The Bacon Podcast with Brian Basilico | CURE Your Sales & Marketing with Ideas That Make It SIZZLE!

I have always been driven by three principles in life and business. Although I have not always been 100% successful in adhering to them, I have noticed that I am 1000 times happier and more successful when I do.

This time of year, the two weeks around Christmas and New Year’s, always seem like a blur. It’s hard to remember what day today is, especially when both holidays fall in the middle of a week. Business generally grinds to a halt with people and companies taking vacations.

TV is filled with retrospectives of the past year. It’s mind-blowing when you realize all of the events that have happened in the last 365 days.

It’s also a time to look forward and try to plan how you would like your next year to...

One of the world’s great mysteries is the Bermuda Triangle. When it comes to any social media platform, people, features, and more are like the Bermuda Triangle. One second, they are there, and the next, they are gone.

If you feel like your content is being swallowed up by LinkedIn’s Bermuda Triangle (algorithms), I am here to offer you hope. The two things I have mentioned are to connect with as many relational contacts, and initiate engagement with them as much as possible.

As I have said in past posts, email is the...

We have officially transitioned from the information economy to the attention economy.

The Information Economy has significantly transformed B2B business, driving a shift towards data-driven decision-making and digital transactions. In this paradigm, companies leverage information and communication technologies (ICT) to streamline business.

The Attention Economy has profoundly impacted B2B business, transforming companies’ engagement with clients and prospects. In this new paradigm, marketers face the challenge of capturing and retaining the scarce attention of decision-makers amidst an overwhelming flood of information.

The main difference between the email inbox and the postal in...

In 1979, AT&T employed a marketing campaign aimed to soften AT&T’s image and promote long-distance calling as an essential part of everyday American life. It focused on “selling emotion” by emphasizing the human desire to connect with others. Phone numbers were designated to a person, an address, and even a desk when PBX systems were implemented at companies.

With the advent of computers and now AI, talking to a human is damn near impossible, especially if they don’t have your number in their contact system in their phone or VOIP system.

Wh...

“Time Warp” is one of the most recognizable songs from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” It was created as a time filler for the stage play but has exploded in popularity and become a central part of audience participation during film screenings and live performances.

When the movie came out in 1975, things were very different. People read newspapers, listened to the radio, and watched TV to get the news. Newspapers were themselves a Time Warp. The news was generally a day old, printed at night, and delivered by morning.

Social media started out as a way for...

Have you seen the price of eggs? I have not, but I hear it’s high. It is a battle cry for those who go to the grocery store and see that their cart has less, yet they are paying more.

My wife loves carrot cake. Recently, there was a recall of carrots. I wonder if that is why I am paying $6 for one slice instead of an entire cake.

We all are looking for that one thing: to get people’s attention and keep them engaged long enough to learn something and maybe even...

Back in the 1960s, the TV program was called The Twilight Zone. It was an anthology series that explored fantasy, science fiction, horror, and psychological thriller elements.

In today’s complicated new marketing and media world, it can feel like we are living in a Twilight Zone.

Marketing is about getting people to become aware and engaged and building trust. If you work in a vacuum, then your messages are delivered more organically to the recipient. But when you try to use a delivery platform like a social media or search platform, your message ha...

If you watch broadcast TV, I am sure you are happy the election is over and all we have to watch now are pharmaceutical and Christmas commercials.

One of the interesting things I heard in post-election analysis was that a billion dollars was spent on TV ads. At the same time, the most decisive information was distributed via free-to-access websites and apps. This was described as paywall and non-paywall media. I never really thought about that but it makes sense.

It becomes a matter of trust. Voters trusted without needing journalistic and regulatory confirmation...

AI has been part of our culture for a long time. Think about the movies that have predicted where we are now.

Although this is Hollywood and entertainment, we have realized most of this already:

The biggest thing holding AI back or impeding it’s progress is it knowing who it’s talking to. Personalization will need to go way beyond what information is available on the Internet. What it will need (and what you want to do with...

I have a problem. “Hi… my name is Brian… and I am addicted to tabs.” I normally have four Chrome browser windows open with 20 to 30 tabs open in each—that's over 100 tabs. As you age, things slow down (I can't run or jog as fast), and I believe your brain gets full. My memory is still sharp, but I have to admit that there are many more ideas, facts, and concepts that I had to remember before the lightning-fast, internet-based information overtook reading the Encyclopedia Brittanica. AI is an excellent tool for quick research or jogging your memory. AI is an excelle...

I recently came up with a Billion-Dollar Idea. I am sharing it with you, so please don't share it with anyone else. It's going to make me rich, and I would not want anyone to copy or steal it. I created an app that will stop delivering snail mail, emails, texts, radio, and TV commercials once you have voted in an election. The only problem I have not been able to work out is that it does not work if your spouse or partner has not voted yet. Political marketing is about how a candidate or a party will affect...

Back in the day (circa 2013), I spent a lot of time networking. I attended up to 20 events per month. It has slowed down since, but I have always found some value in networking. That all changed in 2020. The pandemic shut down in-person events and everything went virtual via Zoom. While it decimated some groups, others thrived due to the ability to network with others not within driving distance. In 2022, in-person events were coming back, but people were reevaluating the time and costs of local networking. I have always said, “Relationships are the currency of business.” I also tend to view busi...

It's incredible how fast things change. Do you remember that slogan? “You've Come A Long Way, Baby.” That phrase was used in an advertising campaign for Virginia Slims, a brand of cigarettes marketed specifically to women. The slogan was introduced in 1968, and cigarette ads were banned in 1971. It lasted only three years but was so successful that it's still remembered and used today in cultural references. In the first four years of the 2020s, technology has not changed much except that it has become cheaper, faster, and more powerful. But when it comes to marketing, the game has completely changed. Today...

I confess that I try to simplify things down to binary choices: good and evil, easy and hard, the boogeyman and Superman. But I think that in our ever-polarized world, there is becoming a blurred line between truth and opinion. When it comes to marketing, I tend to think of Google and Search as the boogeyman and content marketing as Superman. Yet, like energy, they are a symbiotic and correlated existence that exists and has to function to help businesses market to their audiences and prospects. I believe you have to think like a superhero like Superman to overcome the...

A question often asked is whether it was easier to reach your buying audience in the past or today. My answer is both. Less choice meant you had less to learn but took a more significant risk. With more choices, you have more to learn and often have to use more marketing platforms to reach the same audience, but you run the risk that multiple could fail simultaneously. The one thing that has never changed is the audience. What you were selling in the past and what you are selling today may have changed, but people are still people. People...

There is a debate about whether and when AI content will be as good or better than human-generated content. I believe that it will always be a mix of both. Two Truths The two lists above (the binary choices and 3 options) were generated by AI. I rearranged and edited them to my liking so they fit better with the concepts I am trying to get across today. Although there are people in marketing who will use AI to generate content and post that as humans, I believe that both are needed, necessary, and can co-exist in marketing to help create...

One of my all-time favorite jokes is about babies... "How many babies does it take to screw in a lightbulb?" "None - they neither have the cognitive or motor skills to perform such a task!" You could imagine a baby holding a lightbulb and trying to insert it into a lamp or socket. But if you wanted to see it, you could log into an AI image generator to create one. AI opens some interesting conundrums about the use of images. Who owns the copyright? What if you use a well-known person? Can you be sued? Images are assets. These...

One of my all-time favorite jokes is about babies…

“How many babies does it take to screw in a lightbulb?”
“None – they neither have the cognitive or motor skills to perform such a task!”

You could imagine a baby holding a lightbulb and trying to insert it into a lamp or socket. But if you wanted to see it, you could log into an AI image generator to create one.

AI opens some interesting conundrums about the use of images. Who owns the copyright? What if you use a well-known person? Can you be s...

If you manage your own or other business websites, I imagine you are using Google Analytics or another data manager to explore the traffic to your website. Generally, you measure how much traffic you get, how long people stay, and which pages or posts get the most traffic. Another key indicator is where the traffic is coming from. This includes organic search (Google searches), direct (typing or clicking a URL), referral (link from another website), organic social (multiple social media sites), and something called unassigned (catch-all for all others). I have seen customers and clients who pay attention to numbers...

I could easily take my old blogs and ask AI to rewrite them to reflect today's business environment better. That would certainly be faster than my two-finger typing, re-working sections, and asking a VA to proof and post, but would it or could it be more successful or effective? Most businesses will ebb and flow between profit and deficit, and you sometimes have to cut expenses to offset a deficit of profits. When it comes to marketing, outcomes are profits and content creation and distribution are part of the expense. As long as those outcomes lead to financial profits, marketing...

I was listening to a podcast interview with comedian Mike Birbiglia. I was not familiar with him, but I found his take on comedy interesting. He believes that comedians have a one-on-one relationship with their audiences. Social media and podcasts can help to create a more intimate relationship with fans. Some influencers lose that connection because they become an outsized version of themselves. They get lost in the audience's abyss and lose the connection with individuals. They become unapproachable. I find the same thing with marketing. We tend to lose sight of that one-on-one relationship and get lost in the...

I want to do something a little different today. I want to share with you my why. If you can figure out your why, I believe you are halfway to success. Simon Sinek tells us to start with why. But I believe that why is not all-encompassing and as simple as finding one why on your way to the top. I believe there are a series of whys. Why are you in or running a business? Why are you in the niche or market that you serve? Why do you offer the specific products or services you sell? The other...

How do you define success? Success is not measured like temperature with a static scale or counting system. It is an abstract system that is different for every person and business. With today's Attention Economy, you may think that likes and clicks are the most important metric. But I am here to tell you that profits are the main thing to measure in business. Profits come from sales. In this Attention Economy, companies are trying different tools and techniques to stand out. You have two invaluable assets that others don't have: relationships with your current and past customers and their...

AI is machine learning. It's great for repetitive tasks. It collects knowledge and synthesizes it into useful compilations. AI machine learning can be predictable. “I” learning is what we do when we interact with people. It's as unpredictable as an amateur golf swing. Interacting with humans requires empathy, psychology, self-awareness, and patience. It is time-consuming and can have different results on different days. Interacting with people is how we do business. People do business with people, and although AI can help, it cannot replace human-to-human interaction. In the world of generating leads, social networks, and business in the post-pandemic economy, it's...

In business, we need to embrace systems to align people with processes. Companies spend time and money on systems to speed up or simplify processes. The one thing that stands in the way of business systems being effective is people. You are working with a group of people with different life experiences, goals, and beliefs. As much as we try, we can't dig deep into each individual and try to align them based on their unique perspective, so we try to find a middle ground with the expectation of varying degrees of adaptation. We then create documents and training to...

Businesses, especially ones that have well-established systems and methodologies, tend to ebb and flow. It's pretty common for a business to slow in the dog days of summer and pick up in the fall, but I hear frustrations from some and jubilation from others. I was conversing with a client about how business has changed since COVID-19 (2021-2022). Before that time, you could meet people in person at networking events, conferences, and more. Marketing and connection emails were being sent and opened (albeit at a 20-30% open rate). Phone calls were being received and returned. In most ways, it was...

I had the opportunity to travel to the South Carolina Coast for my son's wedding. However, I dreaded the idea that renting a house or condo was the only way to stay on Edisto Island. I had visions of Florida or Myrtle Beach, where the coast has huge hotels and condos. When it comes to marketing a B2b business online, it's more like Edisto than Myrtle Beach. Edisto is trying to reach a niche audience that is harder to find and communicate with. Yet, it can only serve a limited number of customers. They would love more sales, but...

When I was a kid, I did not have to walk to school uphill, both ways, in the snow! But it was before you could buy calculators and computers in the dollar store. I am trying to remember any algebra, trig, or calculus that I actually use today. Much of it was based on formulas and principles. I know it's used in science and computing, but I'm in sales, marketing, and advertising. Most of the math I do today is primarily in accounting and spreadsheets. There is a bit of geometry involved in creating art in Photoshop. Art and music...

Growing old means having another day to learn, live, love, and grow. If you choose to continue to learn every day, you acquire wisdom. That wisdom may or may not help you become more successful, but I find that to stay relevant in business, you have to continue to follow trends and learn from experts who may be both younger and older than you! When it comes to marketing, I think we need a team of specialists to help us deal with what ails our business pain. Often, what is diagnosed as a lack of traffic to a website is...

One big difference between Chicago and Raleigh is traffic. Chicago has basic north-south east-west routes and a lake that stops you from going east at one point. Raleigh has roads that can go east-west-north-south within a few miles, and you cannot live without a GPS. Also, Chicago has many 8-12 lane roads while Raleigh has 2-6 at most points. Yet, it takes almost twice the time to go the same distance in Chicago as it does here in Raleigh. I like to think of Chicago traffic as consumer traffic on the internet. It takes a fairly direct route from searching...

Back in 1997, Deep Blue (an IBM computer) defeated Garry Kasparov, the world chess champion at the time, in a six-game match with a final score of 3.5-2.5 in favor of Deep Blue. Almost 20 years later, in 2016, Google's AlphaGo program achieved a similar victory by defeating Lee Sedol, one of the world's top professional Go players, in a five-game match with a final score of 4-1. Artificial intelligence and machine learning have been around for decades, yet they were not accessible to you and me. Now that they are, they're predicted to change marketing (and life in general) forever. Experts, insiders...

I have always been entertained and enamored by magic tricks. When people see one performed, they usually have one of two reactions: amazement or curiosity. The amazement is, “How did they do that?” and the curiosity is, “How did they do that?” Some people will look forward to the next one, while others are distracted by trying to figure out the sleight of hand. At every turn, your data is being collected, and how that data is used, sold, and utilized is still like a magic trick. The only way to truly opt out of everything is to simply stop using co...

Do you remember life before Beepers, CB Radios, and Fax Machines? All three gained momentum and popularity in the '70s and '80s and peaked in the '90s. However, all three fell victim to mobile phones. Beepers became text messaging, faxes became email, and CB radios became Nextel phones and then standard mobile phones. Artificial Intelligence is about to completely disrupt how your business is found on the internet, making it harder for small—and midsized businesses to stand out and be found. It will affect consumer businesses more than B2b businesses, but it will continue to ge...

As Artificial Intelligence begins to overtake the marketing world, I think it's a good idea to get nostalgic about marketing and see how we can infuse it with a modern-day perspective. When you get down to the core of marketing, it's about people. Marketing is creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society. At its core, it's about getting people to buy something. Consumer marketing is often self-serve. People select and buy products and services based on marketing alone. A sales team and process usually facilitate a sale in the business-to-business world. Business-to-business...

In sports (and in business), two factors affect success. The physical and the mental are two parts of the whole, yet one is easier to evaluate to predict success… especially in football. In business, we tend to focus more on the mental than the physical of the people we work with. This is why artificial intelligence is both an opportunity and a detriment. AI has the benefit of agility and speed with decision-making. It also has a bit more consistency and predictability than humans. If you take a robot with adequate physical abilities and supercharge it with AI, it can sc...

I was just in Chicago at the American Marketing Association's Leadership Conference, where 400 people from around North America, representing 50+ chapters, came to learn and grow with and from each other. Conferences are great for networking, learning, and getting out of the routine work rut, but they are also very peoply. Sometimes, too peoply. Like social media and audio amplifiers, my brain has a self-preservation technique of shutting down when I spend too much time with people. As a salesperson, peopling is your job. The barrier is that you are reaching out to people you probably don't know and trying to...

Growing up in New York, Yogi Bera was one of my favorite characters. He was a good player but even more of a philosopher (well, sort of). Some of his most famous "Deep Yogi Thoughts" include: "It ain't over 'til it's over." "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." "It's like déjà vu all over again." "You can observe a lot by watching." "Baseball is 90 percent mental and the other half is physical." "You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I'm not hungry enough to eat six." "Always go to other people's funerals, ot...

When you think of unicorns, I am sure the first thing that comes to mind is a mythical and colorful horse with a single horn. Although there are no living, breathing unicorns that I have ever seen, I know unicorns are REAL! Real unicorns in business refer to an elite privately funded startup that has crossed the $1 billion valuation mark, usually in the technology field. When you think of business leads, I am sure the first thing that comes to mind is a real-life person who needs and wants to buy what you are selling. Although there are living, breathing...

One of the most recognized sounds computer lovers remember is the dial-up connection and AOL's announcement that says, “You've Got Mail!” It was like a sugar high whenever you heard that sound. Nowadays, most of us feel like we have the stabbing pain of a cavity when we hear our Outlook or Gmail inbox notification saying, “You've Got Mail!” What changed? The biggest difference is that many (if not most) of the emails we get today have one goal: to sell us something. Some of that is subtle, like email lists we have signed up for, while others are just blatant...