see more in January!

8 – Diana Plazas,CSMO Caribbean & Latin America at Marriott International, Power List Score – 76 (+1) A bit of a bounce back month for Diana, let’s look for her to build on this momentum next month!

9 – Adriana Cruz, Executive Director, Texas Economic Development & Tourism, Office of Gov Greg Abbott, Power List Score – 75 (-5) No new posts for Adriana in December leads to the score drop.  She’s already got a few posts up for January, so we’ll see what her score looks like next month.

10 – Bonna Johnson, SVP of Corp Communications @ Nashville Convention & Visitors CorpDir, Power List Score – 74 (-).   New entry alert! Congrats to Bonna for jumping in the Power List for Tourism. Bonna has been quiet on Twitter/X in recent months, but she had a bit of a posting spurt in December, and that’s enough to mark her debut in the Tourism Power List! Congrats to Bonna, let’s hope she can build on that good work and move even higher starting next month!

 

So that’s a wrap for the first Power List for Tourism pros in 2024. As I said above, the Top 3 of Kathryn, Jim and Ben have really started to separate themselves from the pack. This will create opportunities for the rest of the list from 4-10 to move up quickly if they can ramp up the quality content. I’m curious to see what happens next month!

Please follow the people that made this list, you can click on their name and it will take you to their Twitter profile so you can follow them. If you would like to nominate yourself or a peer for inclusion in The Tourism Power List, please follow me on Twitter, and make sure you have your position and the company you work for clearly listed in your Twitter profile. That’s it! All candidates for the Power List are on this list.

Would you like to sponsor The Power List for Tourism? Here’s information on available options as well as prices.

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Monday’s Marketing Minute: Reddit’s IPO, OpenAI Wants to License MSM Content, Elon Wants a Bigger Stake in Tesla

Happy Monday, y’all! So a week ago, we were preparing for what we thought would be a light dusting of snow here in Alabama. A week later, we are just now starting to see the ice start to significantly melt.  Many roads in this area are still closed. We had a terrible situation where snow and rain fell the first couple of days then overnight it froze. So by Weds and Thurs, all the slush had been packed down into a sheet of hard ice that covered all the roads and yards.  Basically, everyone has been homebound for the last week. It’s been really frustrating, but thankfully the temps will rise up to the 60s this week so most of the ice should be gone by this time tomorrow at the latest.

Now that the weather update is out of the way, let’s dive into a banger of a Monday’s Marketing Minute with a big surprise at the end:

 

Reddit is planning on offering an Initial Public Offering in March. I will be curious to see what the reaction is to this move. Reddit has had its issues in the past. I’ve been using Reddit actively for about six months now. Reddit has one thing going for it that other social media platforms really can’t replicate: It has a community or subreddit for literally every topic under the sun. So it can be a wonderful place to learn about a niche topic and engage with likeminded individuals that you probably can’t find as easily on other social media platforms. On the downside, it has a serious troll problem, in fact I would say it’s on par with Twitter, maybe worse. My guess is the response to the IPO will be a bit lukewarm, unless something changes.

 

So the New York Times is suing OpenAI because it claims that OpenAI is using its copyrighted material to train its ChatGPT AI program. OpenAI has denied these claims, but is rumored to be in talks with three mainstream media sources to license its content for just that purpose. Of the three, Time has confirmed that the talks are happening and are ongoing. The obvious potential problem with this move would be that ChatGPT would likely lean heavily on content provided by these three sources. That’s a worrisome thing, even if the content ChatGPT used in its training is always accurate. But I suspect this will be an ongoing trend, different AI models will sign exclusive agreements with select publishers, and each one will likely create its own identify based off the content sources it uses for training. Maybe this AI tool is for liberals, this one is for conservatives, this one is for NFL fans, this one is for people who engage in outdoor sports.

 

Elon is asking Tesla to let him effectively double his stake in the company.  Elon wants to have a 25% stake in the company, so the AI products he is developing can fall under the Tesla brand and be developed and utilized internally by the company. Elon says if Tesla won’t do so, he will build AI products outside of Tesla. Which would likely mean building them then licensing the AI tools back to Tesla for a hefty fee.  So could be a win-win for Elon, Say what you will about him, but Musk is a smart businessman.

 

BONUS: She’s baaaaaack!!!!  I was on YouTube over the weekend and I was overjoyed to see not one but TWO new marketing/business videos from one of the smartest people I know, the legendary Kathy Sierra. Here’s the first one, she has a followup to this video as well. Please subscribe to Kathy’s YouTube channel to get all her content, she’s just flat out brilliant.

 

So that’s it for this edition of Monday’s Marketing Minute. Later this week I’ll publish the Tourism Power List for January, be looking for that. I hope everyone has a wonderful and productive week!

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Monday’s Marketing Minute: ChatGPT Launches Store, Google Faces Layoffs, Political Ad Spending Soars

Happy Monday, y’all, and a Happy Belated New Year as this the first edition of Monday’s Marketing Minute for 2024.  I hope you have a wonderful week, and be safe to all of you that are dealing with the big snowstorm that’s slowly marching across the country.  Here’s a few business stories that caught my eye over the last few days:

ChatGPT has officially launched a store for custom GPTs. The store will feature custom versions of ChatGPT build around a specific use or set of parameters. For instance, maybe you want one that adopts the persona of a world-class fitness expert, or botanist. Whereas ChatGPT is more general and requires you to engage in ‘prompt engineering’ to get more relevant answers, a lot of that heavy lifting has already been done with the custom GPTs that will be available in the store. Its a great idea to extend the functionality of ChatGPT, and it will drive more sales as you have to be on the paid version of ChatGPT to buy from the store.

 

Google recently announced another round of layoffs from multiple departments as it wants to pivot more resources into its AI offerings. The initial round of layoffs is around 1,000, but some analysts believe that figure could soon balloon to over 30,000.  Twitch and Discord have also had layoffs in addition to previous ones at Meta. So as AI becomes more integrated at the enterprise level in 2024, we could see more layoffs and restructuring at companies across the board

 

And finally, here’s news no one wanted to hear: Political ad spending is expected to jump by 33% in 2024 over 2020 levels. This makes sense as there’s a more crowded field of candidates this time, especially on the Republican side, along with potentially one viable independent candidate in Robert F Kennedy Jr. My sympathy in advance for any of you in a swing state, I can only imagine how bad the robocalls will get.

 

So that’s it for this edition of Monday’s Marketing Minute.  I hope you have a blessed and productive week!

BTW if you are on LinkedIn, please connect with me there. I will be spending a lot more time on LinkedIn in 2024, and likely a lot less on Twitter. So LinkedIn and this blog will be the two main ways to keep up with me on a daily basis moving forward. I hope to see you there, have a great week!