Elon/X (unsurprisingly) can’t make up his/its mind about link titles in feed previews.

It’s obvious why (it’s not because it “looks cleaner”), it makes links look images.

Which means:

• look less clickable
• stay in feed
• see more ads
• collect more pennies as revenue vanishes

This is why you’re like Picasso…

As you get good at something, you embrace more complex options (Notion over Apple Notes, leading meetings, etc).

As you get really good at things you make things simpler again (back to Notes, avoiding meetings, etc).

Reembrace simplicity.

The amateur does not know what to do.

The master knows what not to do.

-James Clear

The master has hiked Picasso’s Hill

As you improve at something, you journey along a curve. You’ve probably seen the memes. I’m sure it’s got some fancy name like "The Complexity Curve of Mastery."

But it looks like a hill. So I’m calling it Picasso’s Hill

Why?

Because dude can draw and paint his ass off. But he got to his signature style by returning to simplicity. Check out Picasso’s Bulls if you want to see this in action.

So about that hill…

When you first start, you’re on the simple end of the curve. 

As you progress you climb the curve to complexity.

Then you hit a point in your progress where you head back down the hill to simplicity.

But this doesn’t mean you’re back where you started. You hiked over a hill.

As James Clear puts it:

The amateur does not know what to do.

The master knows what not to do.

So keep it simple, stupid

JK, you’re not stupid 💜

Stay curious.

Here’s another New Year’s resolution for curious marketers:

DEFER TO DATA

Why guess when you can test?

The benefit of working in a digital world is rapid data collection. Digital is fast and flexible, use that to your advantage. 

We don’t have to rely on opinions or gut feelings.

I have sat in so many meetings where taglines or ad creative or button color is discussed. Meetings filled with “I thinks” and “I likes”. 

Don’t think and feel. Launch & learn.

• The algorithms want more pieces of robot food to learn on.
• People like different things.
• Our brands aren’t just one color and one phrase and one picture.

What I’m saying is:

Yes, I’m being a bit extreme. Our experience and our expertise is what makes us valuable. But we don’t have to settle on one thing.

Narrow down to a few options that represent your brand well and just put them out there. Let your audience decide.

We don’t need to rely on our opinions and gut feelings, we can find out what our customers actually like, which is way better. 

Our opinions don’t matter. Our audience’s opinions matter.

Toss on the lab coat and start cranking out robot food.

& Stay curious.

2024 Resolution: Defer To Data

Why guess when you can test?

We don’t need to rely on our opinions and gut feelings, we can find out what our customers actually like, which is way better.

Toss on that lab coat and start cranking out robot food.

LinkedIn has always been one of the more expensive “social” ad platforms, and it doesn’t look like that is changing anytime soon.

LinkedIn ad prices have soared due to a surge in demand reportedly driven by the advertiser boycott of X.

Reports are 30% increases, but a 20% ROI.

The Professional Network can definitely work for advertisers, just comes with some sticker shock for those used to other digital options.

Is this all just Elon helping out old PayPal Mafia buddy Reid?

2024 Resolution: Kill Your Ego

The work we do as marketers isn’t about us.

As soon as a brand becomes public—with customers and fans—it belongs to them.

So free yourself this year and leave your ego in 2023.

Here’s a New Year’s resolution for curious marketers:

KILL YOUR EGO

The marketing spectrum goes from creator/influencer to agency cog. All ego to no ego. 

As an influencer, you are the product. You are the marketing. You are the message. All you, all the time. 

On the opposite end, you are facilitating other people's products, messages and stories, which means there is no place for you in the telling

But no matter where you are on the spectrum, killing your ego will bring your work to life. 

If you are the brand, it's like you’re playing a character. Creating space so your sense of self worth and individuality aren’t at the whim of the internet masses. 

If you work in support of A Brand™, it’s...also like you're playing a character. You adapt the brand persona and let your personal opinions fall by the wayside. 

Because no matter where you fall on the spectrum, it’s not about you.

It’s about the customer and their story. 

The story they tell themselves and how that story can (or can't) adapt to incorporate your brand. The more work that takes, the less likely they are to become a fan.

Or even a customer. 

So, marketing resolution for 2024: Kill Your Ego

The work we do as marketers isn’t about us. Even as influencers and creators, it isn’t about us.  

As soon as a brand becomes public—with customers and fans—it belongs to them. 

We pour our opinions, tastes, and beliefs into the creation of a brand, but as soon as we launch we enter a state of co-creation.

So free yourself this year and leave your ego in 2023. 

& Stay curious.

On Algorithms

The algorithms always know when I’m having a back flare-up, because I tell them
…
And I will reinforce those suggestions and results by interacting with them (and a dismissal is an interaction, always).

Search engines, algorithmic recommendation engines, advertisers - they are able to serve up “relevant” things about us because their designers and engineers built them to (or in same cases, failed to build them not to) deliver certain outputs in response to certain kinds of prompts and signals, explicit and implicit

Andrew proves his point with the story of Overstock.

The O.co rebrand lasted less than a year because 30-40% of their traffic was getting lost.

He says because people tried going to O.com.

If you are anything except your exact brand match .com, you cannot or should not refer to yourself as your “raw brand.”

-Andrew Rosener

I’m not sure I totally agree with this. But I also know I don’t disagree.

The fun of contradictory thinking!

He does add that any other domain endings need to be part of the brand. For example, this project, which uses Club as part of the name and as a .club TLD (top-level domain).

Regardless, one of the first things you should do when dreaming up a new brand is check your domain registry of choice.

The thing that people don’t think about enough is the audience. The audience is the most important part.

-Lauren Passell

From Future Party:

A new app called Whatever gives users all the tools to plan and ideate dates

As message-based social networking takes off, platforms that are able to inspire the most IRL interaction may be the ones that stand out from the crowd.

uses an in-app discovery feed that aggregates potential date locations across platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Yelp, and Eventbrite.

The major platforms have become foundation layers for others to build on, especially as the 10 Blue Links era of search slowly dies.

Messaging + narrow focus + niche use case + enabling experiences = a winner?

The Streaming Wars are a case study in the impact of interest rates.

Pre-COVInflation, money was free so it was all about subscriber growth (the VC/SV playbook).

Free money train ends & it’s about becoming financially sustainable.

When the dust settles, the profitable will remain.

2 theories on why the Great Rebundling is coming:

1. Netflix was the default, everything else (except Disney) felt like an experimental subscription for users

2. TV ads are purchased by legacy advertisers and agencies. Streaming doesn’t match their status quo. Digital ads are purchased by the new school. Non-self-serve platforms doesn’t match their status quo.

Ad-supported streaming offshoots got caught in the ad revenue valley between digital and legacy advertising powerhouses while linear TV became less enticing for ad buys. Double whammy.

FT: ‘Shakeout has begun’ after $5bn streaming loss for Netflix rivals

The Great Rebundling is coming.

Disney, Warner Bros Discovery, Comcast & Paramount

face a reckoning in 2024 after losing more than $5bn in the past year from the streaming services they built

&

pressure to shrink or sell legacy businesses, scale back production and slash costs following billions in losses

&

a weak advertising market, declining television revenues and higher production costs

Netflix turned a profit and keeps chugging. Sometimes patience is the best strategy. (1st mover advantage never hurts)

Jon Loomer: Are Blogs Making a Comeback?

Social devalues links in favor of videos. Search engines are devolving into AI-powered answer engines. Email open rates are falling.

Channels are composting. While blogs may not be the traffic machines they used to be, they are still a home base you own and can distribute/syndicate your content from.