Identity/biometrics/technology marketing and writing services
Whether I’m creating content for Bredemarket or creating product marketing material for an employer (past or future), it’s important to ask some critical questions first.
My LinkedIn profile contains the three simple words “why customers benefit.” Not “what producers feature”—why customers benefit. Those three words encapsulate my approach to marketing…well, until I come up with three different words. Or two.
Song by Annie Lennox. Original reel on the Bredemarket Instagram account.
I’m enjoying my latest project with one of Bredemarket’s clients, because it allows me to do something I normally don’t do as a consultant.
Write emails.
Normally it’s not economically feasible for me to write emails for Bredemarket, since I (for once) agree with the experts and keep my emails in the 100-word range. Because my normal minimum word length is 400 words, I usually don’t write emails for clients.
Except when the demand generation director on this client’s project envisions AN ENTIRE SEQUENCE of emails.
You see, the demand generation director…um…demanded that I write an entire email sequence.
Actually, EVERY email in the sequence includes a link to go to the landing page and request a meeting. These are called “discovery meetings” in the trade, but you don’t have to call them that if you don’t want to. As noted above, I refer to my client meeting as a “content needs assessment.” Call the meetings wildebeests if you feel like it.
Back to my client’s demand generation director. The sequence of emails they requested tells a story. But rather than telling a short story in a single email, this sequence includes multiple emails, in which the content in each email builds upon the previous email, like chapters in a book.
Which leads me to Charles Dickens.
When 20th and 21st century readers encounter the works of Charles Dickens, we are handed a complete novel.
But that’s not how Dickens published his stories. Dickens’ tales were published in serial form.
Most of the novels, including Nicholas Nickleby, Dombey and Son, David Copperfield, Bleak House, Little Dorrit, and Our Mutual Friend, appeared in monthly parts following a very specific formula developed by Dickens and his publishers with the release of Dickens’s first full-length novel The Pickwick Papers (1836 – 37). The Pickwick Papers appeared in 20 parts over a period of 19 months. (The last part was a “double issue” that included parts 19 and 20). Each part contained 32 pages of letter press, 2 illustrations, various advertisements, and came wrapped in a flimsy green-paper front and back cover. The price for each part was one shilling (except for the last “double issue,” which was two). This price was very cheap compared to the standard price of a book, which at the time was 31 shillings 6 pence.
From https://dickens.ucsc.edu/resources/faq/by-the-word.html.
Other than cost savings, why did Dickens and his publishers share his content in serial form?
Dickens’s 20-part formula was successful for a number or reasons: each monthly number created a demand for the next since the public, often enamored of Dickens’s latest inventions, eagerly awaited the publication of a new part; the publishers, who earned profits from the sale of numbers each month, could partially recover their expenses for one issue before publishing the next; and the author himself, who received payment each time he produced 32 pages of text (and not necessarily a certain number of words), did not have to wait until the book was completed to receive payment.
From https://dickens.ucsc.edu/resources/faq/by-the-word.html.
And there was one other extremely personal benefit for Charles Dickens.
It was largely on the strength of his generous monthly stipend for The Pickwick Papers that Dickens was able to marry Catherine Hogarth in 1836.
From https://dickens.ucsc.edu/resources/faq/by-the-word.html.
So serialization helped Charles Dickens create demand, generate wealth, AND get the girl. Can’t argue with that. (Although they subsequently separated.)
I am not Charles Dickens, but I’m trying to incorporate storytelling into Bredemarket’s work.
For example, the email sequence I created for the demand generation director shares details about how the problems the prospects may face, and how the client has helped their customers overcome these problems.
It all fits into the client story.
What’s the most important question to ask before telling a client story?
No, what ISN’T the most important question.
As I’ve said before, WHY is the most important question.
If you’d like to see all seven of the questions that your content creator should ask you, look below. And no, it’s not in seven serial mini-books, but in a single volume.
Although I did serialize the questions on Instagram. Chuck would be proud.
The Freelancers Union wants me to write my state senator and voice my support for California Senate Bill 988, called either the “Freelance Isn’t Free Act” or the “Freelance Worker Protection Act” depending upon who you ask.
I’m not sure if that’s a good thing.
This post talks about:
Semantics are semantics.
I do not choose to refer to myself as a “freelancer”—my preferred term is “sole proprietor.” But for practical purposes there is no real difference between a non-incorporated freelancer, sole proprietor, independent contractor, or whatever word you want to use to describe people who conduct business on their own without creating a partnership, a limited liability company, or some type of corporation. (If I incorporated, I’d have to pay the state of California $800 a year, as we will see later.)
But in certain circles, the term “freelancer” is in vogue, and I really don’t have a problem with it.
There’s even a union. Sort of.
The Freelancers Union, based in Brooklyn, New York, advocates for freelancers. My major point of contact with the Freelancers Union has been the SPARK groups that host meetings on a monthly basis. Between 2020 and 2022 I was regularly attending the virtual (COVID-imposed) meetings of the Orange County, California SPARK group. The meetings have definitely been helpful; that’s where I learned about brand archetypes, and it’s where I learned about the business-to-business exemptions for classifying workers as employees or non-employees in California. For example, I learned that California Assembly Bill 5 (AB 5) was superseded by Assembly Bill 2257 (AB 2257).
While Orange County is changing, it still has a reputation as a not-so-leftist place, so our local SPARK chapter didn’t march around and create rhymes and call people scabs.
Actually, the Freelancers Union isn’t really a union. We don’t pay dues (although the Freelancers Union accepts donations), and we don’t picket against clients who don’t support the union. For obvious reasons, since a single picketing freelancer can’t shut down a company in the same way that a mass of picketing employees can shut down, say, a Starbucks. (Or try to.)
But while the Freelancers Union can’t strike, it can impact legislation.
The Freelancers Union’s initial target jurisdiction was its home city of New York, where the first “Freelance Isn’t Free” law was passed in 2017.
Several of the new rights granted under the law include a right to a written contract and timely payment for work performed and freedom from retaliation and discrimination when they exercise their rights. In addition, the law provides for an award of double damages and attorneys’ fees to freelancers who prevail on their claims in court.
From https://blog.freelancersunion.org/2018/05/15/how-to-file-a-nonpayment-claim-with-the-nyc-department-of-consumer-affairs/
The Freelancers Union and the city of New York define “timely payment” as net 30 terms.
Which reminds me of a bandleader I used to know.
As some of you know, my 25-year history with IDEMIA stretches back a long way. I started with a company called Printrak International, at the time an independent company first privately owned, then traded on NASDAQ. Despite its lofty position as a publicly traded company, it was a pretty small, informal outfit.
Until Printrak was acquired by Motorola, a huge multinational firm with almost 150,000 employees and a presence in police radios, cellular telephones, and many other industries. While the company shrunk during the years I was an employee, it was still a pretty big outfit.
One thing that didn’t change was the annual Users Conference held for the law enforcement agencies that used our software. By the time Motorola acquired Printrak, that software was called Omnitrak, and would later be renamed Printrak BIS.
The Users Conferences (which IDEMIA continues to this day) have always been a mixture of education and entertainment. Education in the form of training in the use of Omnitrak/Printrak BIS and in forensic techniques, and entertainment in the form of a midweek party and an end-of-week banquet.
That’s where my coworker comes in. I’m not going to refer to him by name; for purposes of this blog post I’ll refer to him as “Cliff.”
Now Cliff, who had been with the company longer than I had, thought he’d do a favor for his employer Motorola. He’d assemble a band to play at the midweek party and bill Motorola for the band’s services.
That’s when Cliff learned just how big Motorola is.
You see, if you want to do business with a big company like Motorola, you have to play by Motorola’s rules. And in the case of Motorola, that meant net 45 terms.
So Cliff wouldn’t get paid for 45 days, but he’d have to pay his band members long before that.
Ouch.
Now if the Freelance Isn’t Free Act provisions had applied at the time, Motorola would have been required to pay Cliff within 30 days. However, this incident occurred long before the Freelance Isn’t Free act was passed, and the incident occurred outside of the jurisdiction of New York City.
While versions of the Freelance Isn’t Free Act have been passed in a few other jurisdictions, including the city of Los Angeles, the state of California was not governed by such a law.
We have some exciting news! Just last week California State Senator Scott Wiener introduced Senate Bill 988 (SB 988) or as we like to call it, the Freelance isn’t Free Act. As in other parts of the country, where we have been successful in implementing similar laws, it aims to ensure fundamental protections for freelance workers, enforced by the State Labor Commissioner and the Attorney General. These protections include the right to a contract, prompt payment within 30 days of completing work, and the right to double damages for non-payment.
From https://blog.freelancersunion.org/2024/02/08/new-legislation-introduced-to-expand-freelance-protections-to-california-state/.
It turns out that Senator Wiener didn’t adopt the Freelancers Union’s preferred branding, and instead called his bill the “Freelance Worker Protection Act.” I don’t know if this means that I’m supposed to picket the Senator, but the bill title is what it is.
Why do we need a bill covering all of California when there’s already a bill in Los Angeles? The Freelancers Union addresses this:
Similar legislation was passed in the City of Los Angeles in February 2023, but it has limitations, notably covering only work performed within county limits. Given the rise of remote freelancing, especially due to the pandemic, this loophole disincentivizes hiring freelance workers residing and working in Los Angeles.
From https://blog.freelancersunion.org/2024/02/08/new-legislation-introduced-to-expand-freelance-protections-to-california-state/.
We’ll come back to this in a minute.
As a freelancer, CA SB988 obviously benefits me, primarily because it helps me get paid. If a client stiffs me, I can sic lawyers on them and then the client will REALLY have to pay.
Enough said.
However, not all is rosy for freelancers if SB988 passes, and it potentially impacts me personally.
A couple of years ago, I signed a contract with another multinational company. And this contract has net 90 terms. I’m not all that happy about it, but if this is what it took for me to do business with that company, then this is what it took.
If SB988 passes, then I will need to go to this multinational and inform them that since I am a California resident, those 90 day terms are now illegal, and you will have to amend these to net 30 terms if you wish to enjoy the marketing and writing services of Bredemarket.
And of course I’m sure that the multinational will readily agree…
…that because of the requirements imposed by the state of California, perhaps the multinational doesn’t need to do business with Bredemarket any more. There are certainly talented writers in South Dakota or India who can write things that are “good enough” for this particular multinational.
At this point it is impossible to predict the number of freelancers who will lose some income because their clients insist on terms greater than net 30. Because the similar Illinois law won’t go into effect until July 1, and appears to only affect contracts executed after that date, it’s too early to tell whether large companies will refrain from doing business with freelancers in Illinois due to the state’s “onerous” conditions. The same could hold true in California.
Could freelancers in certain states be shut out of contracts? It’s already happening with employees. And one person who employed someone from California found out the hard way that California labor requirements can be onerous:
You’d think that I could simply tell them (the California Employment Development Department) that I’m not doing business in California and be done with it. No — California defines “doing business” in a number of ways, one of which is to have more than 25% of your payroll in California. Which I had, because I had only one employee.
So now, because I employed one of their residents, I’m fully subject to California regulation. I have to file all of the employment-related forms, including those pertaining to withholding and unemployment insurance (which I expected). I also have to register my company with the California Secretary of State and renew my information every year or face penalties, and apparently I have to file a corporate income tax return
You’d think I’d be able to file a simple return, file zeroes on it, and be done with it. But no — I had to pay my accountant to do it, and the form is literally 42 pages long. That cost a few hundred dollars. And in the end, I still owed them $800. For 2019 alone; I’ll also owe them for 2020 and 2021.
I owe $800 for the “minimum franchise tax”. California charges this fee to everyone for the “privilege” of “doing business” in California, whether they have revenue or not. Only a few states have a business franchise tax, and California’s is wildly higher than anywhere else. This is in addition to California’s generally out of control taxes.
From https://ccleve.com/p/dont-hire-remote-employees-living.
So if California ends up being marked with a big red X by employers, will California also end up being marked with a big red X by companies hiring independent contractors?
Time will tell.
February 4. 2024
Bredemarket
1030 N Mountain Ave #259
Ontario, CA 91762-2114
As my employer, I am informing you that I am no longer required to report for jury duty on Monday, February 5. I have confirmed this on the San Bernardino County Superior Court website.
Please let me know if you need any additional information.
Sincerely,
John Bredehoft
As you may know, I dislike the phrase “target audience” and am actively seeking an alternative.
So far the best alternative to “target audience” that I’ve found is “hungry people,” which not only focuses on people rather than an abstraction, but also focuses on those who are ready to purchase your product or service.
But I just found an instance in which “thirsty people” may be better than “hungry people.” Specifically, for the Colorado spirits company Friday Deployment, which engages in product marketing in a very…um…targeted way. Including the use of a micro-influencer who is well-known to Friday Deployment’s thirsty people.
Heads up for regular Bredemarket blog readers: the “why” and “how” questions are coming.
Why does Friday Deployment aim its product marketing at technologists?
The website doesn’t elaborate on this, but according to LinkedIn, company owner Rishi Malik is also the VP of Engineering for Varo Bank (an active user of identity verification), and Malik’s history includes two decades of engineering experience. That’s enough to drive anyone to drink, on Fridays or any other day.
Presumably because of this background, Friday Deployment’s product marketing is filled with tech references. Here’s a sample from Friday Deployment’s web page (as of Friday, February 2, 2024).
It was inevitable. The tree is out of date, the history is a mess, and you just want to start your weekend. Maybe you just do a quick little
From https://fridaydeployment.co/.git push --force? Maybe someone already did, and you now get to figure out the correct commit history?
But that isn’t the only way that Friday Deployment markets to its “thirsty people.”
How else does Friday Deployment address a technologist audience?
Those of you who are familiar with LinkedIn’s tempests in a teapot realize that LinkedIn users don’t spend all of their time talking about green banners or vaping during remote interviews.
We also spend a lot of time talking about Brittany Pietsch.
TL;DR:
Since Friday Deployment’s “thirsty people” were probably familiar with the Brittany Pietsch story, the company worked with her to re-create her termination video…with a twist. (Not literally, since Pietsch drank the gin straight.)
@brittanypeachhh Not every day is a good day at work. But every day is a good day for gin. Check out fridaydeployment.co.
♬ original sound – Brittany Pietsch
Well, the product marketing ploy worked, since I clicked on the website of a spirits company that was new to me, and now I’m on their mailing list.
The Friday Deployment product marketing partnership with Brittany Pietsch worked…mostly. Except that I have one word of advice for company owner Rishi Malik.
With your Varo Bank engineering experience, you of all people should realize that Friday Deployment’s age verification system is hopelessly inadequate. A robust age verification system, or even an age estimation system, or even a question asking you to provide your date of birth would be better.
But enough about Friday Deployment. Let’s talk about YOUR technology firm.
How can your company market to your thirsty (or hungry) people? Bredemarket can’t create funny videos with micro-influencers, but Bredemarket can craft the words that speak to your audience.
To learn more about Bredemarket’s marketing and writing services for technology firms, click on the image below.
Sorry, but all this discussion about Friday…well, I can’t help myself.
And Rebecca Black, who actually has a very fine voice and sounds great when she’s singing non-inane lyrics, has engaged in a number of marketing opportunities herself. See if you can spot her in this ad.
Some firms make claims and don’t support them, while others support their claims with quantified benefits. But does quantifying help or harm the firms that do it? This pudding post answers this question…and then twists toward the identity/biometrics market at the end.
Whoops.
In that heading above, I made a huge mistake by introducing an acronym without explaining it. So I’d better correct my error.
GCP stands for Glowing Carbonated Pudding.
I can’t assume that you already knew this acronym, because I just made it up. But I can assure you that the GCP market is a huge market…at least in my brain. All the non-existent kids love the scientifically advanced and maximally cool pudding that glows in the dark and has tiny bubbles in it.
Now if you had studied this non-existent market like I have, you’ll realize from the outset that most of the players don’t really differentiate their offerings. Here are a few examples of firms with poor product marketing:
You can probably figure out what happened here.
Frankly, these pitches are as powerful as those offered by a 17x certified resume writer.
But another company, Wendy Wyoming, decided to differentiate itself, and cited independent research as its differentiator.
Wendy Wyoming Out of This World GCP satisfies you, and we have independent evidence to prove it!
The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, as part of its Pudding User Made (PUM, not FRTE) Test, confirmed that 80% of all Wendy Wyoming Out of This World GCP mixes result in pudding that both glows and is carbonated. (Mix WW3, submitted November 30, 2023; not omnigarde-003)
Treat your child to science-backed cuisine with Wendy Wyoming Out of This World GCP!Wendy Wyoming is a top tier (excluding Chinese mixes) GCP provider.
But there are other competitors…
There are direct competitors that provide the same product as Wendy Wyoming, Jane Spain, and everyone else.
And then there are indirect competitors who provide non-GCP alternatives that can substitute for GCPs.
For example, Polly Pennsylvania is NOT a GCP provider. It makes what the industry calls a POPS, or a Plain Old Pudding Sustenance. Polly Pennsylvania questions everything about GCP…and uses Wendy Wyoming’s own statistics against it.
Fancy technologies have failed us.
If you think that one of these GCP puddings will make your family happy, think again. A leading GCP provider has publicly admitted that 1 out of every 5 children who buy a GCP won’t get a GCP. Either it won’t glow, or it’s not carbonated. Do you want to make your kid cry?
Treat your child to the same pudding that has satisfied many generations. Treat your child to Polly Pennsylvania Perfect POPS.
Pennsylvania Perfect remembers.
It looks like Polly Pennsylvania and Wendy Wyoming have a nasty fight on their hands. One that neck-deep marketers like to call a “war.” Except that nobody dies. (Sadly, that’s not true.)
But it’s clear who lost.
All the Jane Spains and Betty Brazils who didn’t bother to create a distinctive message.
Don’t be Jane Spain. Explain why your product is the best and all the other products aren’t.
Copying the competition doesn’t differentiate you. Trust me.
Oh, and if you didn’t figure it out already, this post was NOT intended for scientific pudding manufacturers. It was intended for identity/biometric firms who can use some marketing and writing help. Hence the references to NIST and the overused word “trust.”
If you’re hungry to kickstart your identity/biometric firm’s written content, click on the image below to learn about Bredemarket’s services.
As an independent contractor who doesn’t HAVE to keep set hours this is technically none of your business, but I’m letting you know anyway. San Bernardino County has messaged me about something…and it potentially affects you.
I may have limited availability during the week of February 5-9 due to a jury duty summons.
And because of the confidentiality of jury proceedings, that’s all that I will have to say about THAT.
Currently the Bredemarket Calendly page marks me as completely unavailable during the week of February 5-9. I will adjust this as needed.
P.S. Years ago when I received a jury duty summons that potentially involved biometric evidence, I disclosed that I worked for a company that competed with the jurisdiction’s biometric provider. In this case, the PROSECUTION excused me from service.
Normally I talk about CONtent, but today I’m talking about conTENT. (OK, a little bit about CONtent also.)
There are many prospects that may be CRITICALLY IMPORTANT (the highest of my three levels of importance) to your firm—perhaps too many. You can reduce your firm’s list of critically important prospects without losing them altogether. The extra time you receive benefits your firm and your TRUE critically important prospects. And eventually the other prospects may come around anyway.
You may pursue a prospect because you perceive they have a need. For example, there are identity/biometric companies that have not blogged in over a year, and these companies obviously have a need to increase their visibility with their own prospects by blogging.
But what if the identity/biometric prospects are not HUNGRY to satisfy that need? (Hungry people = true target audience.) Addressing the need may even be “important” to the prospects—but not CRITICALLY important.
But in most cases a prospect may respond with a “not interested” message—if the prospect even responds at all.
Mel Robbins has a response to this.
“Let them.”
When you “Let Them” do whatever it is that they want to do, it creates more control and emotional peace for you and a better relationship with the people in your life.
From https://www.melrobbins.com/podcasts/episode-70.
If the prospect is not hungry for your services at this time, let them.
And at the same time move the prospect from your “critically important” category down to your “important” category. Focus on the critically important prospects, and be content (conTENT) with them rather than stressing out over the uncontrollable prospects.
But don’t eliminate the merely important prospects entirely, because some day they may become hungry for your services. Continue creating content (CONtent) such as your own blogs, plus social media without messaging the merely important people directly. When they DO get hungry, they will emerge from your trust funnel and contact YOU, asking for your services.
What happens when you, in the words of Mel Robbins, “let them”?
You’re focused, your true critically important prospects are happy that you’re paying attention to them, your merely important prospects are happy that you’re no longer pestering them…
…and everyone is conTENT.
Dear 17X Certified Resume Writer,
You may think your marketing tactics and sequence are foolproof. But they’re not. Read on to see why.
And if you’re NOT a 17x certified resume writer, skip to the bottom to see how the resume writing market lacks differentiation. But what about YOUR market?
From observing you and dozens of your 17x certified resume writing competitors that I’ve encountered (and over 14,000 of your competitors that I haven’t encountered), here are the marketing tactics and sequence that ALL of you are using, and why they are COMPLETELY ineffective.
So this is why your tactics don’t work.
If you’re a regular reader of the Bredemarket blog—that’s a joke; if you haven’t read my LinkedIn profile, you certainly haven’t read the Bredemarket blog before—then you know that I recently wrote a post entitled “Five Reasons Why 17X Certified Resume Writer Pitches Fail.” It approached your marketing tactics from a different perspective.
But one afternoon when I received three separate LinkedIn InMails from three separate 17x certified resume writers in the space of five minutes, I figured that I needed to address this issue again, in a more pointed fashion. (Yes, I iterate.)
Now I don’t want you to read the entirety of my January 8 post. I know that you are very busy searching for “open to work” people to ask your canned question about their desired position. But I do suggest that you read the fourth of my five reasons why your pitches fail, and take the steps to ensure that you don’t sound exactly the same as your thousands of competitors.
Hope this helps.
That’s all I have to say. 17x certified resume writers can stop reading here.
Seriously.
Stop. Get to work.
OK, time for me to talk to the rest of you. It’s just me, you, and the wildebeest.
Frankly, I doubt that any of the 17x certified resume writers have even made it to this point of the blog post. Like I said, they’re too busy seeking their next prospects.
But the whole 17x certified resume writer market strikes me as one which is sorely lacking in differentiation, competitive analysis, and customer focus. The vast majority of people who provide resume services don’t even attempt to say why their services are superior and the services of their 13,999+ competitors are inferior. And the vast majority focus on themselves rather than the specific needs of their prospects. Why should I choose one of these 17x certified resume writers, and not one of their competitors?
But it’s not enough to take a look at a lack of differentiation in one market. Now I have to take a look at myself. Have I done an adequate job of differentiating Bredemarket’s marketing and writing services from those of my other content marketing competitors? I already know that Canva content creator G from Ray of Social is a much better singer than I am.
And perhaps you should take a look at yourself. Have you done an adequate job of differentiating YOUR company from the competition? Do your prospects have a reason to choose you?
If you are employed by a technology firm and need your content to stand out from the crowd, let me explain why Bredemarket’s services can drive content results, how I provide services that no one else does, and what we will do together to create that content your company desperately needs.
Just in case these questions come up.
When education vendors say that they protect the identities of their customers, but they don’t, bad things can happen. Illuminate Education discovered this the hard way.
On Monday, Thomas O’Malley shared the 2023 Comparitech article “US schools leaked 32 million records in 2,691 data breaches since 2005.” These leaks were due to large-scale breaches such as Illuminate Education and Blackbaud, as well as many other breaches, and affected institutions at all educational levels.
The December 2021 Illuminate Education data breach was first reported in January 2022, and by September was revealed to have affected schools across the country, exposing students’ names, birthdates, and other personal identifiable information (PII).
Two attempted class action lawsuits against Illuminate Education have been defeated. But there has still been fallout:
(The Future of Privacy Forum) initiated a review, seeking to determine whether (Illuminate Education’s) practices were and are consistent with its Pledge commitments, specifically with respect to technological safeguards in place to protect the security of data. Publicly available information appears to confirm that Illuminate Education did not encrypt all student information while at rest and in transit. Such a failure to encrypt would violate several Pledge provisions…
From https://studentprivacypledge.org/news/fpf-drops-illuminate-education-from-student-privacy-pledge/.
As a result of its inability to confirm that Illuminate Education practiced recommended data encryption practices, the Future of Privacy Forum “removed Illuminate Education from the list of Student Privacy Pledge signatories.” As of January 23, 2024, Illuminate Education’s status as a signatory has not been restored.
Can a company’s status as a Future of Privacy Forum signatory guarantee that they take all necessary steps to protect educational identity data? Of course not; perhaps there are unknown data protection failures by a signatory, and conversely a company may implement stellar policies but just never bothered to sign on the dotted line.
But presence or absence on the FPF signatories list can serve as a positive or negative risk indicator.
Bredemarket