For this episode, we wade into the (somewhat nice) jargon and empty words of cybersecurity with "Human Firewall."
Cybersecurity has a knack for creating turns of phrase that are hard for outsiders to understand. Human firewall has sprung the the idea that it is people, rather than tools or technology, is both the first and last line of defence against cyber attacks, and while this is accurate, it is regularly weaponised into fear rather than empowerment.
Sara Carty is one of the co-founders of cybersecurity marketing studio, Unboring, and Ph.D candidate in Cyber Diplomacy.
Sara's reading recommendations:
- Sizing People Up, by Robin Dreeke
- The People Hacker, by Jenny Radcliffe
- The Psychology of Spies and Spying, by Adrian Furnham and John Taylor
Unboring: https://www.unboring.digital/
Sara on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saracarty/
"We are passionate about what we do" has been a tired, overused cliche in marketing for nearly 20 years now. We continue to be regaled with how much businesses want to tell you how much they like the things they do. It needs to go, and a return to showing your customer why they should care that you like your work, rather than talking our ear off about it.
This episode's guest, Anna Gunning, has been marketing and writing copy for even longer than passionate has been overused. She explains why passionate is rarely a good choice in your marketing language, especially when you're trying to differentiate yourself, and how it's better to "show, not tell" when it comes to passion in business.
Marketers and clients have a fundamental misunderstanding about what "safe" means when it comes to creative ideas.
Copywriter Jim Compton-Hall sits down with me and talks about his experience of "safe" in marketing, and how that comes across on an emotional level when clients hear it. We discuss why this actually leads to really weak and risky marketing, and what we can do to change the language of risk in our client relationships, and hopefully make more effective campaigns.
"Content" is one of those words that's so buried in how we make things on the internet that it's hard to see how empty it has become as a word. It does no one any favours: not the creators, not the brands, and not the distributors. In this episode, listen to copywriter Ed Callow give a takedown of content and we can rethink this pervasive, vapid word we use in modern business marketing
Ed's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ecallow/
Ed's Substack: https://substack.com/@edcallow?
If there's one thing that marketers and consultants love to preach, it's the death of something: brands, SEO, content marketing, social media, sales funnels, programmers... the list goes on, and not a single proclamation has been right (with the possible exception of the Blackberry smartphone).
Jon Harrison, co-founder of Birmingham-based brand agency, One Black Bear, unleashes all the anger and annoyance we all feel at these silly pronouncements, sharing his own experience from several decades as a marketer, and what you can to do to see past the noise when you hear of the death of anything in marketing or business.
Strategy.
A word that's so abused in business in marketing its easier to find examples of it being used to describe things that are distinctly not strategic than it is to find accurate information.
What exactly is a strategy, and how it is different from a plan, a vision, or tactics?
Our guest, Sophie Blackmore, drawing on her years of experience from her strategic marketing consultancy, Happy Marketer, gives a clear explanation about what strategy is, how it's supposed to help business owners, and tips for what you could be doing right now to make your sales and marketing more strategic.
Sophie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophieblackmore/
Happy Marketer website: https://happymarketer.co.uk
For our second episode, we are taking on "community." An idea that often gets confused and used interchangeably with words like "audience," "market," and "subscribers."
Gus Bhandal, marketer and LinkedIn guru talks about his story about building and being part of a community, and what lessons you can take to create community that benefits you as both a person a business
For our first episode, we are taking on "innovate." A word so overused and abused that it's been used to describe a cheese sandwich.
Our guest is copywriter Sarah Catherine Jones, who breaks down how and why innovate is such a poor word to describe what many businesses do, and how to figure out what to write or say instead.