An inside look at why Performance Max rewards marketers who prioritize data, creative strategy, and disciplined patience over granular controls and outdated PPC tactics.
The post The Behaviors And Mindset Of Marketers Who Win With Performance Max appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Technology Lies.
I seem to feel this way every year, but Thanksgiving always causes me to come to a “full stop” at least briefly, and reflect on how fortunate I am. Despite the flaws, we live in a marvelous country in the US, and I’m sure those of you in other climes feel the same way about yours.
We seem to shed bad times, poor governments, natural disasters, and foreign threats the way my Shepherd sheds fur. The detritus is all over but we’re healthy and can sweep up the mess.
Thanksgiving was thought to begin in 1621 when a Native American man named Squanto, who spoke English because he had been enslaved, helped the Pilgirms (Protestants fleeing persecution in Europe) plant corn. He also helped them learn to fish on land that had been his tribe’s, the Patuxet, before they were killed by smallpox.
Then in 1621 came a banner harvest, so sometime between September and November, the settlers celebrated with a feast that lasted three days drawing from their harvest and food from the Wampanoag tribe, the larger tribe that the Patuxet was a band of.
Abraham Lincoln established it as an annual national holiday by proclamation in 1863, largely due to the efforts of Sarah Josepha Hale, and later, Congress passed a law in 1941, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, that fixed the holiday to the fourth Thursday of November.
We complain, we’re cynical, we feel unfairly treated at various times and in various circumstances. Some people are seldom that way and some are always that way. Try to be part of the former, because the alternative is not a life at all.
And when I tell you how fortunate I am, I find that the harder I’ve worked the luckier I’ve become.
From our house to yours, Happy Thanksgiving!
Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough. —Oprah Winfrey
I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual. —Henry David Thoreau
If you are really thankful, what do you do? You share. —W. Clement Stone (This was the man who fired me in 1985! He was worth at the time $400 million.)
Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence. —Erma Bombeck
The No Normal® Newsletter
Seeing what others don’t notice, acting when others don’t move, living a life others can’t dream
Newsletter sections and examples of what will be included:
1. What I’m hearing and seeing: What’s Happened (AI is not taking over, it’s actually underutilized)
2. Turn your head, look around: What’s Happining (The jobs and careers that are disappearing)
3. Assume Zebras: What’s Coming (Removal of human judgment in almost all sports—and not merely for accuracy)
The No Normal Newsletter is a reflection on my trademarked idea that there will never be a “return to normal” nor a “new normal.” That’s because “normal” means “routine” or “average” and this is not an age of the mundane.
Each month I’ll provide what I’ve been hearing globally, from clients and colleagues in my coaching and consulting practice. I’ll indicate what’s happening around us that is opportunity (or threat) for readers. And I’ll dispel the old trope that if you hear hoofbeats you should assume horses are coming, the most obvious probability.
I’m going to show you how to, and why you should, assume zebras.
$250 for a year (or $3,000 for a year plus six coaching calls during the year at your preference). Starts January 15.
For about 20 bucks a month you’ll get the mix of my enormous perspective of four decades in this business, my current highly successful contacts and engagements around the world, and my keen insights into the zebras.
• I predicted the Israeli/Hamas War would end by exhaustion this year.
• I predicted the market would exceed 48,000 in 2025.
• I have five books being published next year.
• I have my own AI:AlanIntlleigence® on my site, as well as 21 trademarks.
• I have the stongest brand in my “public square” in the world.
I’m not bragging, I’m showing you that I’ve identified, anticipated, and exploited true trends and eschewed fads. And, as Dizzy Dean said, “If you can do it, it ain’t braggin’.”
Join me in 2026 and continue your journey into prosperity. You can sign up here until it’s on my site: https://alanweiss.com/store/quick-pay/ If you don’t think 20 bucks a month is worth it for my guidance and insights, then poor you!
2026 Zoom Workshops
January 6 Maximizing the coaching/advisory dynamic
February 3 Maximizing speaking spin-off business
March 3 Role-playing tough conversations
April 7 Maximizing workshop effectiveness spin-off
May 5 Maximizing current events potential
June 9 Role-playing tougher conversations
July 7 Maximizing low project labor practices
August 13 Maximizing panels—participant/moderator
September 8 Role-playing toughest conversations
October 6 Maximizing publishing potential
November 2 Maximizing lifestyle potential
December 8 Maximizing 2027 personally and professionally
All sessions are approximately 90 minutes beginning at 10:30 US eastern time. These sessions are $450 each, or the entire year for $5,000. Add three months of weekly 30-minute coaching for $2,500, a total of $7,500. (My cards are accepted for the full-year, and for the full-year and coaching options, not for individual sessions.) All sessions will include video recording, visual photos, and Zoom Companion summary.
Register before December 1 and receive a fourth month of weekly, 30-minute calls.
Register here: https://alanweiss.com/store/quick-pay/
London: For those of you who read down here, a special offer. I’m planning to be in London in late May offering a 1.5-day program based on my new book The Seven-Figure Consultant (which will be released in February and which I’ll send for free to registrants at that time). The program is about the philosophy, leverage, and opportunity acquisition you need to make seven figures annually and sustain it. It is a brand new offering (it is not “Six Figures to Seven”). If you’re interested: The fee will be $4,500, which includes a reception evening, a light breakfast and lunch. If you register in November the fee is $3,500. Write me at alan@summitconsulting.com or register here: https://alanweiss.com/store/quick-pay/ Read this far? It’s May 18-19.
A strategic guide to building a measurable growth loop that connects authentic founder voices to full-funnel results.
The post The Founder-Led Growth Loop: How To Amplify And Measure Executive Voice For Real ROI appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Of course, a book with a title like this gives us pause–when we think of marketers, we don’t ordinarily think about Jerry, Phil, Bobby and the rest of the crew.
But that’s one reason why the insights are so profound.
Marketing isn’t hype or hustle or scamming. It’s not spam or manipulation either. We already have words for those things.
Marketing is the generous act of showing up with a true story that helps people get to where they’d like to go.
And the stories are at the heart of what we think of when we consider the Dead. The intentional choices. Choices about fans, tours, records, the radio and most of all, the community. Work that matters for people who care.
While it’s tempting to make every marketing lesson about Apple or Starbucks, it’s the lessons we learn from the Grateful Dead that are most applicable to a typical project. The smallest viable audience, the purple cow, the tribe and the persistence to build an actual brand, not just a logo.
The thing is, these aren’t marketing secrets. They’re marketing choices.
Instead of making average stuff for average people, the Grateful Dead decided to focus on the people who wanted to get on the bus.
The book is highly recommended. You can even listen to music while you’re reading it.
Also worth a read: Lose Your Mind, a useful take on creativity.
PS This is Strategy is 50% off this week.
A strategic guide to building a measurable growth loop that connects authentic founder voices to full-funnel results.
The post The Founder-Led Growth Loop: How To Amplify And Measure Executive Voice For Real ROI appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Of course, a book with a title like this gives us pause–when we think of marketers, we don’t ordinarily think about Jerry, Phil, Bobby and the rest of the crew.
But that’s one reason why the insights are so profound.
Marketing isn’t hype or hustle or scamming. It’s not spam or manipulation either. We already have words for those things.
Marketing is the generous act of showing up with a true story that helps people get to where they’d like to go.
And the stories are at the heart of what we think of when we consider the Dead. The intentional choices. Choices about fans, tours, records, the radio and most of all, the community. Work that matters for people who care.
While it’s tempting to make every marketing lesson about Apple or Starbucks, it’s the lessons we learn from the Grateful Dead that are most applicable to a typical project. The smallest viable audience, the purple cow, the tribe and the persistence to build an actual brand, not just a logo.
The thing is, these aren’t marketing secrets. They’re marketing choices.
Instead of making average stuff for average people, the Grateful Dead decided to focus on the people who wanted to get on the bus.
The book is highly recommended. You can even listen to music while you’re reading it.
Also worth a read: Lose Your Mind, a useful take on creativity.
PS This is Strategy is 50% off this week.
Does a sales collapse ever really come “out of the blue”? I reckon people subconsciously think it does, one bad month, one tough quarter, one conversation with the boss that knocks us sideways. But that’s never how it works. Sales failure is almost always a slow burn. It creeps in quietly like a Father Christmas leaving you some coal and no presents, one minute the milk is still…
Less than a quarter of organisations are turning AI input into business action, according to a new study. The ‘AI in Business: From Reporting to Actionable Insights’ paper suggests that this may be down to firms applying tools which are not right for them, and neglecting the business and data bases, in their rush to invest in AI at any cost.
In consulting, every transformation needs a conductor – and that responsibility falls to the project manager. But in today’s rapidly evolving, increasingly complex and digitising landscape, the project manager’s role is transforming as well, writes Bret Tushaus, Vice President of Product Management at Deltek.
