Spring newsletter: Boost the effectiveness of your quarterly market commentary

Boost the effectiveness of your quarterly market commentary

“My best tip for improving your investment commentary” is easy yet powerful. Visit my blog for specific suggestions on how to use headlines to make your commentary more effective.

These suggestions will supercharge just about anything you write.

Design can enhance the power of your words

Design matters. As a longtime writer, I tend to emphasize words over design. However, the way that your words appear on the page can make your communications more effective. You might have already gathered that from the investment commentary tip at the top of this newsletter.

“Good Visual Design, Explained” by Kelley Gordon on the Nielsen Normal Group website sums up some key principles of good online design:

To create appealing designs, align type and elements to a grid, build a clear visual hierarchy, use color intentionally, and stay consistent with every design choice.

Here’s one of Gordon’s tips for building that visual hierarchy:

…limiting your designs to 3 type sizes will establish a strong hierarchy without overwhelming the design or user.

Combine humans + AI in content marketing?

“The future of marketing isn’t humans vs. AI — it’s humans with AI,” writes HubSpot Chief Marketing Officer Kipp Bodnar. He proposes combining “AI efficiency with human authenticity to drive growth to your business.” It’s an interesting idea.

Get more out of Duolingo when learning two languages

What can I do next, I wondered, after completing the Spanish and the Japanese language courses on Duolingo.

My solution?

I selected “Japanese for Spanish speakers” as my next course.

Interestingly, this new class is introducing vocabulary that I hadn’t learned in my earlier Duolingo Spanish and Japanese classes—like “sumaho” to say “smartphone” in Japanese. This is fun.

 

Carrot ginger soup

I recently made carrot ginger soup from The Silver Palate Cookbook. It was delicious.

 

I took this soup to a soup swap. A soup swap is similar to a traditional cookie swap in that everyone brings multiples of one item to share.

 

However, unlike at a cookie swap, there’s no sampling of the food items at the event. It would just be too messy.

Happy spring!

When the temperature hit 50 degrees this past weekend, it reminded me that spring will arrive soon. I can’t wait!

I am preparing to plant vegetable, flower, and herb seeds for my garden. I find joy in watching things grow.

I’m also looking forward to getting my bicycle out of storage.