Interviews

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In conversation with Seth Godin
Photo: Jill Greenberg

In this post I get to interview Seth Godin… author of 18 bestselling books, consummate marketer, entrepreneur, teacher and a good person.

That question about the protein.

Almost 20 years ago now Seth and I were booked to speak at the same event. We were both in town the evening before and went for dinner together.

As I studied the menu, Seth looked over and asked, “How do you take your protein?”

I remember that question because it stopped me dead in my tracks. I had to pause, unpack the meaning behind the question and think.

None of that would have happened if Seth has simply asked me, “Are you a vegetarian?”

If he’s asked me that, I’d have said no. Zero thought or reflection required.

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In conversation with Tim Washer

In this post I get to interview Tim Washer… speaker, creative director and comedy writer whose credits include Late Show With David Letterman, and Saturday Night Live.

I met Tim at a conference in Austin, Texas. We were both speakers, but he was way, way funnier.

He gave this great talk that held everyone’s total attention. Everyone in the audience was totally spellbound.

I remember how Tim clearly cared about the people in the room.

And how he used humor to connect with people, engage with the whole audience and make us all feel we were his friends.

Imagine being able to harness that kind of attention as a marketer.

No wonder Tim is on my must-interview list.

Let’s get started…

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Say less to sell more

In this post I get to interview Shane Gibson, an international speaker and author on social media marketing, social selling and sales performance.

Shane and I worked together training young entrepreneurs way back in the mid 1990s. A LONG time ago! Since then he has become a huge force in a few different areas, from sales leadership training to social media.

A little while back, instead of just reading one of his tweets, I clicked on it and soon found myself immersed in his videos and podcasts.

Weird thing… although we’ve barely been in contact all these years, it seems like we’ve been travelling along parallel lines.

This is a long and meaty interview, with a ton of powerful takeaways.

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Ann Handley in conversation

In this post I get to interview best-selling author and Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs, Ann Handley.

I’ve known Ann for over 20 years, ever since she first invited me to write for ClickZ, a website she co-founded with Andy Bourland back in 1997.

Through working with her and reading her books, I know we agree on most things when it comes to writing for the web.

That’s all very nice, but could also be a problem. Mutual appreciation interviews can get really boring, really fast.

So… I thought a little harder and came up with a slightly non-obvious line of questioning.

I don’t know what Ann’s answers will be. But I’m really looking forward to finding out.

Let’s get started.

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Two swimmers underwater

In this post I get to interview Giovanni Ciampaglia, Global Marketing Director for Arena Water Instinct.

Giovanni and I first worked together several years ago when he asked me to write some web pages for the fitness equipment company he was working for.

Recently he reached out to me and said, “I’m looking into ways to improve our marketing efforts through better (conversational) copywriting…”

He wanted to hire a freelancer who was trained in conversational copywriting, and I was happy to introduce him to several of our course alumni.

And then I got to thinking… of all the industries that might latch onto the power and promise of conversational copywriting… swimwear??

Hence this interview.

Let’s get started…

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