Ever had “entrepreneur’s déjà vu”? You create something ingenious. You step back to look at the finished product. And you get this sense of déjà vu. It’s almost like you’re experiencing that moment of first completion… for the second time. Pay attention to that feeling, because you’ve just had a marketing breakthrough. And you probably don’t realise it yet. For […]

While getting royalty treatment in a busy restaurant on Sunday, I realised how easy it would be to do the same thing with email marketing. There is this restaurant in Nisantasi (a posh shopping district in Istanbul) called Well Done. It’s one of those places only the locals know. The facade is very unassuming. I must have walked past […]

While watching the last X-Men movie last night, I thought about you and your online business. And perhaps you’ll find a useful marketing lesson here: After seeing the movie for the umpteenth time, I am convinced my mother stole Wolverine’s “healing factor”. A couple of weeks ago, I was in Izmir visiting family. Short version: The floor was wet, and […]

Just read the most disturbing urban legend ever. I was going to write about something else today, but this story is haunting me. Or at least: haunting my keyboard, because the email is pretty much writing itself with little input from me. What makes the story so creepy is that a variation of it actually happens in most […]

You might get a kick out of this. By popular demand, I’m sharing an embarrassing story: I had such high hopes for today. Woke up early (even though it’s a public holiday here in Istanbul). It was going to be a “strategy day”. I would map out all my projects for the month, establish budgets, schedule them into my […]

While getting flooded by the summer storm on Tuesday, I thought about you and your email lists. And perhaps you’ll find a useful marketing lesson here: Istanbul was recently swept away by the third mega-storm this summer. Wind speeds reached up to 75kph… Torrential downpours choked the city’s major transport arteries… I was answering emails when the downpour […]

I witnessed something I was not supposed to see last night. My balcony looks onto the kitchen entrance of the best steakhouse in Istanbul. And they certainly are a media darling. You can’t pick up a newspaper without stumbling on yet another gushing review. The meat is great, the ambience authentic, the service impressive… blah blah blah. It’s like this […]

Something otherworldly happened yesterday. Ben Settle featured me to his email list – totally unsolicited. If you don’t know who Ben Settle is, let’s just say he is the God-Pharaoh of Email Marketing. He is universally recognised as the world’s #1 email marketer. Just to put things in context: Ever heard of Agora Inc – the $600 million a year […]

This is a public service announcement: Today’s marketing tip is gruesomely graphic. Viewer discretion is advised… and if you’re easily grossed out, then, well, you’ve been warned. Still here? OK, then here’s the story: Somewhere in Istanbul – oh, I don’t know, maybe within walking distance of my homequarters – is a flat. According to unverified (but accurate) rumours, this flat […]

I committed a minor felony today. (No, not the cage match. We’ll get to that later.) Being a (sporadic) early riser, I walked jogged to the gym at 6am this morning. (Yes, it doesn’t happen often, so I’m going to brag about it – repeatedly.) That in itself is probably a felony against human decency, but I actually did something even […]