Herr Blanke’s Middle Finger and A Lesson in Responsibility

Herr Blanke entered and, while traversing the classroom, announced, “I have some unfortunate news, I will no longer teach you Math and Physics”. He reached the blackboard and turned to study our bewildered faces.

Silence. At the age of 11, you begin not to like your teachers, but this one was different. He was our class teacher, and we loved him – everybody loved him.

Herr Blanke was old-school and strict. But he also had a sneaky sense of humor and a mischievous smile to go with it. He respected his students and forgave our youthful foolishness. 

Here he was, scanning our reaction with a dead-serious expression. This wasn’t a joke.     

What is a Content Brief?

I came across a job posting requiring an ‚excellent writer with a love for creating great content no matter the brief‘.

I read again but still got stuck on the last four words: „…no matter the brief“. They were like a brick-wall question mark, and I couldn’t get past it.

A content brief is a document that provides the writer with all the information s/he needs to meet the client’s expectations.

Here’s what I didn’t understand: Not all companies provide proper content briefs to their writers. Those that go through the effort of creating one understand the importance of a good brief.

So, if this company gets that, how can the brief not matter?

(Or maybe they meant to say something else and just expressed themselves awkwardly – in which case they really need a good content writer.)

Whatever the intention behind that strange phrase, it prompted me to write an article about what I think a good content brief should include.

Read on my professional blog.

Content Marketing Lessons from a Village Veggie Shop

It was the middle of the week, and the veggies I bought on Friday had already gone bad. Very annoying!

It usually happened when I shopped at the regular supermarket. The veggies ended up in the trash, and I found myself driving down to the nearby Arab village, where the stores never seem to close. There are several greengroceries as well as some minimarkets in Abu Ghosh. I didn’t shop there regularly because I found them to be messy and dirty. I needed to double check the expiry dates on every item.

It took me a while to notice there was one exception. Fruit which I bought at the smallest, but also the cleanest veggie store stayed fresh for an entire week. This little place off the main road seemed to have better quality than any other store.