Happy Thursday <<First Name>> – As I assembled this week's roundup of helpful articles and inspiring ideas that you may have missed in our crazy, chaotic world, I was struck by the story that these news items told together in aggregate. Social media use is declining while outdoor advertising (!) is on the rise. The world around us is rapidly changing and yet most of the communication we interact with is bad. What does it mean? One thing I know for certain, is that we can't keep doing more of everything. We have to get focused. We have to do better. Here are some ideas to help.

BAD COMMUNICATION IS EVERYWHERE. Recently, my wife sent me a text that said, "You've ruined me." However, as I came to discover, it was intended as a compliment. In fact, it’s quickly becoming one of my favorite compliments. Let me explain and offer a lesson to help you with your public speaking along the way.

AVERAGE TIME ON SOCIAL MEDIA DECLINES. Facebook users are spending less time on the social platform and it's impacting the overall time we spend on social media. New data from eMarketer provides a great overview. 

SAY YOU'VE ALREADY GOT THE BEST CONTENT MARKETING ADVICE ... Want to hear the worst? It helps sometimes to know what not to do. And Content Marketing Institute put together a list to help you do just that. 

WHEN IT DOUBT, BUILD A MASSIVE DONUT SHOP. That's what Krispy Kreme is doing in Times Square. Go big or go home, right? 

HOW TO ACHIEVE BRAND RELEVANCY IN A FAST-CHANGING WORLD. This week on the On Brand podcast, I was joined by Allen Adamson, co-founder of Metaforce and author of Shift Ahead and BrandSimple. Listen now.

Instagram Spotlight: You Like Me, Right?
Okay, I'm stretching a bit here. Not all of these photos are from Instagram. However, knowing that Facebook use is dropping I thought I'd do my part to increase engagement. While updating my Facebook page, I noticed that I needed to add some albums for my speaking from 2018 and 2019 (so far) as well as an album from the launch of my book Brand Now. If you head over to my page, you can see all of these.

As an added bonus, if you like the articles you read here you'll find that many of them debut first on my Facebook page along with a weekly live video from my radio show, the Social Soundbite. So, if you haven't already, please like me on Facebook. 

Then I can be just like Sally Field and can shout from the rooftops: "You like me! You really like me!" (And with that reference I've lost all of my readers under 40. Look it up. It was funny.)

I'D LOVE TO SPEAK AT YOUR EVENT. If you'd like to make me and my incredibly topical Sally Field references a part of your next conference or corporate event, check out my speaking site for popular topics and a new speaking video. You can also reply to this email and we can get the ball rolling.

MARIJUANA MARKETING IS NO LAUGHING MATTER. According to Kantar, cannabis retailers upped their ad spending by 23% year-over-year in 2018 to reach $4.1 million. The biggest opportunity? Outdoor advertising. 

THE FUTURE OF MARKETING IS ANALYTICS. Just ask Salesforce. This week the mar-tech giant acquired data visualization platform Tableau for $15.7 billion. As someone who teaches in an analytics program, I can tell you first hand that this field is growing. And it may just be growing right into marketing.

THE BIGGEST MYSTERY AT THE HEART OF BIG LITTLE LIES. After binging the first season last week, I jumped right into the second season of Big Little Lies this past Sunday. However, one mystery still haunts me: How does first-grader Chloe MacKenzie have better musical taste than I do?

There you have it! If you have ideas on stories we could share or content you’d like to see in any format (blog posts, podcast guests, ebooks, events, etc) simply reply to this email and we can chat. I’d love to hear from you.

Until next week, see you on the Internet!

Nick Westergaard Chief Strategist, Brand Driven Digital nick@westergaard.com | 319.325.0921 @nickwestergaard

Brand Driven Digital helps complex organizations
simplify branding and digital marketing to unlock growth.
Learn More