Fyreside Newsletter - 10/28*/25

Hey Reader,

A happy Tuesday to you! I was traveling this weekend and took yesterday off. Please know that, as I firmly believe everyone should, I didn't do anything work related yesterday. When you take a day off, don't "just do this one thing." Then it's not a day off. If you missed seeing this newsletter in your inbox yesterday, I appreciate your commitment, but I don't apologize for the inconvenience.

Now, while I was traveling, I encountered one of the best wifi passwords I've ever seen. I'm going to tell you about it.

Breaking out of your bubble.

Traveling is important. When you spend too much time in one place, you eventually go blind to both the idiosyncrasies of your environment and the differences of others. I'll talk to anyone who gives me the chance about how much my life changed when I moved away from home after high school. Anyone who has left their home country will give you the same spiel with far more vigor. Despite this, 11% of Americans have never left the state in which they were born. I can't solve that problem with this newsletter, but I do think it's interesting.

Travel forces us to change our perspective, or at least challenge it. When I left home, I moved from the Pittsburgh, PA area to the Columbus, OH area. I live 220 miles from where I grew up which, in the grand scheme of things, really isn't that far. For reference, there's about 300 miles between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, PA, so I could have moved further away without leaving the state. That said, I could write at least a novella about the differences between Columbus and Pittsburgh. The point is, it doesn't take much to break out of your bubble.

Your business is a bubble.

Much like leaving your home town, pulling your literal head out of the metaphorical ass of your business will change your perspective. This is even more true when you're fully focused on something as amorphous and intricate as marketing. When you're locked in to marketing work, it's very easy to put on blinders. You hear/read/see your messaging so frequently that it always makes sense to you, but others may not feel this way. It's your responsibility to look up.

Anytime I travel, I've always got my eyes open, on the hunt for something cool. I try to appreciate the differences in the airports I pass through. I like to take note of creative billboards I see in new places. I marvel at the possibilities of advertising on public transit because I live in the largest US city without a subway. Mostly, I'm looking for something I haven't seen before, or perhaps something I have seen before but in a way I've never seen it. Well, on this trip, it was the wifi password.

Pleaseleaveusa5*review

Marketers love a call to action. I've written about them a lot, and I think they're oft overused, but CTAs remain one of the most integral marketing tools. I think it's common to hammer customers too hard with CTAs, but here's a fact that's true about both life and marketing: People only know what you want them to do if you tell them. Beyond that, people need to be reminded of what you want them to do clearly and consistently. It's common knowledge that YouTube videos that include a request to subscribe in the video generate more subscriptions. I tried to find a good data source for that statement, but the internet is so riddled with think pieces about metrics and retention that I couldn't cite a source. Just trust me.

My quest for interesting marketing decisions was fulfilled when I received this type of persistent ask. Our AirBnB had wifi. The network name was the name of the AirBnB and the password was "Pleaseleaveusa5*review." That's genius. A+. No Notes.

I've stayed in a lot of AirBnBs. I've also booked a lot of AirBnBs. Every time I book a stay, I'm pestered to leave a review. But as a visitor who didn't book the stay. I don't think I've ever been asked. Until this weekend, when each time someone new asked for the wifi password, we all recited in unison, "Pleaseleaveusa5*review."

Unfortunately, it wasn't a 5 star AirBnB. A good CTA can't save a shitty product. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

-MC

p.s.

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A word about testimonials.

I really miss my old job. Our soul purpose was helping independent entrepreneurs harvest customer testimonials. Unfortunately, greed and the unhinged confidence of an incompetent rich guy sunk the company. If you need help getting testimonials for your business, I'd love to do this service for you! I genuinely loved it and miss it dearly.

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