Rants & Waves

I was gently critiqued by a reader of the Weekly Report last week. He told me my rant last week against DoorDash was well written, but nobody really cared about the subject matter. He also said that when I post about my boat (or troubles with my boat) that people without boats could care less. He suggested that I should write more about marketing topics and less about personal stuff. Others emailed back positive things about the “rants and waves.” #myquote 

Hey look, I get it. I’m not everyone’s cup of tea, every week. I’ve also been told by colleagues many times that my writing style and subject matter choices don’t always align with the latest trends in branding, marketing and PR. When I started writing every week back in 2011, I was advised by everyone in the company that no one would ever read a weekly marketing email. 

In 2011, we had 190 subscribers in Constant Contact. Today, it’s over 10,000. 

In the last 14 years of writing this missive, I have waxed poetic about a wide variety of topics. Through the years I have given business advice, marketing tidbits and examples of good brands and bad brands. I have talked about trends in AI technology and warned everyone that some day the robot overlords will kill us all. But I’ve also given scores of the Alberta Smith Sharks football victories and posted videos of my daughter, singing her heart out, at the Manchester High School show choir.

I have updated you on client wins, awards, and news of team members personal and professional successes. I’ve added pics of weddings, engagements, newborns, Christmas parties and singing happy birthday (in terrible time and tone) on Zoom. My favorite is when I’m on vacation and one of the team reaches out, usually with a terrible photo of me, grossly photoshopped by one of the design team. Looking at you, AJ. 🙂

Somehow, some way, I’ve always tried to balance the personal and the business and bring in some sort of relevance. So here’s the kicker.

We send out the Weekly Report. Madison+Main posts on Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn. We work hard. We play hard. And we share it all with you; clients, friends, family, and business associates. 

Why? Our newsletter and social media is how we show you the people behind our business. After all, you don’t do business with a logo or building. You do business with other people. 

Take a look at your company’s email newsletter and its Facebook page. Is it full of content about people or is it all business? If your biz communications are all business, that’s what we call marketing. If it’s focused on the people behind the business, that’s what we call branding.

#BoldBrandsWin