Christopher Penn

“Generative AI reduces the cost of producing false news even further,” per Kevin Aslett, speaking today on NPR’s Here and Now. “Instead of factchecking individual claims, we should factcheck the sources we’re using.” ETA link to the segment in the comments. So, is your brand a source? If so, how are you holding up to factchecking and skepticism? Many brands embrace a broad content strategy that comprises content marketing, social content sourced from user-generated content or commissioned to influencers, and simple reviews. They operate with the goal of getting more content to inform consumers’ decisions. Third-party reviews are especially valuable earned media for influencing purchase decisions. But say it with me: 👏 more content means more exposure. 👏 more content means more vulnerability. 👏 more content means more oversight. I don’t mean “exposure” in the good way; I mean it in the potential threat way. Ditto for vulnerability. Content from outside sources can compromise a brand and undermine trust if it’s produced without close attention to messaging and execution. But it’s not a reason to avoid a broad content strategy that incorporates content from a variety of sources. Quite the opposite: the rise of generative AI and increased social content in marketing underscores the need for clear message architecture, accessible governance guidelines, and transparency in details that build trust. (The pillars of voice, volume, and vulnerability that I describe in Trustworthy!) If your org is gearing up to incorporate more content, especially from outside influencers, flag this post. Smart marketing should mean they invest in content strategy for guidance and building trust as well. (Alt text for image: excerpt from a vintage Coca-Cola print ad with the headline “Quality you can trust.”) #generativeAI #socialcontent #contentstrategy #contentmarketing #ugc #trustworthybook

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How to turn your readers into payers: (Without burnout) You post regularly on LinkedIn. But no revenue... Growing your audience is essential. But you also need to monetize it! What's the point of posting if you have no income? -You'll get addicted to likes -You'll exhaust yourself -You'll burn out So monetize your audience. Here are the 3 steps of the Connection to Conversion funnel: 1. Rented Audience Where you connect with your dream customer. Social media followers, search engine traffic, podcast listeners 2. Owned Audience Where you don't depend on anyone. Email subscribers, app users, phone numbers 3. Monetized Audience Those who have already paid. The most important. Paying customers, premium subscribers, service clients Know your strategy for each step. Correct your weaknesses. Build on your strengths. Mastering this concept will make your life much easier. ______________________________ 🚨 Remember that you can download the carousel by enlarging it and clicking on the button in the top right-hand corner. I hope it can help! Follow me for LinkedIn and AI secrets🗝️

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😫 Tired of Excessive Ads and Political Propaganda? 🛠️ You can take control of your Experience in MS Edge. 👇 Here's what I did: 🧑‍💻 Change Your Start Page in Edge 🔹 Open Microsoft Edge and select the three dots (…) in the upper right-hand corner 🔹 Go to Settings > Start, home, and new tabs 🔹 Select "Open these pages" and add your preferred URL (I chose to set mine to Perplexity) 🔹 Click "Add" to save changes 🧑‍💻Change the URL of New Tabs 🔹 Install the "Custom New Tab" extension from the Microsoft Edge store 🔹 Click on the extension's icon in the top right corner and select "Options" 🔹 Enter your preferred URL (again, I chose Perplexity) in the "Custom URL" field 🔹 Click "Save" to apply changes

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🖥️ Online product reviews are a lucrative (and broken) business . . . One dirty secret in digital publishing is that many outlets, big and small, spin up reviews of products they've never actually used . . . to earn affiliate revenue 💵. ✅ Get a ghostwriter to browse Amazon reviews to get an idea of what people think of the product, ✅ re-word those reviews a little, ✅ throw in some photos and affiliate links, and...voila. 🪄 🤖 And now, it's been revealed that some of the biggest health and fitness publishers are even using AI to write these guides. Hit a button and you've got an auto-generated gear guide, complete with $$$-making affiliate links. A new investigative piece by Futurism found that both Outside Online and Sports Illustrated have previously outsourced gear guide production to a company that relied entirely on AI to write the guides. Do you want to buy a pair of running shoes, or a yoga mat, based on a gear guide an AI writing tool has thrown together? At Marathon Handbook, every running shoe and piece of gear we review has been handled and tested by our in-house expert runners. So next time you're browsing the internet for your next purchase, look for signs that the person writing the review is a i) real, ii) someone whose voice you'd trust, and look for proof they've actually put their hands on the product. Digital publishing is going through a turbulent time with the advent of AI content and Google's controversial updates. I'm excited about what lies ahead, and can only think that brands who try to make a quick buck at the expense of their audience will ultimately lose out.

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While I understand the allure of Black Hat SEO and the potential benefits it can bring, I believe it's essential to consider the long-term implications. The real issue with these tactics is that they may work for a while, but the consequences can be severe when they stop. Doing them on personal sites or your revenue-generating properties is fine. It is your risk. What is absolutely unacceptable is to propose and utilize these tactics with clients without transparently explaining the associated risks. Yes, high risk often means high rewards in SEO, but the stakes are different if you destroy a personal site or the organic presence of a company with N employees. In my experience, when these tricks stop working, the site that tried them doesn't just decline, it's obliterated. Permanently. And if there is ever a recovery, it won't be a simple fix. It will demand a significant investment of time and effort. Similarly, there is a different scale when you have a personal blog and a large enterprise site with five mio-indexed pages. These tactics might work fine with small sites but not large ones. This is information that SEO influencers on Twitter will rarely share or warn you about. Be careful which agency you trust your site with and what they promise. 

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Decode Your Audience's Financial Mindset: How Money Scripts Drive Conversions   You've probably heard the advice to write with one avatar in mind: understanding the client profile and writing as if addressing one person - like your uncle Bob.   That’s good advice, but for financial copywriting, you could delve deeper and write to clients' Money Scripts.   This is based on research from Dr. Brad Klontz and can be very powerful because:   • They are learned in childhood. • They are passed down from generation to generation. Ours come from our parents, and we pass them to our children. • They are responsible for our financial outcomes. We make important decisions with our money because of them. • They are typically unconscious. We usually don’t even know we have them.   Money Scripts are deep-seated beliefs about money that influence financial decisions. Let's break them down:   Money Avoidance: This belief suggests that money is inherently bad or that one doesn't deserve it. Cash often evokes fear, anxiety, or disgust.   Money Worship: Those who adhere to this notion believe that an increase in income or financial windfall would solve their problems.   Money Status: Concerned with the link between self-worth and net worth. This script can lock individuals into a competitive stance of acquiring more than those around them.   Money Vigilance: Linked to alertness, watchfulness, and concern about money, with a sense that one must be cautious of spending trouble or danger. This approach may encourage saving and frugality.   Understanding these Money Scripts is crucial for effective financial copywriting. Before you start writing, consider the financial service or guru you're promoting and how it aligns with a potential Money Script.   For example, if you're promoting a Gold investment, investors who are "gold bugs" likely lean towards Money Vigilance. They believe in gold's stability amidst economic uncertainties.   Similarly, for Day-Trading promotions, if your guru flaunts a lavish lifestyle and promises rapid returns, you could tap into the Money Worship script—appealing to those enticed by quick gains and high rewards.   By crafting your message to resonate with your audience's Money Script, you'll create more impactful and persuasive financial promos.   Here is the reference if you want to check it out: Money Beliefs and Financial Behaviors: https://lnkd.in/dqtcapvC

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❇ Why I love serving solo RIAs like Andrew Tapparo, MSF, RICP®: - We get to put AdvisorX AI to the mettle and see if it can impact the bottom line of solo practices because they don't have to hire expensive agencies anymore. - I can get creative with AI personas and fine-tune them for specific use cases unique to a firm like Andy's. - Helping advisors like Andy save 5-10 hours per week is incredibly rewarding. - One of the personas we built was a stock analyst specializing in ETFs unique to Andy's use case. Use cases like this help a specialized company like ours get extra personalized. #wealthadvisors #wealthmanagement #artificialintelligence

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shoutout Paperform for the new Publish Forms update 🔥 now when editing a form you must hit Publish for any changes to take effect publicly. and you get this little popup after hitting publish - so there's two less clicks to grab the share link/embed.

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The most competitive business has to be companies/people offering SEO. I get at least a dozen messages every day from someone that can get me on page 1 of Google. If every business used these companies, then every business would be on page 1 of Google. For some reason, I do not think this is possible. Now because I wrote this, I will get a bunch of SEO companies/people telling me that they have the formula to make it happen. Everyone has the formula, but not one of them are on page 1 of Google.

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Grab data into form > send important bits to ActiveCampaign. ☝️ What are YOU using to do this job on your WordPress site? This mission is deceptively simple, and Gravity Forms is still my hands-down WINNER for doing a brilliant job of it every time. 💯 rock-solid reliable ✔️ as many ActiveCampaign feeds as you please 📋 conditional questions, hidden fields and other fun stuff Grab a basic license: https://lnkd.in/gSj3eJA or drop a 🌍 if you already love Gravity Forms. #ActiveCampaign #ActiveCampaignQueen #MarketingAutomation #WordPress #GravityForms

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D.A.R.E to grow. ✅ Deconstruct ✅ Isolate for variables ✅ Design for conversions It’s not rocket science. 🧬 Struggling with Growth? The answer may be right in front of you. You might be looking in the wrong place. I can help you & your team over come blindspots, and get on the path to execution. Let’s talk.

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Got a website on WordPress? Is your page speed lacking? If so, here's how you can fix a huge chunk of your performance issues in 30 minutes. Pay the $59 for WPRocket. It's worth its weight in gold. In Sand Technologies case it'll help by: 1️⃣ Defering JS from loading until your content on page is fully loaded 2️⃣ Using Imagify to serve images on site to next-gen formats 3️⃣ Prioritizing loading images at the top of the page first 4️⃣ Removing unused third-party scripts (think plugins) 5️⃣ Compressing and minimizing CSS and JS 6️⃣ Removing unused CSS from your page After all 59% of sessions are on mobile (32% increase from 2014). Take 2 minutes and audit your mobile website speed. If it's over 4 seconds you are very likely LOSING BUSINESS. #HotHackz #MarketingTips #BusinessGrowth #WebsiteOptimization

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Should you control for website visits in your MMM? It's a great question, but the answer isn't straightforward. Naively controlling for website visits in an MMM can inject bias into your model because visits are on the path to conversion. Including them directly will skew your results and cause you to underestimate the impact of marketing on your business. If you want to model how website visits are impacting your sales, then the solution is to use a nested model. This approach allows you to estimate different parts of the funnel separately, correctly capturing the relationships between marketing spend, website traffic, and conversions. But here's the catch: it's complex. Really complex. You'll need to code the data-generating process by hand, estimate it carefully, and be prepared for longer computation times. There's no out-of-the-box solution for this level of complexity. Is it worth it? That depends on how critical understanding these relationships are for your business. If you’d like to dive deeper into the nuances of nested models and their implementation, check out the full clip for a more detailed breakdown.

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Curious how you can convert website prowlers and social media stalkers into loyal customers? It's not by doubling down on promoting yourself (we get it, you're mom said you're the best, and no one can tell you otherwise). In fact, it's the opposite. You need to transition from promoting your brand to nurturing your audience through educational content until they're ready to buy. Simply put, educate your audience on: 1. Why they have a problem 2. Why this problem is more problematic than they think 3. How your solution solves this problem Besides, why would a prospective consumer come to you for a solution if they're not even aware of their actual problem? ***To be clear, this is not an opportunity to make false claims. Compliance is key.*** However, this is your opportunity to: -Build trust -Build relationships -Optimize engagement & retention -And stay on top of your audiences' minds (& inboxes) This doesn't have to be rocket science—just something that is useful and not too time-consuming for your prospective consumer. (Cause let's face it, if it's not scrollable, ain't nobody got time for that!) Want to know an effective way to give your audience an accelerated college degree in your brand's solutions? Through Educational Email Campaigns. (duh) You slide into their inbox over the course of a few days, drop some knowledge, establish your expertise, foster sustained contact and trust, and... BAM! You've just converted that social media stalker into an INFORMED and LOYAL customer. Best part: you did it all on autopilot. *steps down from soapbox* OK, that's enough of my rant for today—but I'll be back soon with more deets on Educational Email Campaigns. Have any questions before then? Feel free to hit me up in the comments or DM me. 🌿🌿🌿🌿 Hey, I'm Meg! A 'neurospicy' pharmacist turned ghostwriter dedicated to amplifying the voices of cannabis founders and crafting impactful educational email campaigns (EECs) to boost their outreach. Want proof? Check out my FREE cannabis EEC linked in my "featured" section. Whether you’re launching a groundbreaking product or want to elevate your presence in the space, I can help. DM me to talk shop!

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In my latest Medium blog, I dive deep into how to use the Gemini-1.5-Flash-Pro-001 model to generate chapters for YouTube videos. We'll explore two methods: Method 1: Using the YouTube Transcription API and Gemini's text generation prowess to create chapters from very long transcripts given their 1M token context window. Method 2: Leveraging Gemini's multimodal capabilities to directly analyze YouTube videos (perfect for video owners!). Plus, I'll show you how to present these chapters in a user-friendly format (JSON, Dataframes) and even visualize them in a cool Gradio app. Ready to transform your YouTube experience? Check out the full blog post here: https://lnkd.in/gPCnMhMy #GenAI #YouTube #Gemini #GoogleCloud #AI

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279 A meaningless number in search of validation. I've published 279 blog posts. What benefit does that have to me? Or anybody else for that matter. Not much. But, wait minute ... properly positioned this vanity number might actually mean something.. It demonstrates that ✔ I'm an active writer. ✔ I'm an active thinker. ✔ I'm an active observer. ✔ I know how to show up on a consistent basis. And that I'm serious about all of the above. Proving it 279 times. So maybe the number isn't totally without value. 279. Yay me. https://lnkd.in/eCdrdnq

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Are you making these 3 simple mistakes? Advice from a professional copywriter. FREE EXAMPLES INCLUDED Here are the three mistakes I see as a professional copywriter that destroy conversion rates, drain advertising budgets, and destroy companies. When these 3 changes are implemented, ROI will skyrocket. 1. Clearly define the target audience. Not everyone who views your material is a potential customer; ensure you speak directly to the people looking for the solution you provide. *EXAMPLE* "Study ONLINE followed by a short face-to-face assessment for your first-aid & CPR training" vs "Does your career require first-aid & CPR training?" 2. Understanding customer awareness. The awareness level defines how aware the reader is about their problem. You cannot sell a solution to someone who doesn't know they have a problem. Understand who is viewing your content first, then word accordingly. This has many levels, so let's stick to the primary, Unaware vs Aware. *EXAMPLE* "Is your business getting these three things right? Advice from a professional copywriter." (Unaware of their problem) vs "How to fix your advertising material." (Aware of their problem) 3. Your Hook... (is kinda bad). Your headline/hook is worth 80 cents of every dollar you spend on paid ads. Hooks are tricky. Because it needs to do many things all at once: Immediately communicate immense value. Be immediately understandable and reach the prospect exactly where they're at (customer awareness), sometimes more. All of that packed into just a few words. This takes years of practice.

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I just published this week's tips of what to say. If you are not subscribed to this weekly list of phrases to say, no problem. You can read the entire newsletter here at this link: https://lnkd.in/gsBrXFMX

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💻The 3 types of websites you see everywhere (but two of them suck). Depending how well-versed you are in the state of websites today, you’ll probably notice three buckets of websites in the wild: 1️⃣ Bad looking, bad performing sites. These are sites with little thought, often derived from a template and thrown up quickly with no plan. Much of the web is like this, for obvious reasons. It's shocking how many agencies produce work in this category. 2️⃣ Great looking, bad performing sites. These are the proverbial “Behance” portfolio sites. Anything that can be animated is animated! Computers come grinding to a halt as they struggle to render gorgeous, but ultimately chaotic content. 3️⃣ Great looking, great performing sites. These are the Apples… The Cybertrucks… These are the pages made by serious professionals/teams who know what they’re doing. This is the world my agency plays in—or at least strives to! The problems with #1 sites are many and obvious. They simply don’t do the intended job. #2 sites are more insidious. What makes Apple *Apple* isn’t just flashy gimmicks—everything is in service of telling the story of the product. Yes, it’s beautiful. But it’s also lightning fast on all devices. These days, great digital design isn’t just about how things look. It’s about how things feel. And while many people can reach #2 sites with some effort, very few can get to #3 without hiring a firm who knows what they’re doing. What's your favorite functional website today? #digitalmarketing #WebDevelopment #FrontEnd

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