The power of thank you.

01-23-2025: Marketing stories, tips and insights

Earlier this week I was chatting with a couple of friends who are entrepreneurs. I knew that one of them was considering hiring someone to help her with something in her business.

I let her know that she should hire someone else.

Why?

I’d recently spent some time with this business owner and given them some (free) advice and insights. I’d also sent an email with ideas on potential next steps they could consider.

But here’s the thing: I never got a response. Not even a quick “thank you.”

That small moment stuck with me.

It reminded me that marketing isn’t just about the posts, emails, or campaigns we put out into the world—it’s also about the quieter, invisible moments that build trust and relationships.

A simple thank you would have changed this conversation and story. And to led to business for someone.

Tip of the week

Do people really understand what you do when they land on your website? Find out by trying this 5-second test.

Send a DM to someone who may be interested in your business. Ask them to spend 5 seconds on your homepage.

In those 5 seconds, can they clearly understand what you do? If not, it may be time to rethink your messaging.

What’s on my (marketing radar)?

I’m still continuing to think through how people are feeling overall about social media these days and what that means.

If you’re a good human you’ve most likely been feeling uneasy about the social media news. You may be ready to leave certain platforms and want to try ones like BlueSky. But then discover that many of the same problems you saw on X still exist on these. Sidenote: My feeling is that all of these micro-blogging platforms have this issue. People can get very nasty when hiding behind the written word.

The other thing that I see people wrestling with is the idea of replacement. I saw many marketers recommend moving over to Instagram or YouTube in the lead up to the TikTok ban. But the reality is that you can’t just replace what you have built elsewhere and they all are very different platforms. I could have a separate conversation about this and my views on why this is pretty non strategic advice.

There’s lots of questions swirling around for me. What ones do you have these days? And where do you think the social media line is for you these days? What change do you want to stand behind?

Friends share good things with one another

For the many reasons that social media has issues, it has also brought joy, inspiration, connection and community. It’s also allowed creators to share their talents in ways that haven’t existed before.

I stumbled across this account this week and it’s all about documenting your year through embroidery. I felt inspired to try it but then realized it has been many years since I’ve embroidered…But then I saw that there’s a kit to help!