Thought Leadership, Creative Services
Tom Nixon
Why Ask Why?

Model Behavior

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.

Why Ask Why?
Creative Services, Thought Leadership
Tom Nixon
The Power of Storytelling

"Show me, don't tell me."

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…

The Power of Storytelling
Thought Leadership, Creative Services
Tom Nixon
Don't Be a Hero

Who Is the Hero In Your Story?

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.

Don't Be a Hero
Thought Leadership, Podcasting
Tom Nixon
Let Content Be Your Praise Singer

You Don’t Have to Be in the Room to Gain Influence

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…

Let Content Be Your Praise Singer
Creative Services
Tom Nixon
The Marketing Holy Grail

The Parable of the Fisher King, and How It Applies to Your Messaging

One of my all-time favorite movies was Terry Gilliam’s The Fisher King, staring Robin Williams, Jeff Bridges and Mercedes Ruehl. The movie’s key lesson — as told through a parable — is one that I think applies to much more than just life and love. The parable of The Fisher King and the movie from which it is taken provide a useful allegory for effective messaging, positioning and branding.

In a key moment in the movie, Robin Williams’s character tells the story to Jeff Bridges’s character:

The Marketing Holy Grail

How to Structure an Effective Thought Leadership Article

How to Structure an Effective Thought Leadership Article

If you are in the business of selling expertise, a professional service, or consulting engagements, one of the best ways to earn the confidence of a prospective client is to consistently and convincingly demonstrate domain authority and subject matter expertise.

Here is my formula for structuring written content that will earn the interest of your clients, referral sources and prospects, and ultimately, establish you as the preferred candidate for anyone looking to hire a service provide in your particular domain of expertise.

What is Content Business Development?

Most people are familiar with the term "content marketing" as it relates to thought leadership. But what is "content business development?" Recently referenced by prior guest Adrian Lurssen of JD Supra, this is (as the name suggests) content that lives and operates further down the sales funnel.

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To be specific:

  • Refresher course: What is a sales funnel?

  • How content and thought leadership now operate across the entirety of the sales funnel.

  • How can professionals use various formats of content for business development purposes, in addition to its marketing uses?

  • A handful of specific examples of content being used as business development tools for listeners to consider.

  • An invitation, not a solicitation. The offer, not the cold call.

  • How should professionals be thinking differently about their content marketing strategy in 2021?

Reading & Resources

What is Helpful Content?

What is Helpful Content?

Google’s recent algorithm update provides guidance on writing content that is deemed “helpful.” This is not only good SEO practice, this is just sound advice. This is who will win the content game, now and apparently into the future: real people who can distill complex subject matter and serve it up generously and consistently to help real people solve real problems.

Learn how to write helpful content…

Know Your Value. Then Sell It.

Know Your Value. Then Sell It.

Follow your passion?

Maybe. But I’ve always found that to come off as a bit hokey. It’s easy to say if you’re one of the 0.1% of people who hit it big, strike it rich, or achieve fame and fortune. “Follow your passion. That’s what I did, and now look at me!”

But you know who else followed their passions? The 99.9% of people who you’ve never heard of. Following a passion wasn’t enough for them. Most who pursue stardom fail, then move on to something else as Plan B.

That something else is known as “the real world” by many. Myself included.

Here’s what Kenny Loggins suggests…

You Won't Get Hired for Your Expertise

You Won't Get Hired for Your Expertise

The Surprising Reasons People Actually Buy from You

The above is the title of a podcast I recently listened to called “7-Figure Small,” a podcast hosted by Brian Clark. Of course, it caught my attention, as any good title will. “What is the surprise, pray tell?! I just HAVE to listen to find out!”

So I did. And you know what? Brian was right on.

This somewhat counterintuitive and, dare I say, provocative headline is 100% true. And it runs counter to what most people think…myself (in the past) included.

Professional service providers like to think we get hired for our expertise. But that’s not the case…

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Who's the Hero in Your Story?

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Who's the Hero in Your Story?

Too often, the language we tend to use in marketing and advertising puts ourselves as the hero in the journey — the one coming to the rescue of the client or customer.

When, in reality, the client, customer or prospect truly only cares about his or her own journey…their own challenges, aspirations and coveted conquests.

Continue reading to see how this story can have a happy ending for you and your marketing efforts…

How Memento Will Change Your Marketing

How Memento Will Change Your Marketing

If you want to design a successful marketing program, watch the movie Memento.

(If you’ve never seen the Christopher Nolan classic, Memento is a story that is told in reverse chronology. The first scene of the movie is actually the final event in the story. The second scene depicts the events that immediately preceded the first scene, or final chapter. The third scene depicts the events that immediately preceded that. And so on it goes, all the way to the final scene, which depicts the first event in the storyline — the one that kicked off the chain of events, told backwards, from back to front.)

Here’s how that would work…

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To Sell a Story, You Must Tell a Story

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To Sell a Story, You Must Tell a Story

What’s more convincing: If I told you how many times I’ve helped a client out of given problem, or if I told you a story about the person I helped yesterday?

Too often, we litter our marketing copy with statistics—facts, figures, bullet points, specs, product lists, empty promises—when we should be telling stories. Stories are magical tools that convince people that what you claim to be true is actually rooted in reality. Stories make people feel. They make people care.

There is an old quote, often misattributed, that is taken from a work of fiction: “The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic.” Here’s how you can apply that logic to your marketing messaging…

Show Me, Don't Tell Me

Show Me, Don't Tell Me

“Show me, don’t tell me.”

Those were the words a younger, deflated Tom Nixon read written in red atop his recently submitted creative writing assignment. The admonishment, coming from my sixth-grade teacher, would be a recurring theme in my life.

The lesson that first I learned in grade school, and kept relearning throughout life, would become a valuable asset in career as a content creator for businesses and professional services firms.

How to Know if Content Marketing Is Working

How to Know if Content Marketing Is Working

The goal of content marketing in the business-to-business world is not to convince someone who is not in the market for your product or service to buy from you when they’re not in need. B2B decision-making doesn’t happen that way.

Yet too many B2B marketers put too much pressure on themselves to identify success metrics in a way that consumer marketers and advertisers might. The mistake they’re making is applying consumer marketing methodology to an ecosystem with a much longer buying cycle, a much more sophisticated buyer, and likely, a much higher price point than a typical consumer product.