Content & Email

For International Literacy Day, Wild Iris founder Mindy Hanson writes about what books have given her and why so many people still go without them. She shares her Rotary Club of Evergreen work with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library and Little Free Libraries, plus simple ways you can help put books in more hands.

AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini work a lot like a clever parrot. They sound just as sure of a wrong answer as a right one. This guide covers where AI earns its keep in small business marketing (brainstorming, analyzing and drafting), why unedited AI website copy can hurt your SEO, and the T.A.S.K. method for writing better prompts.

Two nearly identical Facebook ads, with the same wedding story and AI-generated dinner photo, ran under two different companies. That’s the extreme end of canned marketing. This post also looks at the more common version, corporate content libraries that agents and offices send out under their own names, and why content only you could write does more for you.

An AI tool said a TV season had already premiered three days before it aired, and Google’s AI found three R’s in “cookie dough.” Funny, until it isn’t. Air Canada was held responsible for its chatbot’s wrong refund advice. Here’s why AI gets things wrong and a few simple habits for checking its work before you publish.

Remember yelling “agent” into an automated phone line? Leaning too hard on AI for your marketing frustrates customers the same way. This post covers why unedited AI content reads as generic, how Google treats unhelpful content, and how Wild Iris uses AI for brainstorming while a person edits and fact-checks everything that goes out.

Social media reach can vanish with one algorithm change, but your email list belongs to you. Here’s why newsletters stay one of the most cost-effective tools for small businesses and non-profits, what the return on email tends to look like, how to measure results, and practical tips for sending one people look forward to reading.

A 2024 Tuesday Tip on email timing. Statistics at the time showed newsletters earning the most on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and less on Mondays and Sundays, though a weekend-activities email may do better on a Friday afternoon. The post also suggests checking your own email and social analytics to see when your audience actually reads.

Updated in February 2024, when bulk mail tools like Mailchimp and Constant Contact began requiring DNS changes before you could send. Using a mailbox comparison, this post explains how SPF, DKIM and DMARC settings keep your legitimate email out of spam folders and protect your customers from people spoofing your address.

Can you legally use that photo on your website? Not always, even when the business that posted it says yes. This 2023 post explains copyright basics, the six Creative Commons licenses, and safer options like free stock sites, carefully prompted AI images or expert help, with a goat rental example that shows how easy it is to slip up.

When the Writers Guild of America ended its 2023 strike, its new contract set rules for AI-written material. This long read explains each AI term and what it likely means beyond Hollywood, in schools and in business, where AI can plagiarize, invent facts and produce bland copy. Our 2023 take: use AI to organize, not to write final content.