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Word Closets, Google Ads, Direct Mail Revival, Kobe-Level Discipline

Word Closets, Google Ads, Direct Mail Revival, Kobe-Level Discipline

AI tools, direct mail strategies, and why discipline beats feelings every time. Let’s level up this week.

Jason Farris
February 12, 2025

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Hey there,

This week’s J-Curve is packed with a little bit of everything: AI experiments (hello, ZebraCat!) 🤖, surprising TikTok posting insights📲, a love letter to old-school direct mail 💌, and—yes—you read that right, pizza perfume. 🍕 Plus, we’re diving into why discipline trumps emotions, how to crush your Google Ads strategy in 2025, and the power of building your own “word closet” to make writing easier and more effective. Let’s make this week count! ✍️🔥

RANDOM THINGS OF INTEREST

AI I’m playing with - Zebracat It allows you to create videos with AI

TikTok - According to a study done by buffer.com, the best time to post on TikTok is Sunday at 8 p.m., followed by Tuesday at 4 p.m., and Wednesday at 5 p.m. 🌞 Generally speaking, views tend to pick up later in the day, with peak time slots at 1 p.m. or later. *Don’t get caught up in this too much. I looked at the data in depth; other times were not far behind the prime times. At the end of the day, if the content is entertaining or educational, it will get you what you want.

Direct mail is becoming a more decisive way to reach customers.

📫Mail Gets Opened – 72% of direct mail gets read. That’s a massive number.
📫It Sticks Around – A well-designed piece of mail sits on a desk or fridge, getting noticed repeatedly. What do you think? It's time to get the dust off those postcards

🍕 Everyone loves pizza, and with Valentine’s Day just around the corner, Domino’s is turning up the romance by launching a unique pizza perfume. Now, you can make the mouthwatering aroma of a pepperoni slice your signature scent. You can’t make this up!

FROM YOUR INBOX COACH
The Word Closet: A Writer’s Secret Weapon

Have you ever sat down to write, only to find yourself staring at the blinking cursor, unsure of how to start? Or maybe you’re mid-paragraph, and your sentences are starting to sound... blah. This is where the word closet comes in—a magical concept that can take your writing from “meh” to memorable.

jcurve.beehiiv.com/p/the-word-closet-a-writer-s-secret-weapon

QUOTE TO PONDER

❝

Quit waiting for the perfect moment. The calendar doesn’t change your life—you do. You don’t need New Year’s, next Monday, or some imaginary “right time” to get your shit together. Change happens when you decide, period. So stop making excuses and start making moves.

THIS WEEK’S TIP
7 Not-So-Easy Marketing Tactics that Work

1️⃣ Surprise your customers with unexpected perks or gifts. It's logistically tricky and inconvenient. That moment of delight can turn customers into loyal and vocal fans.

2️⃣ Avoid being hypnotized watching social media metrics and jump into the conversations. Yeah, it eats up your time, but you'll learn what your audience actually cares about, not what you think they care about.

3️⃣ Create stuff people can play with. Quizzes, polls, interactive content - they’re harder to create compared to regular posts, but people love them because they get to be part of the action.

4️⃣ Find your voice and stick to it. It takes time to nail down exactly how your brand should sound, but once you do your audience will start to feel like they know you. A simple brand tone & style checklist makes this less difficult.

5️⃣ Real handwritten thank you notes (not printed to look handwritten) to VIP customers.

6️⃣ Sponsor local youth sports teams. Show up to games. Volunteer to coach - young men and women need mentors more than ever!

7️⃣ Drop off coffee and donuts (with your business cards) at hair salons and barber shops. Best places for good word-of-mouth - aka positive gossip.

ADVERTSING
How to Crush Your Google Ads Strategy in 2025

Let’s get real—have you actually followed through with optimizing your Google Ads like you swore you would at the start of the year? If the answer is "not really," you're not alone. Life gets busy, but taking the time to fine-tune your ads isn’t just important—it’s critical if you want better performance and smarter use of your resources. Search Engine Land put together a killer list of what to stop, start, and keep doing in 2025 to make your ads work harder for you. Here’s my take on it:

💡 STOP This in 2025:

🛑 Stop overcomplicating your keyword strategy. You don’t need to bid on every tiny variation of a keyword that’s converted before. Less is more.

🛑 Stop ditching Performance Max (PMax) campaigns too quickly. Yes, spam leads can happen, but these campaigns can also deliver huge wins. Stay in the game and refine.

🛑 Stop treating your keyword choices like the centerpiece of your ad strategy. They’re important, sure, but they’re not the whole show anymore.

💡 START Doing This Instead:

✅ Focus on quality over quantity with your keywords. Use broad match on your best-performing keywords to keep things streamlined. And never stop testing—testing is where the magic happens.

✅ Tighten up your team communication. Make sure issues are flagged and addressed quickly. Stay on top of things like asset groups, search terms, and mobile performance, and make adjustments regularly.

✅ Go all-in on audience-first strategies. It’s not just about what you’re selling—it’s about what your customers need. Use first-party data to create lookalike audiences, and always prioritize adding value in your messaging.

In 2025, winning with Google Ads means simplifying where you can, listening to your data, and keeping the focus on your audience. The game has changed—lean into these strategies, and you’ll stay ahead of the pack.

COACHING TIP
Wins and Losses Come and Go—Your Work Ethic Shouldn’t

Let’s cut the fluff—results are temporary. Wins? They’ll fade. Losses? They’ll sting, but they’ll pass too. What doesn’t go away? Your work ethic. That’s the real deal, the backbone of greatness

jcurve.beehiiv.com/p/wins-and-losses-come-and-go-your-work-ethic-shouldn-t

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