While I am hunting in the aisles of the grocery store (unfamiliar layout—always a bit of an adventure), I have time to think of a better headline. Maybe instead of "Mom's the Boss" we go with "Whine, Women, and
Bong."
So I applied for the job of Beer & Weed's Head of Content. And I work there now.
* * *
Just kidding about that last part.
* * *
Now I'm waiting to check out. The store is packed. I eyeball the shortest line and the shoppers who have the fewest items. And who don't look like they'll be trouble.
I'm 6 carts away from the register.
What is it exactly that delights me about this particular magazine?
➡️ EXTREME FOCUS IS OUR FRIEND.
Beer. Weed. Full stop.
No bourbon. No whiskey. No cigars. Zero vaping. The name of the magazine gives away its sole focus. Tell your audience exactly what your product or service is... and what it's not.
We tend to go too broad in Marketing. We want to attract as big
an audience as we can get, when really we should delight the smallest audience. We should aim to tell the smallest stories.
>> Saying no is an underused skill: What don't you talk about? is as important a question to answer as what you do
talk about.
I'm inching closer to the cash register.
➡️ A CLEAR NICHE.
Wouldn't it be extreme-er focus if Beer & Weed focused on one or the other? Just beer? Just weed?
No.
The mashup is what creates the specificity—and the smaller audience.
It turns out that the craft beer and cannabis communities share a kind of fan-DNA: Fans of one are often fans of the other. (And the hops in beer is a genetic cousin of cannabis.)
In the age of content abundance and AI, tap into a spin/angle/point of view that
others can't replicate in quite the same way.
I am close enough to observe the check-out person. I'm grateful he doesn't appear to be overly chatty. I'm in a hurry.
➡️ CLEAR BESTS CLEVER.
I love wordplay. I live for clever. But don't sacrifice clarity—especially in big, at-a-glance places: Titles. Navigation bars. Calls
to action. Landing pages.
>> Ditch the abstract and artful in the places where you need to convey a quick hit of information.
I just realized I'm in the 10 items on less line. Ugh. It's too late to bail.
➡️ WRITING IS RHYTHM. Repetition creates rhythm. The
repetition of that double ee in beer and weed is subtle but solid.
It doesn't rhyme. But it has a kind of percussion.
Great writing has beats, notes, pauses, full stops.
Words are sounds you hear in your head. Sentences thrum and vibrate to make the paragraph; the paragraphs make the whole page sing.
A writer hears that music in their head. A writer chooses to put this phrase before that one to make the melody just so.
I turn over that double ee in beer and weed
in my head. It's simple. It's nice.
Craft & Cannabis wouldn't make music; it sounds like something AI would write when you prompt it to include alliteration.
I'm at the checkout. Welp, might as well own it.
"I have 17 items," I blurt out to the cashier. I hate people like me. Turns out **I** am the problem.
"It's OK," he says. Unfazed.
The bagger tosses the free magazine in with my groceries. He doesn't give it a second thought.
Unlike me. And now, I hope, you. 😃
* * *
EVERYBODY WRITES TIP OF THE FORTNIGHT
This week's action item: Audit the language you use to describe your products, your company, your value. You're looking to find places where you use abstract concepts instead of concrete specifics.
Root them out on your landing pages, product pages, the pages of your conversion funnels, email
signups—anywhere where you want a customer or prospect to be able to clearly visualize ***exactly*** how you make their lives better.
Pull them out. Stand them against the wall.
Ditch the abstract. Replace anything that you can't visualize immediately with something concrete and specific.
"Get a quote" ▶️ "Start saving now"
"Ready-to-use sauces" ▶️ "Meet your new pantry staple"
Sell the experience. Show how you deliver, not just the what you deliver.
"Great cars at the best prices" ▶️ "We treat customers like adults not like idiots"
"New lower price" ▶️ "Pay less than you thought you would"
Replace I or we with you.
I
or we is about the company; you is about the customer.
"Our latest product updates" ▶️ "These new product updates will help you sell globally"
"New lower price" ▶️ "Pay less than you expected 10 minutes ago"
HOW TO CREATE LASTING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES
[NEW GUIDE]
