For a while now, something has felt off.
You’re publishing consistently. You’re showing up on LinkedIn. The blog still gets written. The newsletter still goes out. On paper, everything looks fine.
And yet the returns feel thinner. Engagement feels flatter. Meaningful conversations feel harder to come by.
Most teams respond to this moment the same way: more content, more frequency, more volume. That instinct made sense once. It doesn’t anymore.
Because the problem isn’t that brands stopped publishing. It’s that publishing itself has lost meaning.
In this episode of Bullhorns and Bullseyes, Tom Nixon and Curtis Hays geek out (in the way that only true geeks dare!) on three powerful marketing models that shape how they plan campaigns, create content, and measure success.
If you’ve ever wondered why some campaigns flop while others convert like magic, this episode is your masterclass in doing it the Bullhorns and Bullseyes way—from the top of the funnel to the flip at the end.
That is the art of effective communication.
What I learned in sixth grade holds true today. If you’re using your marketing content and messaging to TELL people why they should engage with you, nobody will relate.
But if you SHOW them—through storytelling, testimonial, metaphorical allusions, emotional connection—your story will resonate. And be remembered.
Allow me to show you how…
If I told you my life story, would you care?
What if I asked you tell me your life story?
Eugene M. Schwartz’s The Brilliance Breakthrough: How to Talk and Write So That People Will Never Forget You should be (and often is) considered to be the “bible” of effective copywriting and storytelling. One of the many tenets Schwartz embraces is the notion of making the reader (or the customer) the hero of the story you’re trying to tell.
Too often, we put the capes on our own backs. And that’s where the writing falls short.
Adrian Lurssen tells the story of when he went to see Nelson Mandela deliver an address in his home country of South Africa. He still draws upon the experience today, but in the most unusual context.
As Adrian has recounted this tale to Jay Harrington and me on an episode of The Thought Leadership Project podcast, he likens this notion of a praise singer to how we considers thought leadership content to work on behalf of the expert that shares it.
See how…
Content is working its way down the sales funnel farther than ever before. While we have historically thought of content in terms of “content marketing”—which generally lives near the top of the sales funnel—we should now be thinking in terms of “content business development.”
But if you’re serving your network and people you’d like to include in your network, by providing them with either things of intellectual value or by raising their profiles somehow, that’s not selling...it’s serving.
You know it to be true in your gut, but it's hard to convince your head of it: you simply can't be everywhere at once. And you can't be all things to all people. So stop doing what’s not working, and do this instead.
Last week I promised to share with you the one marketing tactic that consistently achieves the highest ROI of anything out there, regardless of vertical or market.
Did you guess what it was?
The answer may surprise you…
The most common question I received when launching The Fix "news"letter is why. Why are you (me) providing free tips and best practices, and how can I (that's you) put them into practice? The answer is simple: FOMO.
No, not fear of missing out.
When I'm talking about "FOMO," I'm actually describing the most common mistake I see marketers and business owners make when it comes to marketing their products and services. And I want to help people avoid these costly errors…
The Fix is a free (forever!) monthly "news"letter published by Tom Nixon to curate the best available content and resources for anyone looking to build a business, grow a practice, or increase a network online. Peak inside to see what comes in each issue, and how it will cure your Marketing FOMO forever!
One of my most successful posts on LinkedIn was something I never even posted.
Guess I’d better explain...
We’ve been talking a lot lately about the mark of a true thought leader is a willingness to openly and freely share one’s best ideas—without the expectation of reciprocation or reward. Many are afraid of sharing their ideas publicly and at no charge for fear that they are “giving away free advice” or allowing access to “the secret sauce.”
But here’s the deal: The more you give, the more you get.
What if, like many, you suffer from an aversion to the notion of “selling,” either out of ethical concerns or a simple distaste for the perception of peddling your wares? After all, you want to practice law, or accounting, or consult...you didn’t earn an advanced degree to be a sales person.
Understandable. But as our careers mature, business development becomes crucial to advancement opportunities. So, we might not like to “sell,” but we’d better be active relationship builders, if nothing else. You might not want to cold call a prospect, or send an unsolicited invitation to lunch, or attend a networking event. But you might not have to.
And this is where content comes in.
Learning to talk about what we do and what we sell is a common stumbling block for professionals who are looking to master the art of business development, marketing, networking and generating broader awareness for what they have to offer the world. And I find that the stumbling block usually arises from a simple matter of positioning—not “positioning” in the sense that we marketers typically mean (as in, your value proposition, your brand statement, and your marketing language), but rather who we’re positioning at the center of the conversation.
People looking to buy any product or service—and certainly a sophisticated, high-stakes professional services—almost always are thinking about themselves when they go looking for a solution and service provider. They are considering their own pain, their own apprehensions or ambitions, their own fears or greatest aspirations.
But yet, too many marketers are also thinking of themselves first when they sit down to write marketing copy or bullet points for a sales pitch—when they should be thinking about the prospect out there looking for that solution to achieve their own ends. It is natural—but unwise!— to start with first-person product claims when developing messaging, pitches or marketing language.
Instead, turn that mirror you’re gazing at…into a window. Here’s how….
Budding entrepreneurs understandably want things to move faster than they typically do. If there were a fast-forward button to success, most would lunge for it instinctively.
But there is a danger in getting too far ahead of oneself. Too many entrepreneurs, in my opinion, are being seduced into thinking the path to fame and fortune is paved with viral videos, digital marketing campaigns and the miracles of social media. I'm here to caution you, however, that the Dollar Shave Clubs of the world are the exception...not the rule.
There is a danger in conflating sales with marketing, or considering them the same function, when really they are distinct activities and requisite skill sets. But there is an equal danger in keeping the functions entirely separate, which is often where both programs (sales and marketing) come up short, with departments at large companies pointing figures and making excuses. There is both an art and science to achieving sales-and-marketing success, if only you can properly identify the obstacles and create manageable workarounds to address them.
Which brings us back to professional services firms
