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Video killed the radio star
Why a video content strategy should start with your audience. Next week, I’m doing something different: I’m making a video. Why? Because audiences are increasingly watching what they used to just listen to. Consider: Edison Research found that watching and listening to podcasts are now nearly equal among weekly consumers. Instagram is testing Features, allowing creators to publish videos up to 90 minutes long. And YouTube is now the most-used podcast platform among weekly U.S. podcast consumers. Don’t get me wrong. Audio still has its place. But a video content strategy opens up opportunities to reach audiences in ways that audio alone can’t. So I’m making a video. And here’s…
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What Losing a Parent Taught Me About Living
Four Years Later Four years have passed since my mom died. In that time, friends and family have lost more people. My grandmother died a year ago. My uncle died over the summer. I can’t speak for anyone else’s grief—it’s unique, unruly, and on a timeline of its own. But time and loss have taught me two more things about my own. [I wrote about losing my mom a few years ago. You can read that piece here.] But first, a moment from before Four months before my mom died, she called me to say goodbye. It was this time of year—October—on a Saturday. My wife and I were walking…
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Every story is a ghost story
We’re all haunted by emotional ghosts of the past, present, and, future… The older I get, the more I realize I’m surrounded and consumed by ghosts. There are obvious ghosts of the past, sure, like my deceased mom and grandmother. But then there are the more insidious and illusive ghosts in everyday life like people known, places lived, and stories — both mine and others. Of course, not all of these subconscious influences are harmful. They’re human. But without awareness some ghosts can be quite powerful. Plus, next to each type of ghost — ghosts of the body and blood; ghosts of the mind; ghosts in the language; ghosts of…
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What Is an Influencer? Rethinking Influence Beyond Social Media
Should You Become an Influencer? The commercial influencer economy is enormous. An estimated 67 million people worldwide identify as content creators, up 34% in just two years (Goldman Sachs, 2025). At the same time, the global influencer marketing industry was projected to reach around $32.55 BILLION in 2025 (Statista, 2025). (ICYMI — I explored another multibillion-dollar media market recently. For added context, read about it here.) A multibillion-dollar industry…but for whom? Although the market is big, the financial reality for most creators isn’t. Consider: CreatorIQ’s State of Creators 2026 found that about 5% of surveyed creators earned more than $100,000 annually, while 67% earned less than $10,000 from their content.…
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Media Strategy: Start With Your Audience, Not the Medium
Should You Make [Insert Media Here]? You’re Asking the Wrong Question. There’s never been an easier time to make media. Podcasts. Videos. Blogs. Newsletters. Social media campaigns…with relatively inexpensive equipment, production software, distribution, and AI, almost anyone can create and publish something quickly. But just because you can doesn’t mean you should. So, should you? Wrong question. Instead, consider: Who are you trying to reach, what are you trying to accomplish, and why should anyone care? While I’m using podcasting as an example, this applies to every media decision. Choosing what to produce should follow—not precede—understanding why you’re producing it. The podcasting paradox Podcasting is a big industry. According to…
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Brand Storytelling: Your Customer Is the Hero. Be the Guide.
Stop having heroes. Be one. For someone else. I want to dispel a myth about heroes. Heroes aren’t necessarily super. They’re people. People like you and me. And this matters because the way we think about heroes shapes the stories we tell—and the roles we ask other people to play in them. The hero isn’t you. It’s them. Heroes are often thought of as courageous, strong, and exceptional. That isn’t wrong. But for those of us raised on Hollywood superheroes, this is only one version of the story. The extraordinary, deeply flawed hero—Batman, Supergirl, or the protagonist of the latest Marvel movie—takes it upon themselves, sometimes with the help of…
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Possible Selves: the person you hope to be, fear becoming, and are
There’s a gap in your perception. And the reality is, you likely exist somewhere between who you hope to be, who you fear you are, and who you actually are. We’re all like this—to some degree. Psychologists call these our possible selves: who we hope to become, who we fear becoming, and the other versions of us we carry around in our heads (Markus & Nurius, 1986). If noticed, we can use them to our advantage. But the best news? None of them is absolute. And none of them is entirely real. Possible selves, three main versions At one end, there’s the person you hope to be. This is who…
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Influence and Media: How Ideas Break Through
Influence is the art of moving people toward an idea. Think of TED’s tagline: “Ideas worth spreading.” That’s the point. Ideas are the currency of influence. But influence only matters when an idea eventually becomes something more. Someone believes it. Shares it. Supports it. Acts on it. And getting people to act, most of all, is the work of leadership. Ideas Have to Move Before thoughts can become actions, ideas have to be communicated. Communication is essential. But it isn’t enough. It needs media. Influence is the art of moving people toward an idea, and media is the means of moving that idea to them. Media is the car and…
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Power Is a Function of Dependence
If you want more power, consider… Power is a function of dependence. Power isn’t possessed. It’s relational. This is important. Because power isn’t a possession. It’s relational. It’s directional. And your personal power isn’t located in you. It’s located in someone else’s need for you. Conceptually, that means if A has power over B, A’s power comes from B’s dependence on A. Here’s that visually: B —dependence→ A Where greater dependence = greater power. (This idea comes from sociologist Richard M. Emerson’s theory of power-dependence relations. Rather than treating power as something an individual possesses, Emerson argued power exists within a relationship: A’s power over B rests on B’s dependence…
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Attention in Marketing: What Matters Most?
Why are you posting on social media? For attention. And that makes sense. There’s both a strategic and psychological advantage to earning someone’s attention. Attention is an act of focused giving: for a few seconds, someone may choose your message over everything else competing for them. And without it, your message—whatever it may be—evaporates without impact. So, yeah: go after attention. But there’s a catch. Attention requires exposure You can’t have attention without exposure first. My apologies, Bill. Posting creates the opportunity for exposure. It gets you into the environment. It gives someone the chance to encounter your idea. But exposure is weak on its own. Because we’re exposed to…
