Tangents by JXM

Jim Pond, Co-Founder of JXM, delivered a powerful presentation on how financial brands can outpace their competition using advanced targeting tactics. In this engaging talk, Jim dives deep into the reality of the competitive landscape, emphasizing that winning in marketing often means strategically breaking existing customer relationships. He shares insights on identifying who to compete against and avoid, ensuring marketing dollars are spent effectively. Jim outlines practical steps like constructing competitive insights matrices and leveraging social media for real-time opportunities. His talk is packed with actionable advice to help financial brands survive and thrive in a fiercely competitive market. This is a must-watch for anyone looking to gain a strategic edge and drive significant growth for their brand.

What happens when you're floating in liminal space? What about when you realize you need to make a change to your operations? Jim and Matt from JXM talk about how they handle this turbulence, and how they manage change.

REMOTE  by JXM is an entirely new way of using JXM’s marketing services to augment your own. In a bit of a peek behind the creative curtain, Matt and Jim from JXM discuss the process Matt took to bring a new idea for one of JXM's services to life. Matt talks about how he thought about the concept, the universal truth behind it (no remote pun intended), and how he used AI to solidify the idea further and make it unique.   You can find the REMOTE landing page out here: tunetojxm.com/remote

The co-founders of JXM discuss the perception of control in a creative process and when to keep a creative idea zipped up. Matt talks about how he found his way to developing a metaphor for JXM fractional marketing services right from his living couch once he found it. This wouldn't be a Tangent by JXM without the appearances of trains, delivery trucks, and what sounded to us like a mechanized pachyderm of some sort. Perhaps a Tangelephant?

Matt and Jim from JXM talk about their unique roles in their agency and what it's like to support one another in a long-standing partnership. They discuss decision-making (both surface level and deep), discuss accountability, and express gratitude for longstanding client relationships built on trust.

Jim makes the mistake of asking Matt about his coffee routine. The founders of JXM talk about the unique ways they focus on efficiency in the day to day, how Matt balances creative with results and when he invites Mr. Chaos to the table.

Here we find Matt and Jim discussing ways to unwind, nocturnal working opportunities and the current video game du jour at the Pond household. Although we are not sponsored by Vampire Survivor or affiliated with the game in any way, it does come up four times in the conversation, so please consider it an unsolicited endorsement.  You can find the game on Steam here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1794680/Vampire_Survivors/

Taking a break from all the businessing, Jim and Matt from JXM talk about tattoos, a hilarious story about Matt's overly sensitive feet and why Jim won't look under his bed still to this day.

Matt and Jim talk about how having little greenlights for yourself can be alright, alright, alright. For business owners, time off is hard to comprehend, and they take a deep dive into what they do when it's time to relax, or perhaps the rest of the world is asking them to. This tangent has big performance identity vibes, it was recorded right before the holiday break. 

Jim and Matt from JXM discuss the importance of smashing through production-based walls, but doing so in a way that doesn't break others. Just the walls. No walls were harmed in the making of this podcast. At least not real walls.

The sound of movement is vibration. Recreation is a part of recreating yourself. Matt and Jim from JXM talk about how they define work, what burnout looks like, and how they each cope with the challenges presented by the wrong kind of work. Special guest appearance by MBTA Commuter rail train 2404 inbound to North Station in Boston. 

In the last Tangent on 2022, Jim and Matt from JXM ponder whether or not Matt may have offended Playstation, discuss their service standards and when the desire to grow can hinder the progress they've made. 

Matt and Jim might be modelin' some maudlin thinking as they set out first to discuss couch choices and end up in a Stoic-style last-time visualization sequence. Oh, and they talk about the new Xbox elite remote. So there's that, too. 

Ever hear the bricklayer parable? Are you on a mission from god, just like Elwood Blues? We discuss the heavy feelings associated with completion, or liminal space, as the pros call it. How do meetings and other distractions play into that, and how can we focus? This tangent was inspired by a blog post we published, and you can find that here. 

Not-so-live from the Graduate hotel in East Lansing, Jim and Matt from JXM explain their unorthodox style of travel and why they do it. Why spend 12 hours in a car when you can fly there in an hour? Well...maybe flying isn't all it's cracked up to be.  Special Bonus content: check out our Road Trip playlist on Spotify! 

It's time to make some big decisions on the budget. What worked? What can go in the dumpster? What kind of worked, is sucking up a lot of bandwidth and must be dumped anyway? Jim and Matt from JXM discuss how to look at the budget objectively and how to self-audit your marketing output. 

Jim and Matt from JXM consider the core tenant of ABM: solving, not selling. Where selling is inherently transactional (and monetarily motivated), solving stems from a sense of duty and a willingness to help. At the end of the day, JXM sees it as our duty to help those asking for it—and we’ll go above and beyond the dotted line to do it.  Read more here. 

Matt and Jim from JXM talk about video games, the ever-elusive metaverse and its implications...including a robot mosh pit.  Special shout out to a brand we've been following in the AI/robotics space: figure.ai

Matt and Jim from JXM discuss the influx of new AI tools, harnessing their power and how its not an end, but a new beginning. To see how we're using AI at JXM, check out this recent blog post: https://tunetojxm.com/all-hail-our-ai-overlords/

Are algorithms stifling ideas? Jim and Matt from JXM wade into the social media algorithm discussion, and look at how it affects creativity. Matt talks about his experiences being on a social media "sabbatical" and how it's changed the way he looks at his work and the work of the JXM team. 

In this tangent, we sink our teeth into the sunk cost fallacy. We here at JXM ask this question regarding bad ideas: Why do so many executives, team leaders, and project managers cling tightly to bad ideas as they flounder and sink? Of course, we know the answer. It’s usually a combination of dignity and hubris (often both), culminating in the sunk cost fallacy. This tangent was inspired by a piece we released in September - https://tunetojxm.com/setting-sail-in-the-wake-of-sunk-costs/

It's Thera Gun...as in Ther-a-gunna go there. Matt and Jim from JXM talk about the non-profit brand space and how a brand should not let a tax designation define why it matters. They discuss some brands they see taking a different approach, doing it right, and matching money with a mission. This episode is inspired by a JXM blog post published on 9/8/22. You can check it out here.  -- Mentioned in this tangent:  Simon Sinek on Amazon Deans Beans Organic Coffee Company can be found here: https://deansbeans.com/ One Tree Planted: https://onetreeplanted.org/ Established Titles: https://establishedtitles.com/ JXM goes carbon negative: https://tunetojxm.com/we-are-now-carbon-negative/ -- JXM is a MA-based digital marketing agency

In this tangent, Jim and Matt discuss the workplace phenomenon (ok, maybe that's overstating it) recently coined "quiet quitting," our true calling to run a band name and t-shirt factory, what to do when you aren't sure what to do next and how important partners are in growing a business. What kind of business? Well any, really, but the focus at JXM is digital creative and advertising. Tune in at tunetojxm.com to see what else we're up to. 

Is sales dead, or has it taken on a newer, more organic form? We believe the latter to be especially true in the B2B space. In this tangent, Matt and Jim from JXM discuss sales experience, why we've moved away from cold calling and more toward brand building, and wonder how any of the old-fashioned tactics we see out there still work in this modern era of business. This discussion is inspired by a piece of content on our blog: https://tunetojxm.com/sales-is-dead/

How do you find your way through an idea? Jim springs that question on Matt, and a tangent ensues. We cover the importance of getting from converting energy to matter, skill-building to innovation, the importance of novelty, how hard it is to create in the age of fandom at an internet scale, and seeing Fangorn Forest for the trees. 

We talk about the power of fractional marketing, our favorite cartoons, and this drive to franchise EVERYTHING! To learn more about our take on fractional marketing, you can read up here: https://tunetojxm.com/you-might-dig-fractional-marketing/