Identity/biometrics/technology marketing and writing services
How do you know if you’re overcommitted?
If you exit those commitments with no adverse effects.
I recently surveyed my private group memberships on one social media platform, to see how many groups had devolved into silence and indifference.
I counted 12 such groups, and exited 10.
With no adverse effects.
(Imagen 4)
Have you friends frequently and warmly connected with you…until they didn’t? Becoming former friends, ignoring and abandoning you, becoming silent and indifferent?
Sales prospecting can be similar. Someone eagerly wants your product or service immediately. But they delay in getting back to you, plead that other critically important issues have arisen, then go silent entirely, their former desire evaporated.
I’m sure some hard-boiled salespeople believe EVERY prospect can convert, but it ain’t so. And my earlier advice applies to business prospects as well as to personal relationships:
“If my former friends’ focus is elsewhere, my focus won’t impede on theirs.”
Have you ever had a friendship end and felt a shift in your online life? A former friend’s actions completely focused the direction of the Bredemarket Instagram account. This experience reshaped the content I shared, and refocused the audience who received it.
Those who were reading the Bredemarket Instagram account over a month ago may have caught my disappointment at something I discovered among my followers.
Or more accurately, someONE whom I DIDN’T discover among my followers.
“Someone I respect unsubscribed from the Bredemarket Instagram page. Not sure why or how I turned them away.”
So I “took a nap,” pausing most Bredemarket Instagram activities for a week.
But over time I remembered what Alfred, Lord Tennyson never said: ‘Tis better to have subscribed and unsubscribed than never to have subscribed at all. (I’ll get to the latter group later.)
Admittedly some aspects of my Instagram account could alienate some people. As I took my Instagram “nap,” I pondered whether to put the wildebeests out to pasture, and whether to consign the 1980s music to a garbage can filled with cassettes and 8-tracks. After all, the so-called “experts” say that TRENDING AUDIO increases engagement.
Maybe for the “experts”…but not necessarily for Bredemarket.
After all, any perceptive person who is interested in me and my 30 years of identity/biometric experience will realize that I would enjoy songs that are 30 years old…or older.
So I doubled down.
OK, maybe I announced my “waking up” with a Flo Rida / David Guetta song.
But pretty soon I was back to Thomas Dolby, the theme of the Law & Order TV show, and Tina Turner.
The National Bureau of Standards would approve.
After I reshaped my content, I took a long hard look at who was and wasn’t reading it.
And discovered that I was subscribed to hundreds of people on Instagram who, unlike my former friend, NEVER subscribed to me in the first place. And thus never saw a word I wrote. Or the accompanying audio: David Guetta, Thomas Dolby, or “Royalty Free Music Background.”
Did you notice my use of the word “was”?
Like my former friend, I did a lot of unsubscribing myself, reducing the list of people I read by hundreds.
Because, at least on Instagram, I focused my energy.
Case studies are powerful marketing collateral for companies.
Why?
Because if you select your subjects carefully, your prospects will say, “That subject is just like me. And the company’s solution solved the subject’s problem. Perhaps the solution will solve my problem also.”
Ideally a company would want to publish dozens of case studies, so their prospects could find one case study—or perhaps two or three—that describe the exact same problem the prospect is encountering.
But case studies are by definition more difficult for a company to create.
Perhaps that’s why there are so few published, recent case studies.
On Tuesday I had the occasion to visit four technology websites.
And the approvals don’t just involve the end customer.
A former friend interviewed many customers but was only able to complete one case study; the approvals from company legal, other company executives, and the end customers were overwhelming, delaying the other case studies.
So how do you expedite case study creation and approval?
Here are three tips to expedite the creation of case studies.
If the sales rep, program manager, or the subject itself can provide the basic facts beforehand, then the interview can simply consist of confirming facts and filling gaps.
Whether you use the STAR method (situation, task, action, result) or some other method (I prefer the simpler problem, solution, result), take the facts you gathered above. Then fit them into the outline and into the story you want to tell. Then see what pieces of the story are missing.
Since the subject has already consented to the case study, they should consent to the meeting being recorded.
The most efficient way to do this is with one of the popular AI note takers, which lets the case study writer review the actual words from the interview without going back and forth through a video recording.
And AI note takers are more efficient than the way I used to transcribe case study interviews.
Here are three tips to expedite the approval of case studies.
The language of the contract with the subject may have clauses regarding publicity.
If the subject wrote the contract, then it may prohibit any promotional publicity whatsoever, or it may dictate that any publicity must be approved by a high-level governing board in a foreign country.
If the provisions are onerous or impossible, don’t use that subject and find another.
Let your approvers know what’s coming, and when you think it will come.
Once I submitted a case study for pre-approval even before the results were available. This subject had a lengthy approval process, so I wanted the approvers to see the first part of the case study as soon as possible.
While the case study may be critically important to you, it may be merely important (or even inconsequential) to the lawyer with 50 other tasks.
From the lawyer’s perspective, it may be better if the company does NOT publish the case study. Fewer potential lawsuits that way.
Do everything you can to expedite the approval. If the CEO is demanding a published case study in three days, say so.
If not…well, that’s why you’re a salesperson. Oh, you’re NOT a salesperson? You are now.
You don’t have to go it alone. If your staff is stretched, or if your staff has never written a case study before, Bredemarket can help. Visit my content for tech marketers page.
Remember my “In the Distance” Bredemarket blog post from Saturday?
I embedded a reel in that post with the following text:
If their focus is elsewhere
My focus won’t impede
Since I had created the reel anyway, I repurposed it by sharing it on Bredemarket’s social media channels.
Including YouTube. You can see the YouTube short here:
Now when I shared it on YouTube, I did so with no context whatsoever. The caption simply read “In the Distance.” Without the words I wrote in the original blog post (I’ll get to two particular words later).
Yet by Monday morning the short had over 1,000 views. For Bredemarket’s YouTube channel, that’s a lot. Only three shorts have attained higher views: two about Tropical Storm Hilary, and one about squirrels.
But why?
The relative popularity of this short on YouTube is a mystery. Other than its brevity, it includes none of the elements of a successful video:
I have a theory that probably isn’t correct, but I’m going to entertain it anyway.
If this didn’t immediately occur to you, the reel subconsciously incorporates emotion. Emotion at the loss of my “former friends” as mentioned in the blog (but not on YouTube). Yes, some of the same former friends who forgot my birthday long ago.
So my wild theory is that the sense of loss, resignation, and renewed determination (I won’t impede on them) permeated the reel and subconsciously increased interest.
Or maybe I’m wrong. Perhaps there are just more wombat fans than I realized.
Regardless of the unexpected popularity of this YouTube short, it illustrates why emotions are now the seventh of the seven questions that a content creator should ask you.
I (always) need to improve my INTENTIONAL injection of emotions into my content.
And yours.
Part of Ubiquity Via Focus is knowing whom to EXCLUDE from your focus.
If my former friends’ focus is elsewhere, my focus won’t impede on theirs.
If you are focused on identity/biometric and technology product marketng, here is What I Do: https://bredemarket.com/what-i-do/
What is the opposite of impostor syndrome?
Etymologically, the opposite of impostor syndrome would be expositor syndrome. I asked my buddy Google Gemini to hallucinate a definition, and this is what I got:
“Expositor Syndrome is a hypothetical, non-clinical psychological pattern characterized by an overwhelming and often compulsive urge to explain, clarify, or elaborate upon concepts, ideas, or events, even when such detailed exposition is unsolicited, unnecessary, or redundant. Individuals exhibiting Expositor Syndrome experience a profound discomfort or anxiety if they perceive a potential for misunderstanding or an unstated implication, feeling an internal pressure to “lay bare” all facets of a topic.
“Note: This is a fictional construct, not a recognized medical or psychological condition.”
Gemini actually said a lot more, but I chose not to elaborate.
This, rather than a delusion of grandeur, is considered the opposite of impostor syndrome because an impostor HIDES their true talented self, whereas an expositor ELABORATES and goes on and on about their knowledge. Until their friends become former friends and stop speaking to them.
But can someone exhibit both expositor syndrome and a delusion of grandeur?
Perhaps such a person—if they exist—can still make positive contributions to society.
Such as the Bredemarket 2800 Medium Writing Service, approximately 2800 to 3200 words that (a) answers the WHY/HOW/WHAT questions about you, (b) advances your GOAL, (c) communicates your BENEFITS, and (d) speaks to your TARGET AUDIENCE.
If you need someone to write roughly 3000 words about your identity/biometric or technology firm, request information at https://bredemarket.com/bredemarket-2800-medium-writing-service/
I’m moving in a different direction on social media. Well, personal social media anyway.
There are multiple schools of thought about whether small companies with well-known leaders should share content on their company platforms or their personal social media platforms.
Obviously, most companies and company heads adopt a “do both” tactic. Maybe the company head reshares company posts. Or maybe the company reshares company head posts.
Or they do something that John Bredehoft and Bredemarket have done in the past: share the same content on both the company and the personal channels.
I might not do that any more.
The rationale behind sharing company posts on your personal channels is that your personal friends like you and will engage with your company posts.
But this rationale ignores one very pertinent fact: most of my friends have NO interest in identity, biometrics, cybersecurity, or related technologies.
Why would they engage with such content if it doesn’t interest them?
So on Monday afternoon I intentionally conducted an experiment on my personal Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn accounts, where together I have a combined 3,396 connections. My Monday afternoon identity/biometric and product marketing-related content received a total of 9 engagements…and that’s counting the Instagram user who requested “Can u share it @canadian.icon”).
Even acccounting for the three algorithms involved…that’s low.
And it…um, prompted me to ask myself a “why” question.
Good question.
So for now I’m “moving in a different direction” (a few of you know where THAT phrase originated) and not bothering to share Bredemarket content on my personal feeds. At least for now.
In my case, my high school friends, church friends, and even some of my former coworkers (who left the identity/biometric industry years ago) are NOT Bredemarket’s hungry people. So I’ll spare them the parade of wildebeests, wombats, and iguanas.
It’s all for you.
Have you ever seen those posts from self-appointed gurus?
Specifically, the ones that authoritatively state the BEST time to WRITE a post on Instagram, or LinkedIn, or TikTok, or whatever?
I religiously ignore those posts for a simple reason: My country has multiple time zones. So the best time in one time zone may be the worst time in another time zone.
However, I can tell you the WORST time to READ a post in the PACIFIC Time Zone…if the post concerns pizza.
And I’ll explain what all this means…eventually.
In addition to saying WHEN to post, the gurus also provide authoritative (and often contradictory) advice about WHAT to post.
For example, some gurus assert that you MUST prioritize bottom of funnel (conversion) content over top of funnel (awareness) content because it’s most important to get people to buy.
Ophir Tal disagrees, and has evidence to support his position.
Ophir Tal self-identifies as a “LinkedIn Ghostwriter & Personal brand Builder for CEOs & Founders”…and part of the way he builds personal brands is via awareness. Here’s where Tal made this assertion about the importance of awareness.
Let’s look at Tal’s hook:
How I Got An Inbound Lead From A Post About Pizza
From Ophir Tal on LinkedIn.
This hook caught my attention. People want leads, and people like pizza, so I paid attention. But I also paid attention for a third reason that I’ll discuss later.
Tal describes how he wrote a LinkedIn post about a piece of pizza that he dropped by mistake, and how he acquired 9,400 views, 97 likes, and 112 comments from that single post. So he told the story a second time.
Tal then noted that the gurus would have recommended NOT posting this because he was “doing it wrong.” Specifically:
But despite doing everything wrong, that particular piece of content attracted the attention of someone “at a 6 figure ecom company.” After viewing the content, the reader looked at Tal’s profile and realized Tal could meet their need for ghostwriting services.
Tal earned a lead from his pizza post.
Again, this is only part of Tal’s story. I encourage you to read the rest here.
And now I’ll tell you the third reason why I paid attention to Tal’s post.
As I noted above, I paid attention to Ophir Tal’s pizza post for two reasons:
Now let’s jump back to a post I wrote all the way back in 2023, one that described why I’ve soured on the term “target audience.” (Or, in Tal’s words, “ideal clients.”) I started that post by wondering if the term “needy people” would be better than “target audience.” Yes, but not good enough.
I’ll grant that “needy people” has a negative connotation, like the person who is sad when people forget their birthday.
From “I’m Questioning Everything About Target Audiences, Including the Name.”
Why did I include that sentence?
I’ll let you in on a personal secret. When I wrote that, I was myself sad because a few people had forgotten my birthday.
It turns out that these people had a VERY GOOD reason for forgetting my birthday. However, I cannot reveal this reason to you because the disclosure would force me to reveal someone’s personal identifiable information, or PII. (Mine.)
So after they remembered my birthday, one of them asked what I did for my birthday…and I told them that my wife, father-in-law, and brother-in-law went out to dinner.
For pizza.
And I also told them that there were leftovers, which my wife and I enjoyed a few days later.
A nice story, and while I was reading Ophir Tal’s story on dropped pizza, I realized that I had missed an opportunity to tell my own story about leftover pizza.
Time to channel Steve Jobs…
I forgot to mention one thing about the Ophir Tal story.
When I read the story, it was around 4:00 pm in California.
So when I read about Tal’s dropped pizza, and thought about my leftover pizza (which I had already eaten)…I was hungry.
Coincidentally, “hungry people” is the phrase that I eventually decided was better than “needy people.”
Tal’s lead was hungry for ghostwriting services, and when they saw that Tal offered such a service, they contacted him.
What does this mean? I’ll go into that in a separate post.
But for now, remember that stories that raise awareness with your “hungry people” (target audience) are good stories to tell.
Maybe I should tell more stories.
I have three questions for you, but don’t sweat; I’m giving you the answers.
This post asks how long a 21st century firm can survive without data, and what can happen if the data is “dirty.”
Have you heard of Mika? Here’s her LinkedIn profile.
Yes, you already know that I don’t like LinkedIn profiles that don’t belong to real people. But this one is a bit different.
Mika is the Chief Executive Officer of Dictador, a Polish-Colombian spirits firm, and is responsible for “data insight, strategic provocation and DAO community liaison.” Regarding data insight, Mika described her approach in an interview with Inside Edition:
My decision making process relies on extensive data analysis and aligning with the company’s strategic objectives. It’s devoid of personal bias ensuring unbiased and strategic choices that prioritize the organization’s best interests.
From the transcript to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BQEyQ2-awc
Mika was brought to my attention by accomplished product marketer/artist Danuta (Dana) Deborgoska. (She’s appeared in the Bredemarket blog before, though not by name.) Dana is also Polish (but not Colombian) and clearly takes pride in the artificial intelligence accomplishments of this Polish-headquartered company. You can read her LinkedIn post to see her thoughts, one of which was as follows:
Data is the new oxygen, and we all know that we need clean data to innovate and sustain business models.
From Dana Debogorska’s LinkedIn post.
Dana succinctly made two points:
There’s a reference to oxygen again, but it’s certainly appropriate. Just as people cannot survive without oxygen, Generative AI cannot survive without data.
But the need for data predates AI models. From 2017:
Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani said India is poised to grow…but to make that happen the country’s telecoms and IT industry would need to play a foundational role and create the necessary digital infrastructure.
Calling data the “oxygen” of the digital economy, Ambani said the telecom industry had the urgent task of empowering 1.3 billion Indians with the tools needed to flourish in the digital marketplace.
From India Times.
And we can go back centuries in history and find examples when a lack of data led to catastrophe. Like the time in 1776 when the Hessians didn’t know that George Washington and his troops had crossed the Delaware.
Of course, the presence or absence of data alone is not enough. As Debogorska notes, we don’t just need any data; we need CLEAN data, without error and without bias. Dirty data is like carbon monoxide, and as you know carbon monoxide is harmful…well, most of the time.
That’s been the challenge not only with artificial intelligence, but with ALL aspects of data gathering.
In all of these cases, someone (Amazon, Enron’s shareholders, or NIST) asked questions about the cleanliness of the data, and then set out to answer those questions.
The cleanliness of the data will continue to be the challenge as we apply artificial intelligence to new applications.
(Yes, this is the surprise point.)
Dictador is talking about Mika.
Are you talking about your product, or are you keeping mum about it?
I have more to…um…say about this. Follow this link.
Bredemarket