Author Archives: bredemarket

Marketing and writing services.

I Was Parenthetically Incorrect

When a Bredemarket client was reviewing my draft, the client asked about my use of parentheses around individual letters.

“what is the purpose of the “()” in the “(L)eading organizations…” and “(G)en AI…“?”

So I explained.

“I would have to confirm, but presumably the original text said “leading” and “gen.” To properly use the quote as a partial quote I capitalized the words, but enclosed them in parentheses to indicate I modified the original text.”

But I thought I’d better check to see if I was right. Which is good, because I wasn’t. Nancy Lewis in Writing Commons:

“When writers insert or alter words in a direct quotation, square brackets—[ ]—are placed around the change. The brackets, always used in pairs, enclose words intended to clarify meaning, provide a brief explanation, or to help integrate the quote into the writer’s sentence.  A common error writers make is to use parentheses in place of brackets.”

Well, at least I’m not the only one. Lewis also provided several examples, including this one:

“[D]riving is not as automatic as one might think; in fact, it imposes a heavy procedural workload [visual and motor demands] on cognition that . . . leaves little processing capacity available for other tasks” (Salvucci and Taatgen 107).

I just corrected my client’s piece before publication, and will try to remember to use brackets as needed in all pieces day forward. I’m not going to go back through the hundreds of blog posts here and correct them.

Writing Samples I (Mostly) Can’t Share Publicly

So a Bredemarket prospect requested samples of my internal and external sales enablement content, so they could evaluate my writing style.

There were only two problems with the request.

  • First, I can’t provide samples of internal content for other clients. Even privately. Because they’re…internal.
  • Second, reviewing samples of my external content gives no hint of my writing style, since I adjust my writing style to my clients.

But I provided external samples of what I do anyway: two client short data sheets, three client long data sheets, three Bredemarket data sheets, two client landing pages, one Bredemarket landing page, and two other samples.

So I will share one of the landing pages with you, but not a client one. This is one of mine, for Bredemarket’s identity/biometric prospects.

Drive Content Results with Bredemarket Identity Firm Services

Determined Perpetrator of Healthcare Violence

I don’t know that Oosto or even Evolv could have prevented this determined hospital attack in York, Pennsylvania.

“A man carrying a handgun and zip ties took hostages inside a Pennsylvania hospital on Saturday, fatally shooting a responding police officer and wounding five others before he was killed by police, officials said.

“The gunman entered UPMC Memorial hospital in York, Pennsylvania, on Saturday morning and went directly to the intensive care unit, where he took staff members hostage…”

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/gunman-takes-hostages-pennsylvania-hospital-one-officer-killed-2025-02-22/

But Don’t Talk to Me

The 3 marks of a “qualtiy” solicitation:

  • An unsolicited Instagram message offering paid placement in NY Weekly Magazine, from an Instagram account with no visible connection to the magazine, and only 1 follower.
  • Oh, and don’t respond to Sophi for the offer. Respond to a DIFFERENT Instagram account.
  • And the pitch? For me to appear in “Top 30 Female Leaders to Look Out For in 2025.” Doesn’t Sophi know that President Musk doesn’t allow that stuff any more?

I also get Instagram pitches to promote myself to Canadian users.

Meta is a worse cesspool than Microsoft (LinkedIn).

The Reality of Content Calendars and Content Management

(Imagen 3)

I have worked with several companies’ content calendars over the years.

  • Two of Bredemarket’s clients are using Jira to manage their content calendars.
  • Another of Bredemarket’s clients doesn’t (as far as I know) have an official content calendar, but is tracking some content in a go-to-market Excel workbook.
  • If I remember correctly, MorphoTrak also used Excel for content management. MorphoTrak’s parent Morpho used a social media management platform, but I can’t remember which one.
  • At the time I was at Incode, the company used Asana to host its content calendar. (I have no idea how Incode has managed its content since May 2023.)

Bredemarket creates its own content (this is an example), and I also use Asana as my official content management platform.

Sharp-eyed people spotted how I worded that last sentence.

What did I just say?

If you read it again, you’ll see that I only discussed my OFFICIAL content management platform.

Some content, including this blog post/LinkedIn post/wherever else the text ends up, never gets logged in Asana. I just started writing it in iOS Notes and I will add various checkboxes up top as I share it on the blog and social channels.

Some other content, also not logged in Bredemarket’s Asana, is repeatable content that I store in Notes and repost periodically.

Something I post to my identity-related social channels (BIFS = Bredemarket Identity Firm Services).

And sometimes—a lot of the time, actually—I just go to a platform and WRITE stuff.

As a sole proprietor, I enjoy absolute control over Bredemarket’s messaging, and therefore the blog and social media approval process is very…streamlined. That isn’t the case elsewhere, where even a simple tweet requires approval. This makes it hard to live-tweet an event when the approver is unavailable…but there are workarounds. Perhaps I will reveal them one day.

What about process?

But if your corporate environment requires you to impose a strict content management structure, where all content is logged in the content calendar and all content requires approval, make sure that your content logging and approval process protects your company but DOESN’T silence it.

Because if your content approvals are too onerous, you will end up with no content at all.

Or you will end up with…perhaps I will reveal that one day.

Privacy by John Maus

(AI wildebeest and iguana images from Imagen 3)

Discovered a song about privacy (by John Maus) and had to create a reel that used the song. Note the mDL privacy-preserving features toward the end of the reel.

“Dead bolts and windowed bars

Lowered drapes and screened calls

Headphones on tightly”

https://www.instagram.com/share/_ejtehYyr

Privacy.

Nurturing

(Image Public Domain)

I spent most of the afternoon drafting the content for an email nurture campaign, and I’m fascinated by the use of the word “nurture” by product marketers and content marketers.

Here is how HubSpot defines lead nurturing.

“Lead nurturing is the process of building relationships with your prospects with the goal of earning their business when they’re ready. Lead nurturing is important to inbound marketing because it’s your opportunity to provide value to your leads and customers and help them grow with your business.”

I’ve said it before: You’re not a sausage grinder making sausages. You’re a flower attracting bees.

Behind “No KYC” Crypto

This ad displayed in a smartphone game I was playing and linked to a downloadable app in Apple’s App Store. Possibly Google’s and Samsung’s official stores offer this app also.

You know, the authorized places to get apps—for our own protection.

So what’s the big deal about “no KYC” apps? CoinLedger explains. Note: this post is constantly updated to reflect regulatory changes. The text below was captured this morning.

“KYC stands for Know Your Customer. This refers to a set of standards and regulations that allow financial institutions to verify a customer’s identity. KYC laws were originally put into place to protect against money laundering and terrorist activity. 

“Exchanges that abide by KYC policies will ask you for information like your name, address, and a copy of government-issued ID upon signup….

“MexC is a cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2018 and headquartered in Seychelles. 

“You can get started using the platform with no KYC. However, MecX does require KYC for certain types of transactions, such as crypto-to-crypto and derivative trades. 

“For years, MexC was one of the most popular no KYC exchanges in the United States. However, MexC stopped offering services to US customers in 2023. Trying to get around this restriction with a VPN may lead to you losing access to your crypto.”

Steve Jobs Ruined “Shell Oil”

(Image from https://www.textstudio.com//logo/digital-clock-text-effect-985)

Jobs and his danged calligraphy.

Back before Jobs co-founded Apple Computer, typing “71077345” into a dedicated calculator (with an “LCD” style typeface) and flipping it upside down showed a recognizable word. Isn’t that cool?

Now, hardly anyone has dedicated calculators, and the one on my smartphone has a “normal” typeface that ruins the trick.

Not the same.

And with Adobe Firefly creating typefaces now, the “SHELLOIL” days are a distant “let’s get you home Grandpa” memory.