Are you doing what everyone else is doing?

I have 7 updates for you this week.

1. On my mind

““If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.”

Boring is the default. Most companies are boring because they're emulating everyone else.

Anyone willing to try and do anything differently will be noticed a lot faster. It's hard to be different if you're constantly in the stream of what others are doing.

Missy Elliott and Timbaland have talked about how the key to their success was sounding totally different from anything else. When they were making beats and working in the recording studio, they’d avoid listening to the radio or MTV so that they didn’t have other people’s ideas clogging up their minds.

When Jim McKelvey was building Square, he didn't read any business books - because he didn't want to be influenced by what everyone else was thinking. He wanted to bring original ideas. He also insisted on not hiring anyone from the payments industry while building a brand new payments company - because he didn't want any "this is the way it's done".

Spend more time inside your head. Pay less attention to what others are doing, the convention. Reimagine what something could be like."

-Peep

2. New on the blog

10 product announcement email examples (and what you can learn from them)

What do you need to grab someone's attention in a packed inbox? We’ll break down 10 successful product announcement emails, looking at why they work and what you can learn from them.

3. Upcoming events

Brands Dismantled: How Momentive leveraged brand tracking research during their SurveyMonkey rebrand

Take a look under the hood at how Momentive, our brand marketing minidegree partner, leveraged brand tracking research during their rebrand from SurveyMonkey.

Here's how they provide innovative solutions and expertise around measuring the impact of brand initiatives.

Save your seat and join Morgan Molnar on 10/6 11:00 AM CST.

Jennifer Warren's AMA

Join Jennifer Warren, VP of Global Brand at Indeed and Brand Strategy instructor. She will be answering any questions you may have about all things brand. 

Save your spot and join her on 10/13.

4. The Brand Marketing Minidegree

Why should customers pick you?

The biggest challenge for any business is getting customers to think of you at all because there has never been more brands. The era of product-based differentiation is on its way out, and prospects are desperate for someone, anyone, to stand out and make their decision easier. 

Our new Brand Marketing minidegree, launched on September 22nd, 2021 and we partnered with some of the best marketing practitioners, to bring you only the best, no fluff content.

Get the brand brand marketing minidegree.

5. Latest episode on "How to Win"

Ross Hudgens, founder and CEO at SEO-focused content marketing agency, Siege Media. We talk about the importance of choosing high quality clients, the power of developing a personal brand, and the value of adding premium services to your offering. I weigh in on the war for talent, becoming a top name in your industry, and how my view on "hiring for talent, training for skill" has changed.

Stay tuned on Spotify, Apple Podcast or your favorite podcast platform.

6. CXL talent pool

CXL talent pool makes it much easier for open talent to work with top brands when they are ready to hire someone who matches their requirements - landing more hiring opportunities while spending less time.

If you are open to new job opportunities as a talent, join here.

Want to hire the top digital marketers? Apply here.

7. The next Briefly Experimental newsletter is about to land

If you work in experimentation, this is the newsletter for you. Teams from Decathlon, H&M and Atlassian + 1800 others are already subscribed. Get interesting experimentation articles, alongside commentary from Speero strategists every two weeks directly to your inbox.

Sign up now to catch the next edition.

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