The Idea Mill
Insights + Observations About the Power of Content
A product innovator walks into an advertising agency...
He's invented the best hammer to ever hit the market. Now he needs the agency's help to tell the world all about it.
"What makes this hammer so special?" the creative director asks.
"Just look at it," the proprietor beams with pride. "It's a work of art."
"Why would anyone buy it?" the agency lead asks.
Anyone can produce words. Even artificial intelligence can kick out fairly convincing-sounding words. But those aren’t ideas. At least not yours.
Ideas are the synthesis of available information, filtered through the prism of your unique perspectives and lived experiences, and delivered with proscriptive advice and personalized guidance. And the best ideas belong to the thought leaders among us.
Are your best ideas worthy of broader recognition? Let’s find out…
I never thought I’d be a “journal” guy. But smart people I know and trust continued to testify to its merits, and one day I took them up on the advice to start journaling.
Consider this the most recent installment, which I share publicly and nakedly as a way to announce my latest creative pursuit…
Why start a podcast?
For fame? Fortune? Celebrity? Unlikely…
If the question were reframed as "Why establish a content marketing platform that isn't about writing and reading, doesn't require video, isn't about SEO...but during which you can captivate the undivided attention of a listener for 30-45 minutes — and at the same time, yield enough content for multiple blog posts, a newsletter, several short videos and one long one, plus the naturally generated text that will improve your website's search engine visibility?"...
Why?
It's a simple question. So why do so many ignore it?
The Power of Why is no longer just a clever title for an impactful TEDTalk delivered by Simon Sinek...it's an obligation.
Curtis Hays and I dive deep into the importance of "intent" this week on the Bullhorns and Bullseyes #podcast — both from a messaging standpoint but, importantly, also from a search engine perspective.
So, if you've been ignoring my pleas to "LEAD WITH THE WHY" up until now, that is no longer just evasive procrastination...it's putting you behind your competitors in the all-important search engine competition.
Jay Harrington is president of the HARRINGTON agency and is one of the country’s leading consultants and strategists in the areas of legal marketing, PR and business development. His particular passion and profound area of expertise is building a network and growing an audience on LinkedIn to generate more and better new business opportunities.
In this podcast crossover event — Tom and Jay also separately co-host the Thought Leadership Project podcast — Curtis and they discuss tips for publishing thought leadership and content marketing on LinkedIn.Together, they explore the engagement metrics on the platform and the effectiveness of using LinkedIn as an advertising platform. They also highlight the importance of understanding your audience and narrowing your niche, as well as the need for sustained effort and consistency in creating thought leadership content on LinkedIn.
If you are producing a podcast to grow your business—and not be the next internet celebrity—you don’t need to appeal to everybody. You only need to serve a very distinct and defined core audience. Unless you’re the next Joe Rogan or Howard Stern, you’re not going to amass an audience of millions. But that’s not the point.
Here’s how business owners and professional service providers can take advantage of the fastest-growing form of media out there today…and have a little fun doing it.
I am so very humbled by the early reviews for my most recent novel, The Fatal Flaw. Thank you to all who have read and reacted so far. For those who haven’t, and for whom a suspense novel might be of interest, I offer the first chapter as a “sneak peek” as to what’s inside…
IF I LIVE TO BE 100, I’ll never forget that look…
