STARTING LINE

My friend Jake replied to last week's issue, asking, "Trying to tie it all together. .. What is the brand promise of Frictionless? Is it POLISH, or is that a way to hone my Core Competencies? Is it that the indefatigable person is the one who probes constantly? 'Questions' are your duct tape and bailing wire. They hold everything together. Ask yourself if that jumps from your content.

It was a good question. Here's how I answered, with a few additions:

Brand Positioning for yourself is more challenging than it is for your clients because you don't bring a lot of "stuff" to the table for the client.

At age 64, I'm evolving. Over the past 40+ years, I've been a prolific reporter and editor. At MBNA America, I was branded a Bulldog, which we all agreed was aggressive as I moved into consulting. Bulldog became Friction Free, which led to the Frictionless newsletter. But as I built my Differentiated Value, I realized my superpower was asking questions. That can be challenging to integrate into your overall value proposition, particularly if you have multiple revenue streams. I then got some great advice from thought-leadership expert Bob Buday to pivot to thinking bigger, which led to Communications Windex and my brand-new POLISH framework, which enables me to convert those streams into a full-fledged river.

The throughline is you have to evolve. I don't want to abandon the Friction Free and Frictionless brands, so I need to figure out how it all fits together. The “Questions” part is my effort to find a niche.The reality is the newsletter isn't worth the time I spend on it unless some of you hire me. So, I'm focusing on finding questions that help you increase your revenues, streamline your processes, or raise your visibility.

So the answer to Jake's question is my brand promise is that I help executives POLISH their unique insights, transforming them into sought-after industry experts who drive trust and revenues. I'll help them make their communications frictionless, which normally requires they ask great questions to understand the pain their stakeholders and customers are feeling.

How does that apply to you? Go look at your LinkedIn Profile. Does it reflect your current brand, or is 2014 you? How have you evolved since then?

I'll be sending out a brief survey later this week asking you where you struggle the most with questions. I hope you'll take a few minutes to help me get to know you better and understand your pain points.

LET'S GET GOING...

I am writing articles on Recapturing Joy for middle-aged readers between 45 and 65. I'm talking to people who bring joy to others, have made a significant career pivot, or had a health scare that led them to make SERIOUS changes. So imagine my Joy when I read Ann Handley’s new post about seeing Taylor Swift in London (“A Festival of Pure Joy”) and her musings about Virgin Atlantic’s approach to copywriting on the flight home. At first glance, her post wasn't about asking questions, which means it may be out of scope. But upon additional reflection, it answers an important question: At a time when we all need more joy in our lives, how can I make my writing more funny, relatable, and compassionate?

Careers: McKinsey’s Raju Narisetti asks himself a fairly simple-sounding question whenever he’s considering a new role: “When is the last time I did something for the first time?”​

Leadership: Best-selling author David Burkus offers five questions great leaders ask, including “How Can I Help” and “Where Do I Need Help?” This is a 7:51 YouTube video.

Customer Surveys: Before launching a survey (original research), Content Marketing Institute Research Director Lisa Murton Beets suggests eight questions to ground your efforts.

​How important is consistency, really? Jay Clouse got me thinking about the difference between consistency and frequency and the importance of consistency with your readers’ expectations, partly because it builds reader trust.

HOW CAN I HELP?

As communications professionals and business owners, we often rush from one project to the next, leaving little time for reflection. However, taking a moment to analyze our work can be invaluable. I was honored when Gini Dietrich's influential Spin Sucks blog published my article on the importance of communications post-mortems. In it, I explore how these retrospectives can significantly improve future projects, whether conducted internally or with an external facilitator. Curious about how to implement this practice effectively? Check out the full article here to unlock insights that could transform your next communications initiative.

PROMPTS ARE QUESTIONS TOO

The key to writing a good prompt is to provide detail and context for the model, or to get multiple options to consider.

Try this: I am stuck on a paragraph in a [TYPE OF CONTENT] about [WHAT'S THE PARAGRAPH ABOUT]. Can you help me rewrite the paragraph and finish it by giving me 10 options for it in various professional styles? Make the styles and approaches different, making them exceptionally well-written.

Prompts are a good starting point. Although the original was fine, I used this one to revise the How Can I Help paragraph above. I plugged in the original copy and Claude and I had a "conversation" to get the tone right. My suggestion: Experiment and don't take the first suggestion.

I welcome your comments or suggestions for future issues. Drop me a note here. If you found this on LinkedIn or had it forwarded to you, you can subscribe by clicking the button below.

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