Welcome to this week’s edition of the MODULR Minute. This week, we’re talking about…
- Breaking (and Fixing) Marketing Systems
- ChatGPT Didn’t Invent the Em-Dash
- Learning the Lingo
- Delphi—Talk (Kinda?) to (Mostly Male) Historical Figures
Let’s get started!
When Was the Last Time You Broke a Marketing System?
For us, it had been about three years—until last week.
(Braden once accidentally disconnected HubSpot and Salesforce at a previous company, but that’s a story for another time.)
This time, we launched a TapLoop poll with the wrong merge tags. Turns out, we forgot to choose an ESP before grabbing the embed code. Rookie move. The links didn’t work. The experience wasn’t great. Especially since it was your first time seeing our new product.
But here’s the silver lining: I updated the product within the hour so no one else could make the same mistake.
I’d rather break something, fix it fast, and learn alongside you, rather than have a customer break it later and not know why.
So yeah, the product’s better now. Chalk it up to a little failure.
Move fast, break things—just fix them fast, too. That’s where the magic happens.
For the love of the em dash—not the “ChatGPT hyphen”
There’s been a surprising amount of online drama over… punctuation.
Specifically: the em dash (—). The internet hive mind is collectively calling it the ChatGPT hyphen, claiming it’s a dead giveaway that something was written by AI. (Spoiler: it’s not.)
We’re here to set the record straight—and defend our beloved dash.
First things first: yes, it’s a real punctuation mark.
Not a typo. Not an overgrown hyphen. It’s used to add emphasis, inject personality, or make a sentence flow better. You’re reading this newsletter, so you’ve seen it in action.
Now, do the spaces around it matter?
Technically, no. But we’re firmly on team no space. It’s tighter, crisper, and plays nicer in email and web copy. Sorry, Chicago Manual—we still respect you, but we’re doing our own thing here.
But here’s the real question:
Do you use it when you write?
And now that it’s being meme’d—do you feel self-conscious about it?
Our take: Don’t let the internet shame you out of good punctuation. The em dash is a power move. Use it with pride.
Next week: How to feel morally superior by using an en dash—the nerdier, subtler cousin.
Learn the Lingo: MODULR’s Marketing Glossary
The world of marketing can sometimes feel like a never-ending stream of acronyms and terms that you don’t know. This week, we want to highlight a marketing term to help you learn the lingo.
Integrated Marketing Campaign (IMC)
An Integrated Marketing Campaign (IMC) is a strategic marketing approach that combines multiple channels and tactics to create a unified and cohesive message. It is designed to maximize the impact of a brand’s message by leveraging the strengths of each channel to reach a larger audience. IMC includes elements such as advertising, public relations, direct marketing, digital marketing, and social media.
Learn more industry terms from MODULR’s Marketing Glossary here.
Tool We’re Testing - Delphi
Have you ever wanted to ask Nietzsche why he was such a downer? Or see if Alexander Hamilton liked the musical?
Now you can with this digital clone startup—Delphi.
They’re primarily positioned for content creators to clone themselves based on the volume of content they produce (newsletter, podcast, YouTube videos, etc.) and then the creator makes money by giving users a subscription to their brain. It’s interesting but also very Black Mirror.
Existentially, it feels like we’re turning these complex, multi-dimensional people into a caricature, which is maybe the logical evolution after social media…
All this to say, we tested a few different creators and historical figures and got pretty good results. Hamilton likes “My Shot.” Nietzsche is in denial and didn’t appreciate the feedback.
Two tangential notes:
- We only found one woman in the philosophers/historical figures section. So, do better, Delphi.
- Also, saying Delphi is on the same scale of historical significance as the printing press is a bold statement.
Braden & Jon
MODULR Marketing