The Art of Simple Marketing: Clarity, Empathy, Consistency, Connection

If it’s easy, it’s probably ineffective. The problem with easy marketing tactics is that everyone tries them.... and usually it's the only kind of marketing small businesses implement. When a tactic becomes instantly and universally adopted (AI video, for example), it’s usually because it’s easy to execute, not because it actually works. The logic goes: “If all these other businesses are doing it, it must be working.” But we rarely see the inside of someone else’s marketing machine. We don’t know if it worked. We don’t know if it moved leads. We just know it was done. And “done” does not mean “effective.” If your content can be executed by a freelancer or an AI tool for 100 businesses in a day, it's probably not special. If your content blends in with a thousand other identical posts, your brand disappears. Think of a business with great marketing. They aren’t cutting corners. Their content is better. Their offers are smarter. Their campaigns feel intentional. They aren’t looking for easy. They’re aiming for exceptional. Easy feels productive. But in marketing, “easy” is usually the least effective thing you’ll do. If you're serious about building marketing that actually converts, not just fills your content calendar, click the “View my newsletter” button on my profile and subscribe to Legal Marketing Strategies from Sharp Cookie. That’s where the good stuff lives.

Curious, so asked GPT to identify major marketing themes I hit on often. The first one sort of surprised me: 1. I'm suspicious of "new." I've seen too many tech trends rise and crash without delivering results to believe AI IS CHANGING EVERYTHING; IMMEDIATELY. I like using technology. I'm not a luddite. But why we continue to believe folks who scream the loudest about the tech they sell and need to hit to max their investments continues to baffle me. Given my defaul setting seems to be "optimistic curmudgeon" my "new" reflex isn't usually excitement (reserved for the rare Saints win these days), but curiosity with caution. New can be better. But it needs to be better, not just louder. Novelty is nice, but I look for continuity. What’s the timeless thing inside this trendy thing? Is it just cool because the stars have aligned and the powers that be deem it "cool"? Or is it useful, interesting, and/or helpful; does it solve a problem? --- 2: I use analogies to make the invisible visible. I didn’t set out to do this, but I can’t stop comparing marketing to… everything else. Over the past year, I've used: Football drills. Plants growing in cracks. Cooking. Music. Why? I don't actually know why. I've never been a process-focused writer, so I don't plan analogies. Usually. Marketing can be so abstract, I try to make it tangible -- for myself and anyone reading. --- 3: I talk about marketing like it’s a moral act. I didn’t plan this either, but it keeps sneaking in: I believe marketing should make things better. Marketing is helping your customer find the solution to a problem they have. Marketing is helping. How we communicate says something about who we are. When you overpromise, when you manipulate, when you treat people as clicks — it erodes trust in your and your brand. Every message you send either builds or burns trust. I’d rather build. If this resonates with you, you’ll love what I do with Newsletter-in-a-Box — it’s marketing built for long-term trust, not short-term noise.

I’ve been thinking about how fast marketing is changing. Not in a scary way, but in a very real way. It’s no longer about using more tools or chasing trends. It’s about using what we already have with a bit more intention. Here are a few shifts that are quietly shaping 2025. AI marketing It’s not replacing creativity. It’s helping us understand people better and make smarter choices. Voice search SEO People now talk to their devices more than they type. If your content doesn’t sound natural when spoken, you’re missing quiet opportunities. Marketing automation It’s not about taking shortcuts. It’s about freeing your time so you can think, create, and connect. Hyper personalisation It’s no longer about segments. It’s about one person, one message, one moment that feels real. Interactive video content People don’t want to just watch. They want to be part of something. Polls, questions, and stories that make them feel included. That’s the kind of marketing I want to do in 2025. Less noise. More meaning. Less chasing. More connecting. If you had to pick one of these to focus on this year, which would it be?

I thought I knew marketing. I was dead wrong. 3 months at a startup just torched everything I learned in school. Here's what actually works: Traditional marketing says, "Create great content and they will come." Reality? That's how you fail quietly. The shift that changed everything for me: → Stop creating content YOU like → Start creating what your ICP is desperately searching for → Make their problem (and your solution) so crystal clear they have no other door to knock on Real marketing isn't about being clever. It's about being unavoidable. It's about positioning yourself so precisely in your customer's mind that when their pain hits, you're the ONLY answer they see. Every startup I see winning is doing something totally off-market. Something their competitors aren't brave enough to try. Here's what we're doing: We're solving the biggest headache for real estate companies: lead acquisition costs. Our AI callers sound so human, prospects can't tell the difference. They grab attention, qualify leads, and book appointments while your team sleeps. No more bleeding $5k/month on ads that ghost you. What marketing "rule" did you break that actually worked?

How to Spot a Generic Marketer ((Generic Marketing Bingo)) If it sounds like everyone else, that’s your answer. They’ve been told to “speak to the pain,” so they do by recycling lines that worked on someone’s landing page in 2019. And that’s how marketing turned beige. So let’s play a quick round of Generic Marketing Bingo. See how many of these you’ve spotted this week. 🟩 Overwhelmed 🟩 Stuck 🟩 Wearing too many hats 🟩 Juggling everything 🟩 Ready to scale 🟩 Step into your CEO role 🟩 Proven framework 🟩 Step by step system 🟩 Blueprint for growth 🟩 Double your revenue in 90 days 🟩 Attract high paying clients on autopilot 🟩 Stop trading time for money 🟩 Unlock your potential 🟩 Build a business that runs without you 🟩 Sustainable growth 🟩 Data driven strategy 🟩 Business transformation 🟩 Stress free scaling 🟩 Strategic alignment 🟩 Delivering predictable results If you’re close to a full house, take a sip of tea and smile. You’ve just witnessed the great irony of marketing. People who promise to make you stand out are usually the ones blending in. Real marketing is not empathy theatre. It is noticing what people actually feel and finding the words they would use if they were braver or clearer or less tired. It is not about frameworks or funnels or freedom. It is about meaning. Founders do not need another system. They need someone who helps them see what matters again. Someone who can find the thread that makes the whole story make sense. As Rory Sutherland might say, logic makes you predictable. Meaning makes you memorable. And the moment you sound like everyone else, you stop being marketing and start being wallpaper.

𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗜𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 If you lead marketing, you already know: the hard part isn’t 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 people — it’s 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 with them. That’s what I’ve been writing about lately in 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘭 — my weekly newsletter on storytelling, clarity, and the power of narrative in business. Here’s a quick look at what we’ve been exploring the past few weeks: 🔕 𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗚𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗿𝘂𝗽𝘁 𝗬𝗼𝘂? In a world overflowing with notifications, ads, and noise, only the brands that have earned trust get to interrupt. The rest get ignored. The future of marketing isn’t about grabbing attention — it’s about deserving it. 🔍 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗖𝘂𝘁𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗼𝗶𝘀𝗲? Most messages vanish. A few cut through. The difference isn’t creativity — it’s clarity. 📣 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗜𝘀 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗡𝗼𝗶𝘀𝗲 Every algorithm wants your attention. But no amount of optimization can fix a story without substance. 10x this for AI and answer engines. If you’re a marketing leader trying to build trust, shape perception, and make your message 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘬 — this newsletter is for you. 👉 Subscribe to 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘭 here: https://lnkd.in/eX4qegYC ✨ Because the best marketing doesn’t just grab attention. It earns trust.

Companies waste enormous amounts of money on marketing. Why? While most marketers know all about the latest tech stack, AI tools, and maybe even how to create beautiful design, they don’t know how to tell a good story. Here’s why that is more important now than ever before. People daydream 30-50% of their waking hours. Why? People are more distracted than ever and their brain is scanning for people or resources that will help them survive or move forward in life. If it doesn’t, it’s ignored. Do you know when they’re not daydreaming? When they’re watching a good movie or reading a good book. Why? Because we are wired for stories. They help us makes sense of complicated ideas, they follow a framework that we naturally can follow, and we’re all IN our own story and trying our best to live a great one! So despite throwing all of the money in the world at your audience using the latest and greatest tools, if you aren’t communicating with the same proven, story-telling framework that keeps you focused and engaged with great books, movies, or tv shows… then you might as well sell fire pits and take your marketing cash, put it in the fire pit, and set it on fire. That would probably be a better campaign lol. Without the right words and message, they aren’t listening.

Most companies don't fail due to poor marketing. They fail due to unclear marketing. Here's the ugly truth: They publish content with no message They create ads with no visible offer They get views… but no leads I've witnessed it over and over. Good service. Good intentions. No clarity. The Fix? Before you make more content, ask yourself one question: ???? "What specific problem am I solving in this post?" One post. One pain. One promise. We did this for a client who was posting every day with no outcome. We put the brakes on everything and zeroed in on ONE issue their audience had. In 2 weeks — more profile visits, more messages, actual leads. No frilly hacks. Just simplicity. Because marketing isn't about yelling louder… It's about yelling clearer. What's one pain your audience is sick of — but no one is calling it out?

Your marketing doesn't have to break the internet. Every single post doesn't have to go viral. The real measure of success is creating marketing that endures. Listen: Most of us in marketing probably feel a bit overwhelmed right now. We know we do. There's the pressure to keep up with the pace of culture. There's the fact that AI has made content production cheap. There's the baseline that's moved up for everyone. Now, the differentiator is you. The difference will come from your creative brain, your uniqueness, the bold ideas that only you and your brand could produce. The difference will be creating something that lasts. Like the unmistakable ethos of "Just Do It." Or the Geico gecko that's appeared on our screens for 25 years. AI didn't create these things. But it did move up the bar for all of us. So, keeping up with the culture will only get you so far. Going viral only lasts for an instant. But if you can create something that endures — you've done it. That's something no tool can create in your place.

I used to chase huge lists: ✅ 14 steps ✅ 21 strategies ✅ 30 “must-dos” I called it The Marketing Firehose. It was supposed to drive results. Instead, it drove anxiety. Here’s what I’ve learned: You don’t need 14 things. You need three. Everything else is a feature, not a fundamental. In 2025, the only pillars that matter are: Retention is the New Acquisition – $1 spent keeping a customer = $5 spent getting a new one. Loyalty is your new lead generation. Narrative is the New Algorithm – AI content is everywhere. The market now rewards the human voice. Vulnerability spreads faster than automation. Profit is the New Vanity Metric – Reach means nothing without revenue. If it doesn’t move the bottom line, cut it. Marketing today isn’t about volume. It’s about velocity and focus. Pick your 3 battles—and win them. I’m building my agency on these fundamentals. If you want clarity in a noisy, AI-driven world, follow along. I’ll share the exact playbooks we’re using to keep marketing simple—and effective.