A Garden-Variety Guitar Player: A short-short story

Branding, Subscriptions, Ads, and You

A Word With Marty: "NEW"

A Word With Marty: "COLOR"

A Word With Marty: "AWESOME"

A World Without Ads? A thought experiment

Kickin': a short-short story

A Literary Agent Talks with a Client: A short-short story

Through Rose-Colored Glasses: A short-short story

To Market? A short-short story

Big Balls: A short story

How to Avoid the Lure of Scarcity

If something is scarce, we’re more likely to want it. That’s an axiom known by everyone from marketers to people dating. That said, it's not the best way to make decisions. You really want to make these choices based on the merit, not on scarcity, To that end, my Psychology Today article today describes tactics to watch out for.

Standing Out in a Crowded World

You’re single and want to stand out from the zillions of other single people without appearing desperate.

Or you’re in private practice, whether a psychotherapist, a yoga instructor, a financial advisor, whatever. The trouble is there are zillions of others doing that. How do you stand out without being cheesy?

Or you're an employee and would like to get promoted or at least keep your job.

My Psychology Today article today offers thoughts on how you might tastefully and ethically stand out.

Earning More Money Ideas: Whether you're an employee or self-employed.

Especially in our COVID-stunted economy, you may be wondering how to make more money. That's true whether you're an employee or self-employed. My Psychology Today article today offers ideas that have helped my clients.

Perhaps especially because of COVID, businesses and, yes, nonprofits are especially eager to get you to part with your money. A previous post discussed some of their tactics.

Here, recognizing that it may be easier to recognize a hypey word or phrase than a tactic, my Psychology Today article today offers are some words that warrant caution before pulling out your credit card.

Marketing Your Practice

Sometimes, a less competent practitioner gets more clients a more competent one. Often, the answer lies in marketing. My PsychologyToday.com article today offers tips that have helped my clients obtain more clients.

Hype

We've become inured to hype and it hurts us more than we may realize. I explore in my PsychologyToday.com article today.

Should You Rely Just on Word-of-Mouth? The case against marketing

Self-employed people who market themselves well and relentlessly will usually be more successful, at least financially, than will even higher-quality professionals who rely just on word-of-mouth.

Yet if you can afford the possible financial decrement, it may be wise to eschew marketing, except perhaps to create a mailing list of your clients and customers and periodically give them useful bits of free content ending with a low-key solicitation. Why?

I make the case in my PsychologyToday.com article today. 

Marketing is Evil

We've become inured to marketing's being evil. I try to pull the blinders off in my PsychologyToday.com article today.

Stop With the Hyperbole!

We're in an era of rating exaggeration. Yes, grade inflation, but also in our speech: "She's amazing!" "He's an idiot!"   

My PsychologyToday.com article today explains why we pay a price for our hyperbole.