Welcome aboard!

Dayton Quest Center Hombu Dojo

Ever joined a gym or enrolled in a martial arts school? The great ones know that getting you to visit once isn’t as hard as getting you to come back again. They work twice as hard at getting you to return. Why? Unless you see some early results, you won’t stick around.

Most of the great membership programs have some way for new people to feel immediately welcome. Martial arts schools offer a free uniform and a private introductory lesson. Gyms offer a tutorial session on how to use their specific equipment. Even video games like World of Warcraft have special starting areas and tutorials so that you stay enrolled.

In the world of digital marketing, people pay with their attention and time. Are you treating the new subscribers, the new members to your community, as well as a fitness club does? Do you have a way of showing them around? Do you have an introductory “package” that helps them decide whether to stay subscribed, whether to come back again?

New people are stopping by your “gym” all the time. Every new follower on Twitter, every new visitor from Google, every new fan on Facebook is coming in for the first time just as they would at a health club. Veteran publishers often forget that we need to post frequent reminders of where the good stuff is for the new folks. Are you welcoming them and giving them a reason to come back?

Consider this your introductory package to my blog. I’m thankful you stopped by, I’m happy that someone or something told you about this place and what you might find here. Let me show you around a bit.

Who I Am, What I Do

Self PortraitMy name is Christopher S. Penn. I bridge the gap between marketing and technology. What I share on social media and write about on my blog helps you understand marketing and technology better. I’m a better coder than most marketers, and a better marketer than most coders. By having one foot in both worlds, I find solutions that work in one place and bring them to the other – including you.

I speak publicly about digital marketing, marketing technology, and machine learning/artificial intelligence. I’m the co-founder of Trust Insights, a data analytics company focused on helping you make more money with your data, a co-founder of PodCamp with Chris Brogan, and co-host of the Marketing Over Coffee marketing podcast with John Wall. I’ve been a practitioner of the martial arts for over 20 years now, and currently hold a fifth degree black belt in ninjutsu under the guidance of senior master instructor Mark Davis of the Boston Martial Arts Center.

News and Updates

Let’s make sure we’re connected in the places it suits you best. Here’s where you can find different content:

Literature

If you enjoy reading, I’ve written a few books that may help broaden your understanding of marketing and technology.

Shows

Every week, I record a podcast with my friend and colleague John Wall called Marketing Over Coffee. We discuss what’s getting attention in marketing, tips, tricks, tactics, and techniques for helping you become a better marketer, all in a compact audio program that lasts about the length of the average commute. I invite you to listen!

Every week, I record a podcast with my friend and cofounder Katie Robbert called In-Ear Insights. Our show is a deep dive into marketing analytics, data, and strategy. Come take a listen!

Favorite Blog Posts

I’ve written close to 2,000 pages worth of stuff in ten years. That’s a lot to catch up on. Rather than post piles of stuff to look at, I’ve selected 5 posts that others have said made a huge impact on them.

With that, our introductory tour is concluded. I hope you’ll stick around, subscribe to the blog (use the icons below), take advantage of all the content that’s here, and most of all, I hope you get some value out of what I create. If you do, please take the time every so often to let a friend or colleague know about things you’ve gotten value out of. Share it with them, and hopefully they’ll get the same or greater value as you did.


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