Including this one, I wrote and published 154 blog posts in 2022.
Some were inevitably better than others. Because while my goal for this blog is to deliver ideas, insights, and inspiration with every article, I accepted long ago that writing as often as I do would mean that not everything I wrote would live up to that aspiration.
Thankfully, there seem to have been at least a few posts that resonated with you, my readers. (Well, according to the website visits reported by my Google Analytics dashboard anyway...)
And so I'd like to present you with the Top 10 Most Popular posts of 2022, followed by the Top 5 posts I wish more people would have read.
Enjoy!
When Beloved Brands author Graham Robertson reached out to ask me if I'd consider contributing a few thoughts for an article he was writing on "The Great Resignation", I couldn't possibly say no. Here are my responses to his questions.
To share an example of how a company could earn a customer's love, I shared the story of how Anthony's Espresso Equipment earned mine.
The best advice I've heard in the past few years came from what is arguably one of the best moments of television ever to appear on our collective screens. The clip is SO GOOD!
I'm not sure what made me more upset, the fact that Rogers let me (and millions of other Canadians) down by forcing us to go without the cell or internet services on which we rely so heavily (and for which we pay the company such exorbitant monthly fees)... or the lazy corporate apology that followed once services were finally restored. This breakdown of the company's faux apology (and my thoughts on what should happen next to "motivate" Rogers to do better in the future) seemed to strike a chord with readers.
I shared an example of a terrible recruiting experience I experienced decades ago and used it to illustrate why recruiters should think twice about treating candidates with disrespect.
I published several really useful "hacks" I use often to get things done quickly and effectively... and the one hack I haven't quite figured out yet.
Should I be surprised that a rant about my terrible experience with a telecom company resonated with so many people? Probably not. But it did offer a few business lessons that companies looking to improve customer satisfaction might want to review.
When grocery behemoth Loblaw Companies Ltd. refused to accept a price increase from potato chip giant Frito-Lay, and Frito-Lay subsequently refused to ship their products to grocery stores owned by Loblaw, it provided me with a real-world example of an idea I teach in my "Retail Marketing Strategies" course: what's more important, the brand or the retailer?
Perhaps I should be slightly offended that my second most popular post of 2022 wasn't even something I wrote myself, but rather a story I found on the internet and simply had to share. But I'm not... it's a fantastic story and a wonderful lesson that deserved to be shared.
This article, which earned the most number of page visits to a single post on my blog in 2022, was an argument in favour of business results over award wins. I've long believed creative awards aren't important, but it was sure refreshing to have a creative agency say it.
And there you have it: the most popular dpThoughts of 2022!
Which posts do I wish had made the Top 10 list?
Here are five of my favourites.
This post was a tribute to my grandfather, and writing it helped me to process his loss.
How many times do we do things the "traditional way" simply because that's how they've always been done? This post, inspired by my son's fifth birthday and his love of frosting (but not cake), challenged readers to look for better, cheaper, faster, and more interesting ways to accomplish their goals.
Some beliefs simply need to be abandoned as we get older and wiser. This might have been my shortest post of 2022, but I thought the lesson was pretty clear and certainly hope more business leaders stumble across this one.
If you want to earn people's attention, make something remarkable. It's an idea James Gunn demonstrated when he decided to pay attention to an aspect of television shows many showrunners choose to ignore, and one I wish more businesses would adopt.
Whenever people tell me that "brand" isn't important, I share a link to this article with them. So often, in fact, that I'm surprised that alone didn't make this the #1 visited page on my blog. But it's a lesson I will continue to shout from the rooftops: brand marketing matters! And I hope more people continue to discover this post.
If you made it this far, let me end with this: thanks for reading!
Not just for reading this post, but for your ongoing support of my blog and newsletter throughout the year. (I've said it before, and I'll say it again: knowing there's a group of dedicated readers inviting me into their inbox three times a week has motivated me to write something when I would have rather gone to sleep more times than I can count.) So thanks!
P.S. If you're wondering why there aren't any ADdicted posts on this list, it's because I published a separate Top 10 ADdicted list earlier this week: check it out!