12. New newsletter name! + origin stories

Hi friends,

Notice anything different with the newsletter?

Today’s newsletter documents why something felt off with my previous name, and my process of finding a name that was more aligned with what I wanted this space to be.

See, I love curation and sharing interesting things. But if I’m honest, it never seems to stick. I’ll dive into it with a fervent passion for a couple of months which fades over time.

But as I told my business coach last week, I like curation, but I realise over my many fizzled-out curation-linked projects, I don’t love it.

She asked me one question - “does it feel like the newsletter name is becoming a restrictive box?” Maybe sticking to a set format is too rigid for me and I need to design my newsletter spaces to be more free-form.

Curation alone doesn’t excite me, if you want to put it that way. I’ve had more fun writing long form, deep dives into topics and weaving curation into those posts instead. When I wrote the latest newsletter issue, I felt like I was shoehorning the curation element in, and it didn’t feel fun.

So hence Joshua’s Desk Diaries, based on 2 themes

I love origin stories and behind-the-scenes stories, so what better way to kick off this new space than by giving you all a glimpse at how the newsletter came to be?

• Learning in public: sharing stuff that I’ve picked up or experienced and documenting them both for myself and for anyone else who reads this newsletter. Topics will relate to B2B content marketing, writing and solopreneurship (with occasional segways into hobbies, and other things that interest me)

• Reflection: I like the image of a diary; it feels intimate, personal and cozy. All good stuff - like having a safe space to express.

There will still be curation - who am I if I don’t share cool links and stuff I find? But the newsletter will not be 100% based around that. It’s going to be a more flexible space to account for sharing links, going deep or thinking about things related to writing, content marketing and solopreneurship.

How I came up with the newsletter name (together with ChatGPT)

My working title: Joshua’s notes - as I love the concept of note-taking and having my name in it since it’s a personal angle.

But that sounded non-descriptive, so I wanted to refine this name a bit further.

Enter ChatGPT to give me a hand. None of what AI generated sounded right, but it did help me come up with Notes from Joshua’s Desk - which sounded a bit closer to what I was looking for.

Enter ChatGPT to brainstorm further. Let’s refine that a little.

I shortlisted a couple of names that sounded pretty decent, and asked some friends to sense check; which name sounded like me?

One of them pointed out the alliteration and flow of Desk Diaries, which I didn’t notice before!

I also took some time to sense-check the AI output - which one worked best? And to be sure, I ran the names with some friends to get their perspective.

My takeaway: ChatGPT and generative AI work best when it has an extremely specific prompt directed towards a specific outcome. It’s also more useful when you use it as a tool to assist you with your thinking, rather than offloading all the creative work to it 100%.

3 channels, 3 different ways of expression

If you’re curious about where/how to find me

Joshua’s Life in Lists

Thoughtful reads and cool discoveries

Report: Typeform’s State of Data 2024 

Featuring an analysis of 2.9 billion responses (that’s 37% of the world population (!) collected over 10 years, it’s worth reading this report if you work with forms. Lead generation, landing pages, designing contact forms, etc. Lots of practical tips on making more attractive and effective forms.

Read + cool visuals: How Google perfected the web (Mia Sato for The Verge) 

I love this piece for its no-nonsense guide to search engine optimisation (SEO) explaining why every recipe blog has a long essay before you get to the recipe itself AND the scrolly interactive accompanying the piece. It's the perfect way of how interactive elements can add to a story and not be a fancy, distracting element.

Last year I was wondering if interactive content performs better than non-interactive content. But I realised I was asking the wrong question.

Because, the question isn’t whether we should introduce interactive elements for interactive-ness sake, but:

• Does your audience prefer consuming interactive elements or static PDFs?

• Do the elements support and enhance the message, rather than distract?

As always, with anything to do with marketing - test and test again.

Tip: How to use Telegram as a notepad (Tip via @yiuxinting on lemon8) 

File under: Things I didn’t know I could do with Telegram found in unexpected places.

Did you know you could use a Telegram Group as your personal notepad and lightweight second brain tool? Now that Telegram has dedicated subtopics within a group, it got even better.

You’ll need to invite someone to create a group, but you can always kick that person out and use it for yourself. Just let them know that you will do that to avoid any hard feelings? 😅 

I’m using Telegram as a simple curation tool for the newsletter, jot down ideas, or save links to read for later. (I tried stuff like Airtable and Notion and these while more powerful, didn’t work out for me.). It’s basically Slack, but more causal.

The best solution is the one that’s easiest for you to use and is always with you, and for now Telegram fulfils that need to me. It’s accessible on mobile and desktop, easy to get stuff in and out, private, and supports rich media (+ hashtags to organise content). Sounds like a win to me!

—

I’m aware this is supposed to be a monthly newsletter. But who knows, maybe with this new format I’ll make it more frequent. Let’s see.

Take care and see you soon 🙂 

Joshua

If you’re looking for content support in 2024 …

Here’s how we can work together.
⭐ B2B SaaS product-led content: People look for solutions and information online. Why not position your product to illustrate a point and show why your product is the best at solving a problem? It attracts visitors and educates your customers while motivating and guiding them to use your product. Talk about a win-win!

⭐ Customer case studies: Highlight how you’ve worked with a customer and celebrate their success! Case studies build trust with potential customers and show how your work has solved their issues. Attract customers like your ideal clients who want to solve a similar issue.

⭐ Whitepapers, research reports and e-books: Nurture valuable leads for a marketing campaign with an in-depth, persuasive long-form piece highlighting an issue and articulating your brand’s expertise. They help start sales conversations and showcase industry authority with original data. Besides interviewing stakeholders and research, I'll assist your team from outline to design to publication.

⭐  Content repurposing: Don’t let the content you worked so hard to put together collect digital dust after publishing. Repurpose your existing content to reach a new audience. For example, I’ve worked with clients to repurpose speaker recordings into blog posts and turned internal sales slides into e-books.

I’m fully booked at the moment, but you can still join my waitlist (earliest estimated client opening around April).

DM me and let’s schedule a call to chat about your content! Let’s figure out what types of content fits best for your customers, and craft a way forward together.