∞

A Costco anecdote:

When Amazon was going through a difficult time after the dot com bust, Jim Sinegal and Jeff Bezos met for coffee and Sinegal explained to Bezos that there are two kinds of companies. The first focus on extracting value to[from?] customers and the second focuses on always giving customers value. Costco was firmly the second kind.

∞

Costco inspires a crazy amount of loyalty, largely because of their obsession with the customer.

You might learn something from this post about the warehouse chain.

Everything is customer service.

∞

John Lee Dumas of the Entrepreneurs on Fire podcast said on the Nudge podcast that in a post-AI world

Trust, and then verify

becomes

Doubt, and then verify

How does this shift change your messaging?

∞

& an always timely reminder from Ben Evans:

Your MPs’ WhatsApp group can be secure, or it can readable by law enforcement and the Chinese, but you cannot have encryption that can be broken only by our spies and not their spies. Pick one.

∞

Ben Evans on reactions to new rules or regulations but also probably on your customers & target audience:

when people say ‘no’, they might actually mean one of three different things, and it’s important to understand the difference.

First, and this is the default, they’re saying no because they just don’t like it. ‘No’ just means ‘that’s annoying’.

Second, though, [they] might be saying no because this really will have very serious negative consequences that you haven’t understood.

If the second kind of ‘no’ is ‘that’s a really bad idea’, the third kind is ‘we actually can’t do that’.

∞

Third-party cookies have been killed in the name of privacy, but the short-term replacement is the opposite of privacy-aligned: IP addresses

Once cookies fully deprecate, ad-tech systems already using IP addresses will likely target them with greater frequency as they search for signals to meet advertisers’ goals.

But advertisers shouldn’t expect performance at the level of third-party cookies. IP addresses are more likely to be linked to several individuals than a cookie, meaning that they aren’t as precise, and they are also useless if a user is using a virtual private network

∞

Finished reading: Big Boy Leaves Home from Uncle Tom’s Children by Richard Wright 📚

∞

We are underestimating how cheap it’s going to be to copy an existing business in 2024.

You’re no longer measuring in decades when a company will be subject to disruption, I think you’re measuring it in—frankly—months.

If you’re profitable, you have a chance to survive. If you’re unprofitable, you’re going to be under a lot of pressure.

-All-In Podcast

Distinctiveness is the key to brand survival.

∞

When you have a generic content generator, everything looks generic content

generating the content isn’t the expensive part, generating the knowledge is where the cost (and the competitive advantage) lies. AI helps with both, but you need an internal culture that understands the difference.

∞

Re: Apple paying for training data

Meta is in the best position here because of its social graph and user engagement history.

Apple’s privacy stance means no real user data but it has a massive bank account and history of working with rights holders (see: iTunes).

The hardware platform is its killer feature though. It doesn’t need to be the fastest scaling consumer app in history to become relevant, it just needs to ship via software update.

Imagine a day where you wake up, your Apple Watch recognizes you put your AirPods in and starts a personalized podcast via Siri of relevant news, stock updates, weather, and your calendar. Maybe even your recent messages and emails and reminders.

It’s mostly just plumbing and PR at this point.

∞

Techmeme Ride Home with some interesting Apple AI bits:

  • has an open source LLM
  • working on deals with publishers for training data
  • research towards complex AI on device (custom AI-friendly chips already in use)

Apple has the best shot of shifting AI from data centers to the edge, is it beginning?

∞

Meta is aware of a loophole that lets the message spam tsunami through & engineering is working on a fix.

In the meantime, this might help. Navigate to:

  • Business Suite
  • Inbox
  • Settings
  • Chat Plugin
  • Customize your Chat Plugin
  • Turn off Guest chat
A screenshot from Meta showing the Guest chat option enabled. From the setting details: Let people chat with your business without logging into Messenger while using the Chat Plugin on your website.
∞

As interest targeting slowly goes by the wayside in favor of AI and algorithmically driven targeting, the targeting us marketers have the most control over is the pieces we feed the robots.

That means creative.

Your messaging and visual assets are where your true targeting capabilities lie.

∞

Meta expert Andrew Foxwell says the removal of detailed targeting means no more narrowing interest audiences via AND layering.

I don’t see this spelled out in the Meta post about it, but it would make sense under the “too granular” reasoning.

∞

TikTok usage is starting to slow — is TikTok Shop to blame?

new data indicates that TikTok’s growth has started to slow, begging the question if the app’s move into e-commerce via TikTok Shop is to blame.

The price (for platforms) of enshittification?

∞

Sponsored article are now available on Linkedin

you can now sponsor them for awareness, engagement, or even LEAD GENERATION

without sending users off Linkedin to consult your article

Just messaged the Blue Ion team to get this rolling for clients.

On-LinkedIn blogging through articles and newsletters is a great way to build awareness. This turns the amplification knob to 11.

(Just post those blog and newsletter posts to an owned platform too.)

∞

Finished reading: Haruki Murakami Manga Stories 1 by Haruki Murakami 📚

∞

WhatsApp noted that its 2 billion user base sends 7 billion voice messages daily.

via TechCrunch

∞

Test or beta? Who knows, but hopefully it’s a toy we all get.

Google is toying with campaign-level headlines and descriptions.

This is all “as seen on LinkedIn,” but looks like you can add up to 3 headlines & 2 descriptions to an entire campaign and set on-off dates. Perfect for promos.

A screenshot of Google Ads showing the campaign-level headline setup
∞

Older Homeowners Are Staying Put, Freezing Out Young Families

I don’t expect this segment of the housing market to free up anytime soon.

Pandemic stimulus + the Great Resignation was older generations securing their forever homes and preparing for retirement or calling it quits.