Author: Larry Goldman

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Read the Water: A Product Launch Playbook

Rivers don’t run straight. They bend and curl, split around obstacles, pool up in slow eddies, and then drop into whitewater. Product launches work the same way. Nobody’s launch has gone in a clean line from kickoff to launch day (and if yours did, please tell me your secret).

I was reminded of this on a recent rafting trip on the Green River in NW Colorado and NE Utah. Before we went anywhere near challenging rapids, our guides beached the fleet, walked us downstream, and had us stand on a rock looking at the water and talking about the conditions (flow, wind, level) for a solid ten minutes. Nobody touched a paddle as they explained what we would do and how it had changed from the last time they were there. They even threw in a few cautionary tales of rafting mishaps. That, it turns out, was the most important part of the run.

That’s the core analogy I used in the community talk I gave at Colorado Startup Week on September 17. Product launches are the yellow path above, not the idealized green one. And most product launches don’t fail on launch day. They fail weeks earlier in the journey, when the launch team skips the scouting and goes straight to a checklist of tactics.

Launches Are Big. So Where to Focus?

I only had an hour, so I focused on four primary areas that are most often skipped or underdeveloped: tested positioning, priority and ownership, sales and Customer Success (CS) alignment, and agreement on what success looks like.

Startups have it worse, and I tailored my talk to that profile. They don’t have a dedicated launch function (you’re the launch team, on top of your actual job), they launch constantly, and every launch sends a signal to their market, investors, and people about their level of competency and value.

I purposefully chose not to focus on the daily or weekly activities. Vendors (Atlassian, Amplitude, Crayon) and associations (PMA, Pragmatic Institute) publish plenty of how-to guides that get to the granular business of releases. I chose instead to cover four primary factors that can destabilize the entire process, each one paired with a light rafting analogy:

  1. Positioning: scout the rapid. Choose your line before you’re in the current. Positioning isn’t the feature list. It’s the value to the customer. Solicit feedback early and often from sales.
  2. Priority: know the class of water. Not every rapid needs the whole crew. A well-defined tiered approach will build consensus and facilitate tricky conversations on priorities.
  3. Alignment: brief the crew on shore. Sales and CS should hear the plan before the put-in, not halfway through the rapid. They likely talk with more customers than you do and may have better data than you (push back on subjective ideas, though).
  4. Measurement: eddy out and count heads. Agree on what “we made it” means before you shove off. You don’t need many metrics, but the ones you choose should be tied to the larger launch outcome(s).

A critical point: this isn’t a checklist you fill out once. It’s a process you run every trip, getting a little better each time.

The priority piece is where the metaphor works best. River rapids are graded Class I through V (our trip only peaked at IIIs). On Class I and II, you float and enjoy the scenery. On Class III to V, you scout, set safety, and put your strongest paddlers in the boat. Launches deserve the same honesty. A Tier 1 strategic launch (a new product, a new market, something worth press coverage) needs the full cross-functional crew and three or more months of lead time. A Tier 4 security patch needs a drawer statement for support and not much else.

The Shift from Launch Theory to Practice

My goal for this talk was to deliver practical advice (a playbook) to the audience of startup leaders, so I layered it with ideas and best practices from my peers and my own experience. Here are just a few.

Pro tips:

  • Read your competitors’ positioning. If you sound just like them, you haven’t found your line yet.
  • Skip the full RACI. On a small team, start with Responsible and Informed.
  • Deliver enablement through meetings sales already attends, and schedule it well before the end of the month, quarter, or year.
  • Benchmark your metrics for 3–4 months before launch. You’ll have something to compare against, and you’ll find out whether your data can be trusted.

Try this at work: 

  • Book three customer calls next week and ask them to describe the problem your release solves in their own words.
  • Pull your next five launches and tier them out loud with the team in under 20 minutes.
  • Invite sales and CS to your next launch kickoff. The kickoff, not the enablement meeting.
  • Sit down with sales and marketing leadership, pick the 4–5 metrics that matter for your next launch, and work with BI, MarOps, and SalesOps on how to capture them.

I also included a few bonus lessons I’ve learned from 40+ launches, ones I couldn’t fit into the four-point framework above. These included:

  • Hold a pre-mortem (your safety talk) five to six weeks before launch with every stakeholder in the room, and assign an owner to every risk.
  • Separate your General Availability (GA) date from your public marketing launch day by a week or two, because code and operations will surprise you.
  • Keep a central launch calendar as your river map, with milestones, handoffs, holidays, and the post-mortem on it.
  • And settle pricing and packaging early. The downstream work (SKUs, sales calculators, asset updates) always takes longer than you expect, and sales and CS need time to settle into any new model.

If you want the full playbook PDF, including the tier tables, ownership grid, and metrics list, you can grab the slides here: CSW-product_launch_playbook-091726.

Ensure Success by Starting Early on the Launch Foundation

Back on the river, we made it through Upper and Lower Disaster Falls upright. It was easier than I thought it would be. That wasn’t talent or the luck of beginner rafters. It was the ten minutes we spent standing on a rock, taking in the conditions. It was the guides who clearly and consistently staked out their positioning, kept to their safety framework, communicated often, and considered every potential outcome – all earlier in the journey.

Launches that build real momentum are won the same way, weeks before launch day, at the start of the initiative. And when the next launch comes around, you run the same loop, starting again at scouting, carrying what the last stretch of river and the previous rafting trip taught you.

Chart your course. Plan for contingencies. Read the water. Then paddle.

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Why Fly Fishing is Like Marketing

Over the past few years, I’ve taken to the waters of Colorado to master the art of fly fishing. I practice what I call “active fishing,” where I choose to fish along running water (creeks, streams, rivers) and move upstream behind the fish. I stop along the way at choice spots but am constantly wading or hiking ahead to see what’s around the next bend.

This summer, I’ve realized that successful fishing is a perfect analogy for B2B marketing (demand gen and product marketing). I’ll break down what both successful anglers and marketers do right.

Plan Ahead, Before You Get to the Water

Before you get in the car, decide where you want to go and what challenge you’re ready to face. Should it be a meandering creek (abundant, smaller fish more easily caught) or a wider, flat river (larger, cagier, and photo-worthy fish)? Like defining your ideal customer profile (ICP) in marketing, you need to decide what you can target with the energy and resources you have. It’s always a balancing act, so careful consideration before choosing a location can have a great impact on your overall success. Also, check that all your equipment is working and stowed in the car before you embark!

Understand What Your Targets Find Appealing

Trout will only eat what’s hatching (or something that looks close), so casting an out-of-season fly is like giving your prospects last year’s market research report. The best anglers approach a stream and mark which bugs are in the air or under rocks. They consult online or at the local fly shop for tips on what’s currently tasty. And they pivot to new flies when what they’ve rigged isn’t (or stops being) effective. Just as in marketing, it’s the research, attentiveness, and trial and error that give you the advantage. 

Know How to Get Your Targets’ Attention

As with marketing personas, trout have defining characteristics that you can use to help catch them. For example, trout are lazy and mostly face upstream to snatch whatever food is coming towards them, expending as little energy as possible.  You learn to land your cast well upstream of where they are (if you can see them) and then patiently let it drift down to them so they think it’s a genuine meal. Presenting a fly to the side or behind a trout gets you nothing, nor will jerking around the line in an unnatural way. They will see right through you just as your prospects will, when you present them with high-level, low-calorie marketing assets, or if your timing is tremendously off the buying cycle.

Don’t Be Afraid to Pivot 

In running water, you see all conditions: deep and shallow, fast and slow, warm and cold. I’ve learned that if you’re casting along a certain riffle and nothing is happening, do a 180-degree turn and try a different part of the stream. It may seem counterintuitive, but a stark pivot often works. This is when trying a new approach, rather than doubling down on what isn’t working, is what brings success.

Hit Your Target, Despite Ever-Changing Conditions

Trout are always hungry but also discerning. That’s why you must avoid a static approach and adjust your tactics on a regular basis. As with marketing, anglers must account for a dynamic environment. As the seasons and stream conditions change, plentiful streams can seem nearly empty. With greater water flow (think: more advertising and market noise), trout can retreat to deeper pools or under the river bank, where they’re harder to entice. And on sunny days, fish will see you coming and can scatter before you even get a chance to lure them in.

In fishing, you can solve this by adjusting your rig: add more tippet (the fine line leading to the flies) or weight so you can place the lure deeper. You can also change out the fly to something that would be more natural in deeper water. In marketing, experimenting with multiple channels and varying topics, even ones you consider long-tail, keeps you from complacency and can catch the best prospects on any given day. How often do you update your LinkedIn ads and keywords to meet new needs and trends?

Learn the Landscape to Build on Your Success

I often return to the same fishing locations, and so I immediately know where to start, upping the probability of my success. It doesn’t always hold (see previous section on conditions), but trout keep to roughly the same patch of water, so unless they’ve been caught and taken away, they could easily be in the neighborhood. When you really understand the ebbs and flows in your market, reaching out to your ICP just gets easier.

Fish an entirely new stream, and you’ll have less predictability, potentially setting yourself up for a bonanza day or putting yourself at risk of getting “skunked.” If you cast 10-15 times in a pool and nothing happens, then move on, even if it is the prettiest part of the river. Read the landscape.

Performance Metrics Matter – and Make You Better

In fishing, your success metrics are the number of trout caught, types of trout, and the size of the fish (especially if you catch and keep them). The last is regulated by state and local authorities. In marketing, it’s similar: number of qualified leads, opportunity type, and size of opportunity, which is usually defined by revenue leadership. You have to stay on top of those to prove your impact. Benchmarking your success in both is what helps you to show your expertise and mark your progress so you can continue to improve.

Where the Comparison Falls Apart

Of course, nothing’s a perfect match. Here’s where my analogy falls short:

  • Marketers do not catch and release. Treating qualified leads the same way as I treat fish would not sit well with sales!
  • Sales cares more about fish size. My joy is hooking and landing a fish (“the tug is the drug”), but sales reps are far happier with a focus on the bigger catch (think: whales).
  • Fish are not like long-term customers. You can’t learn much from a fish. They won’t grant interviews, commit to multi-year deals, or stay with you once you release them. I imagine this is closer to the B2C marketing experience.

The Best of Both Activities: Being in the Zone

Friends ask me why I love fly fishing in Colorado. Work colleagues want to know why I enjoy my chosen career in product marketing. The answers are surprisingly similar: I get to employ cool tools (rod and reel vs. AI), I have the freedom to experiment (flies vs. AB testing), and, most of all, I am able to apply my smarts and creativity to realize tangible results (fish in the net vs. opportunities in the pipeline). And don’t forget the bragging rights when you land the big catch/customer!

Even more important: in this age of endless distraction, both activities allow me to achieve my most productive “flow state.” The joys of fishing and marketing intersect in those precious hours when I can simply let go of the small annoyances, lose track of time, and completely lock my attention on the current task. Whether that’s knee-deep in a mountain stream catching trout or hunched over my keyboard in a dedicated time block for new messaging, there’s a shared sense of unencumbered productivity and accomplishment. Pure bliss.

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What I Learned in Food Jail

As my friends and family are aware, I spent the past two weeks as a willing experimental subject. With the indication of a fatty liver, my internist asked me to submit to what he calls “Food Jail,” a highly balanced but proscriptive diet that he puts his GLP-1 patients on so they can eat nutritiously even with a reduced appetite.

I was game to give it a try, even though I am not on a weight-loss drug. It was a tough fortnight, but I came through alive – and substantially slimmer. Note: I continued to exercise regularly, and so that was a control.

 

Here’s what I already knew, but confirmed:

  • You eat what you have available, so make smart pantry choices
  • Check labels for hidden calories
  • You can never eat enough fresh veggies
  • We all use way too much oil/butter when we cook
  • If you cook with less salt, add more herbs
  • Every stew deserves kale
  • We sneak in more white flour (crackers, pita, tortillas) than we think
  • There’s no need to snack with balanced meals

And here’s what I discovered:

  1. Meal timing is everything. I have friends who subscribe to intermittent fasting, and it always seemed excessive to me. But as I was only allowed to eat between 9 AM and 5:30 PM, I was spending far more time digesting my meals overnight and in the morning. I’m going to keep this habit, though perhaps more to 7:00 PM so I can have a social life.
  2. Focus on light protein, but not too much. As I weighed my fish or chicken for lunch and dinner, I could clearly see what 50 grams represented. A visual cue to calories and weights has helped me understand what a decent portion actually looks like. Many times, I eat far more protein than I need to stay healthy.
  3. Variety is critical. The hardest part of Food Jail was the monotony of the meals – the same salad every day and for lunch and dinner. So I played around with the presentation of the ingredients. I transformed my chicken quinoa salad into a soup with low-calorie chicken broth when I caught a summer cold. I even exchanged my breakfast bowl of grainy cereal with high-protein milk, a banana, and berries for dry cereal and a fruit smoothie. I do not recommend pulverizing the cereal, as it just makes a crunchy smoothie (blech).
  4. You can rewire your food habits in two weeks.  By day four, I no longer found food appetizing (see #3 above about the need for variety), but I also was not ravenous first thing in the morning. My metabolism adjusted quickly, I felt less bloated, and I was less interested in the foods I couldn’t eat (breakfast burritos, pizza, dumplings, Thai noodles). What I could eat was boring, so food itself became boring. Days 5-9 were challenging at best.

So, what were my actual results?

Changing my diet and portion sizes in this way was radical, yet I was caught off guard by the impact of Food Jail. In two weeks, I lost the extra 9-11 pounds I’d been carrying around the last few years due to an ongoing medical treatment that included steroids (it ended in March).

I now weigh less than I did three years ago, and I can see a path forward to keeping it off and perhaps losing a little more over a longer period. I am very pleased with the results, and while I won’t do a diet again in the same way, I do not regret two weeks of begging off dinner invitations and being the only one nursing seltzer water at a barbecue.

Going forward, I’ll shift to a more varied Mediterranean diet (yogurt! olives! whole grains!), forgo snacks, and keep more limited eating hours. This will take willpower and good judgment, but I plan to eat the straight and narrow. Of course, I will treat myself to something off the list every so often because I will have earned it and can accommodate it. But don’t tell my doctor, as I don’t think I’d last through another round of incarceration in Food Jail.

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Lesson Learned: Your Social Name Is Your Networking Brand

In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Juliet famously asks, “What’s in a name?” She argues that it is the person who matters, not an arbitrary label (like Romeo). That’s love.

And yet, over 400 years later, I’ve discovered the opposite: that for online networking, your preferred name is not arbitrary – it’s critical to your brand.

I know this because I failed LinkedIn Profile 101. Networking sites thrive on specificity, and on a whim, I naively switched from Larry, my nickname, to Lawrence, my birth name.

And so began the rolling disaster. As a marketer with branding experience, I should have seen it coming. Bad on me.

Immediately, all references to “Larry” disappeared. Not so bad, I thought, even though that’s how I refer to myself.

Then, I noticed that acquaintances – both new and old – began to address me as Lawrence. More than one person asked if I’d changed my name. It was awkward.

To compound the issue, the messaging autofill suggestions, now rife with Lawrence references (“Thanks, Lawrence!”, “A pleasure to meet you, Lawrence”), reinforced the new standard. It all felt overly formal.

And worst of all, without intention, I had erected a barrier for friends and recruiters who were searching to find Larry Goldman. “It’s still me!” I shouted into the ether.

Flailing but stubborn, I tried the preferred name feature that put Larry in parenthesis in the middle of my profile name. No one noticed and nothing changed.

Last week, I admitted defeat and switched the profile back to Larry. I’ve never felt more myself. As someone who is regularly confused with his identical twin, that’s saying something.

What I should have remembered is the power of brand consistency. In marketing, your product name is shorthand for the entire customer experience – your brand. Done right, it’s all you need to evoke an emotional connection. Modifying a product name is always risky and complicated.

The same apparently goes for networking. Unwittingly, I had undermined my established human brand and “caused confusion and delay,” to quote the venerable Sir Topham Hatt.

I appreciate the lesson. When people work with you, link with you, or meet you at events, they know only your social name. If they like you, then that positive sentiment accrues under that name, not a variant of it.

But I still wonder: what to do when you like both your formal and preferred names? If you have found a viable solution, let me know.

For now, I remain your friend, Larry.

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Waymo and Me: No Driver, No Problem

While not a Luddite, I’m also not what you’d call a classic Early Adopter.  I find new tech exciting but am more likely to adopt it when I have a real need. For example, I’ve begun to apply generative AI with far greater frequency to help with graphics and my consulting research.

But never in any world would I have thought to take an autonomous vehicle. What? No driver? The chaos of the road? I thought, to quote The Boss, “It’s a deathtrap, it’s a suicide rap.” The well-publicized accidents and the ongoing problems with Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) mode had not made me a fan of the technology. I’d never put my life so knowingly at risk.

We don’t have a self-driving car service in Denver (too snowy, I hear), so I’d been eyeballing the cars during my recent trip to San Francisco. Bedecked with sensors and topped with a swirling roof beacon, these strange-looking vehicles were everywhere. Then, when I needed a ride to a restaurant, a friend suggested calling me a Waymo One car on her app. Highly curious and a little more than nervous, I agreed to give it a try. 

There are very few moments in my life that have completely changed my perspective. This ride was one of them. Waymo did everything right:

  • On-time arrival with no cancellations and reassignments I could see
  • A clean and comfortable interior (made by Jaguar)
  • Welcome messages that helped orient me to the experience
  • A backseat screen with a button for live support if needed
  • A panel that showed what the car “saw” on its way: parked cars, moving cars, pedestrians, traffic lights, stop signs, and more
  • Ambient music that put me at ease

The Waymo hummed along at Goldilocks speed, never too fast or slow. We passed through a yellow light once, but without the acceleration you’d expect with a live driver. Fifteen minutes later, I arrived safely and on time, having jettisoned my skepticism of self-driving cars somewhere back along the route.

Emboldened, I downloaded the Waymo app and called a car to take me back after dinner. The app was intuitive, pulling my Apple Pay information so that I didn’t have to struggle to enter a payment method. The ride was as comfy as before and very affordable. I didn’t have to talk, tip, or rate the driver.

Since that night, I’ve devoted some serious thought to how I was able to overcome my bias against self-driving cars. First, their omnipresence in downtown San Francisco helped normalize my impression of them. If everyone else was using them safely, why couldn’t I? Their reputation is strong, and new riders like my friend become their best promoters.

Second, as a product marketer, I’m impressed. Waymo has clearly worked to create a seamless customer journey. I felt confident in the entire experience, from the ease of requesting a ride to the smooth drive to the introductory emails. They’ve developed a strong brand (tagline: “The World’s Most 
Experienced Driver”) with positive associations in even the smallest of touches. 

Finally, I love that the Waymo One is electric and fully powered by renewable energy. It’s better for the environment.

Some things don’t change: I remain skeptical of Teslas, and I’ll continue to use the established rideshare apps as I need them. But what is new is that I now recommend Waymo as an alternative experience to anyone who travels to a participating city (Atlanta and Miami are coming).  I want others to experience the same thrill I felt, to safely break through the doubt and hesitation and leave their presumptions by the roadside.

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Floaters & Blindspots

A few weeks ago, I started noticing a small, grayish blob positioned around the center of my left eye. Panicked, I went to my ophthalmologist, who took a look and explained that it was my first “eye floater,” essentially a clump of cells that had come loose within the vitreous jelly of my eye.

Floaters are a natural occurance as your eyes get older. “If you suddenly see a large black spot, come and see me immediately,” he advised.”That’s a detached retina.”

So I dodged a bullet. And as he predicted, I’ve grown accustomed to the floater and rarely notice it.  But I do love a good metaphor, so I can’t help but relate this to mental blind spots. These are areas in our perceptions or behavior where we can’t see our biases, limitations, or shortcomings.

The truth about blind spots is that, like cars, we all have them. We may even have an inkling of what they are, floating around in our mind’s eye but not quite clear enough to identify.

I’ve signed up for some intensive, small group training this spring to help me to identify and understand my psychological blind spots. The opportunity came along, and because I believe in continuous improvement, I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and see what I can discover.  Like the new floater that I no longer really notice, my blind spots are elusive to me but still present.

I’ll stretch the metaphor just a little more to say that you, my work colleagues and friends, can help inform me, just as my ophthalmologist did. What do you see about me that I don’t seem to be aware of?  What constructive feedback (delivered with kindness, please) can you share to help me improve? What can you teach me? I am open to the conversation.

The floater in my eye is apparently here to stay. But the blind spots in my thinking? I intend to clear those from the vision of who I want to be.

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Welcome, Friends

Welcome to Lgoldman.com. We’ve been busy making some changes, getting a snazzy new theme, and flexing our blogging muscles.

Come back shortly to see what’s new.

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Just Say No to Shortcuts

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Happy 2025! This year let’s resolve to NOT take shortcuts.

I recently came upon this sight in a nearby alley: detached chunks of wood hanging from power lines. I can’t stop thinking about it, because it’s the perfect metaphor for the danger of shortcuts.

As you can see, whoever removed the tree decided not to take on the full challenge, likely for safety concerns. However, I was informed that professional arborists have several options depending on the complexity of the job and whether the lines are high or low voltage. Working with the impacted utility company, you can usually find an effective way to free or replace the wires.

But that’s not what happened here. Maybe they didn’t perform a pre-work inspection. Maybe the tree service lacked the requisite experience. Or perhaps the homeowner was cheap and didn’t want to involve the utility or wait until the job could be properly finished.

Will these trunks eventually rot away or pull down the lines on a windy day? No one knows. But whoever owns this home and lives on the block will face an extended game of Russian (tree) roulette. The problem persists, with the risks multiplied.

I often see the equivalent in business, especially after joining a new organization. While not dangling overhead, the signs are there. Poorly designed CRM flows or fields, hastily constructed and forgotten web pages, and marketing campaigns launched quickly but without proper tracking (feel free to add your own examples below).

These all represent short-term thinking that places the burden upon those who follow. Your team will eventually pay the productivity costs of hastily devised solutions. As a leader, or someone who aspires to be one, it’s critical to show that you can think several steps ahead like a chess master. Resolve to solve the issues in the moment rather than leave them for the next project, quarter, or employee.

If you feel hurried to produce a short-term outcome, recognize it and then take a beat to think about the long-term consequences. Instead of a one-off approach, can you create a reusable template from your work? Can you build in aspects that are scalable and flexible rather than fixed?

Also be aware that some shortcuts can cheat you of personal and professional growth. An overreliance on AI for creating messaging and communications can deprive you of the opportunity to become a better writer and strategic thinker. Or if you’re reusing competitive marketing materials to save time, you may also be propagating outdated information that can make you look uninformed. Train yourself to slowly and carefully reread and question the accuracy of your content.

So in 2025, I say yes, work quickly and effectively, even if it’s not 100% perfect. But when you recognize a challenging entanglement that could put you at future risk, don’t sidestep it just because it’s hard. Address it now, involve others who can help, and complete the job like the pro you are.

Just say no to shortcuts.

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How To Write Brilliantly Decent Blog Posts

Writing Blog PostsIn the past, colleagues have approached me asking for help to become better writers. Why do they think I’m qualified? Aside from writing dozens of papers, scripts, sales sheets, articles, ads and brochures for my employers, I cannot resist editing whatever is put in front of me. It’s my catnip – and they know it.

Since I am fascinated by the act and art of writing (and inclined to share some hard-won knowledge), I’m responding by writing a blog post about writing blog posts for would-be blog writers. Very meta.

While working at Spinnaker Support, I averaged 50 blog posts a year – and that was well before AI was available. This post applies some of what I learned there. While there are entire books on this subject, I’m going to keep it simple and cover four areas: topics, flow, mechanics, and polish.

Sensing a Topic

This one is both easy and hard to explain. When I attended a talk by the author Pam Houston, she described her writing as driven by small moments of resonating clarity (my words). These could be triggered by the sight of a bird in a meadow, the perfume of a spring blossom, or an odd expression on the face of a sales clerk. Her computer desktop is crowded with these mental notes, which she injects into her writing as appropriate.

Remarkably, I feel the same mental buzz when a topic is ripe for the writing. The sensation comes from a blend of knowing the topic, finding it fascinating, and acknowledging that I could commit an hour or two to sussing it out. I would wager that most writers probably feel the same burst of confidence, excitement and persistence that I do.

I recommend cultivating that radar ping of recognition. Look for it when you finish a project, give a talk, go somewhere new or meet a fascinating person. Is this something worth explaining? Would YOU want to read about it yourself? What value can you provide for the reader’s time?

If you’re still sensing the thrill of the idea, it’s likely a winner. Capture it ASAP and store it in a place where you can find it. Bring it out when you’re ready to write and then think about the flow of the piece.

Dictating the Flow

Flow is important. Awkward segues will lose your readers. Five recommendations:

  1. Determine your audience and your goal. Who are you writing to? Marketers? Engineers? Managers? CIOs? Make sure you know that first and write to their level.
  2. Create an outline. If not on paper, then at least in your mind palace. Know where you’re starting and where you want to go. Then fill in the details.
  3. Begin with a memorable opening. Capture their attention ASAP and let them know why they need to read straight through to the end. You can also reveal the path you’re about to take them on so they get a glimpse of the journey (check out the third paragraph from the top).
  4. Start at a high level and dig down. I like the inverted pyramid favored by journalists, and even if you’re not partial to it, it can help you with your flow / structure.
  5. Finish with a flourish – and a CTA. At the end, provide a good summary of what you want readers to remember. Or like a good comedian, you can end with a surprise reference. If you’re writing for work, always add a call to action (CTA) to continue engaging the reader.

Earn an A+ on Mechanics

Just like in school, mechanics are critical. Six tips:

  1. Spelling matters. Read everything you write two more times. And if you’re not sure of the spelling (e.g., straight-forward vs. straightforward) or meaning (e.g., continuous vs. continual), just type your word in Google to get a proper answer.
  2. People like to scan. So use section headers like I do in this blog. Bold sentences you care about. Use italics for emphasis. NEVER use underlines for emphasis because people will think that the words are linked.
  3. Add a graphic when it makes sense. There are plenty of sites with Creative Commons or royalty free images you can use. I love Pexels and Unsplash. The image of the writer at the top is free from Wikipedia Commons.
  4. Use a tool like Grammarly. There are some free or inexpensive add-ins now that can help you avoid the most common mistakes and can even teach you a thing or two in the process (like that vs. which or when to use a comma).
  5. Avoid repeating words. If you’re using the same word within a paragraph (e.g., organization), replace it with a synonym so you have variety and keep the text fresh. This goes for repeating the words in the header as well.
  6. Keep it short.

Add the Polish at the End

Now that you’ve scraped away at your first draft, it’s time to add the polish. Like the dental hygienist does, but less minty.

Most professional writers have an editor, but if you don’t have a sounding board, it’s not a huge deal. I recommend putting the post aside for a day or two and coming back in fresh. You can review your work more objectively when you’re past the initial passion.

I review the language and remove repeated words, unneeded clauses, and stale adjectives that take up space and add no extra value. Sometimes I even take out whole sentences. I always find mistakes, especially if I’ve been extra sloppy with cut and paste. I add any necessary keywords I want Google or readers to see. Then, at the end, I create the best title I can think of.

Perfection only leads to insanity

Well, that may not be true, but let’s acknowledge that a post will never be perfect. However, it can easily be funny, informative, and on deadline. Those are what really count.

Just promise me you won’t give up after the first try and that you’ll strive to improve with each post you publish. Take chances, be memorable, and be meta if you have to.