Message Medium

05/18/2026

05/15/2026

Have you ever heard 1981 audio of The Clash live from Bond's Casino in NY? On opening night, their opening act was none other than Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. The punk audience booed the rappers so badly that Clash frontman Joe Strummer had to step in and tell the audience "we don't do that here."

This is the backdrop as we fast forward to 1986. Run-D.M.C.'s team is hoping for a "crossover" moment with their album Raising Hell. Producer Rick Rubin, wanting airtime on "mainstream" radio stations, decided to test one track with some waning rockers named Aerosmith - a remake of one of their songs from the 70s.

It was a gamble, but that test paid off. It became the first hip hop song to break top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. MTV played the video in heavy rotation, catapulting both bands into pop-culture history.

So when you’re staring at a modest $300/mth ad budget, hoping to get in front of bigger audiences, I want you to think of Run-D.M.C.! 😁 Test boldly, learn quickly, then scale the winners.

Whether it’s a scrappy punk gig, a genre-bending single, or a Meta ad 😉, the future belongs to the bold!

Two bonus questions for you:
1) Do you know the name of the song?
2) Have you tested anything in your business yet? Which test gave you the biggest breakthrough?

05/11/2026

05/08/2026

Cute templates can be tiny tyrants.

Our question on Monday was: True or False: Canva is a great, long-term option for building a website?
The answer: False.

On May 4, 1776, Rhode Island became the first American colony to officially renounce allegiance to King George III. They reached a tipping point where the desire for freedom and autonomy outweighed the convenience of the status quo. As business owners we often face that choice (albeit on a much, much, smaller scale). As our business grows and becomes more complex, we have to reevaluate the tools, services, and systems we've chosen.

Canva is wonderful for fast, simple, and good-looking. It can absolutely help you launch a site quickly. But long-term? Eventually your website is likely to need more room to grow, adapt, rank, integrate, convert, and generally wear its big-business pants. A platform that’s great for “let’s get something live” is not usually a strong forever plan. So don't feel the need to avoid Canva sites, but also don't feel locked in when it's time to grow.

Sometimes the smart entrepreneurial move is a tiny declaration of independence. 😉

05/04/2026

05/01/2026

Back in 1837 Morse Code and the telegraph were "the new hotness" in tech. Both invented by today's birthday boy - Samuel Morse.

Morse actually invented the telegraph first, but it had no real application. He'd created a new way to send messages before the world had any way to read them. So he also invented Morse code. Problem solved! 😀

Today's new hotness in tech is unquestionably AI, and the answer to Monday's question "How does ChatGPT affect your results in Google Analytics?" is also a two-fer:
C. It may not show up as traffic at all
D. It will show as Referral traffic

If ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude mentions your business but no one clicks, you’ll see nothing in Google Analytics - because a mention is not a visit. (That's answer c).

But when someone does click? That visit usually shows up as "referral" traffic (that's answer d), and sometimes as "unassigned" (still find-able in Traffic Acquisition report). Unfortunately sometimes AI clicks also show up as "Direct." Once that happens it can't reliably be traced back to AI.

Just like Morse's telegraph, new tech can create big opportunities... but you have to know how to use it, and in this case also measure it, which can take a little more thought.

Have you checked to see if AI is sending you traffic yet? Not sure how?
1) Here's a useful article that explains some methods you can use: https://www.rankshift.ai/blog/how-to-track-chatgpt-referrals-in-ga4/.
2) Join our free class with Hofstra University on 6/27 to learn how to read Google Analytics! https://messagemedium.com/events/hofstra-googleanalytics

04/27/2026

04/24/2026

Round 3 of Message Medium’s Quiz-a-palooza begins on Monday! 🎉

We’re exploring topics like building websites, choosing platforms, social media strategy, and how tools like AI impact your marketing data.

You’ll get tips, quizzes, and a chance to win a 1:1 digital marketing working session with our President, Walker.

See you Monday!

04/17/2026

Vesper: I will be keeping my eye on our government's money - and off your perfectly-formed .
Bond: You noticed?

Today marks the "birth" of one of the most commercially successful characters in fiction history. When Ian Fleming published his first Bond novel - Casino Royale - today in 1953, he introduced a character built to notice what other people miss: patterns, motives, small clues, the significance of seemingly minor details.

Like Bond, every business owner has an inner detective deciding which clues deserve action and which are just noise.

Our question on Monday was really about what counts as an important clue:
"If someone sends you a message through your contact form but doesn't actually buy, is that still a conversion?"

The answer is: Yes.

While a contact isn't always a primary conversion, it is an important clue!

You don't wait only for the sale, the signed contract, or the paid invoice to decide something meaningful happened. A message means someone has made the important move from browsing to intent. "Tell me more" is a signal worth tracking.

A business is rarely built in one dramatic moment. Usually, it's built clue by clue.

Tell us - what’s one seemingly small clue in your business you’ve learned to take seriously?

04/13/2026

04/10/2026

They say need is the mother of invention. When Walter Hunt patented the safety pin in 1849, his creativity was reportedly driven by the "need" to pay off a $15 debt! (Spoiler: he sold his invention and repaid it!)

Just like Hunt, the Internet has spawned its share of creative thinking driven by need. One example is the answer to Monday's question: unfortunately you cannot put a clickable link in Instagram text captions.

When content creators discovered this, they invented ways to get around the limitation and direct as much traffic as they could to their various offers.

If you want to know how to do this too, here are a few tutorials for how to add links on Instagram:

How to add your own "link in bio":
- https://bitly.com/blog/how-to-use-link-in-bio-in-instagram/
- https://help.instagram.com/362497417173378

How to add a link sticker in Stories to send people directly to a page:
- https://buffer.com/resources/how-to-add-link-to-instagram-story/
- https://www.facebook.com/help/instagram/192168966243613

Got a better method? Or another trick you like to use?

Let us know in the comments!