Hi lovelies
Thanks to all those of you who gave me your feedback. The results indicated that 1/3 of you appreciate the articles; 1/3 the honesty; 1/3 the learning. So I guess I’ll just keep on doing.
One thing I won’t be doing is giving you updates on things going on with how and why I’m doing things Pixie-side. For that, you can go read The Next Five Years. Instead, this is just just the stuff you want to hear. ;)
On that note, here’s a heads-up that the next Pixie event will be a picnic.
There are some fantastic articles this week! Every one of them is well worth looking through. Especially the one about how to become a trending item on Twitter… without being on Twitter.
Have an amazing week this week!
~ Leticia Mooney, Queen Pixie at Brutal Pixie
www.brutalpixie.com
Tip of the week
Making a decision based on your own bias - against notifications, or email, or types of content - is not a smart way to make decisions. Better is to test it and rely on your data.
The Sunday Five
Here are the best articles we’ve found from the past week. If you find any gems during your week and would like to see them included, email them to hello@brutalpixie.com.
[ Promo ] ‘Ignore this’: Jonathan Franzen’s top 10 writing tips get gleefully trolled on Twitter
If you ever wanted to know how to make a splash without being on social media, you will love this. On Friday, Jonathan Franzen published a dodgy list of writing tips, and as a result of the derision, became a trending topic. One of the trolls spoke rather eloquently when he wrote, ‘say what you will about Jonathan Franzen but he's great at getting everyone on Twitter to talk about him without actually being on Twitter, meaning he is better at Twitter than any of us '. Food for thought. Read this here.
Key Takeaway: Whatever you do, even if it’s something that would make your PR consultant’s hair curl, do it good.
[ Revenue ] Five lessons from the Guardian's membership strategy, three years on
Journalism dot UK published this excellent article featuring The Guardian’s Global Contributions Director, Amanda Michel. In it, Michel talks in great detail about the news channel’s membership strategy, its revenue, its methodology, and its outcomes. It’s rare you’ll get insight like this, so I encourage you to read it. View it here.
Key Takeaway: Your publication delivers value even when there are no offers or products attached. If it’s good, people will pay.
[ Strategy ] 5 Strategy realities for running your small business
This comes from AlleyWatch: Always a great source. This is a simple but direct piece about bridging the gap between early adopters and your mainstream market. One stellar piece of advice is about recruiting help not helpers. The difference? You have to tell helpers what to do, but you can learn from help. Read it here.
Key Takeaway: Your early customers only represent 10-15% of the market; don’t be mislead into thinking they’re like everyone.
[ Innovation ] Your people problem with emerging technology and innovation
This Forrester report explains how, for the first time, emerging technology investment has superseded customer understanding as firms’ primary objective. And yet this article argues that dysfunctions in an innovation capacity always boil down to people problems. Fascinating. Get it here.
Key Takeaway: We all want to believe that there’s a magic bullet for our problems, but we always have to address the underlying issues.
[ Complexity] 8 Elements companies need to succeed in a complex world
This isn’t so much an article as an infographic and a handful of notes. Produced by those wizards at Strategyzer, it explains what your company requires if it’s going to thrive. And it’s not because you need innovation. Read (print it!) here.
Key Takeaway: Your business is complex, but you can navigate it with the right roadmap.