Marketing
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Monday, May 5th, 2008
So, I’m hanging out with William Shatner at the Jet Blue terminal on Friday…
Well, actually, I am watching him in a mildly-creepy voyueristic kind of way as he saunters up to check in for his flight to Burbank.
My first thought is, “damn, his piece looks good.”
I’m losing my hair fast, so I am seriously tempted to ask where he bought his, but, then I remember…this is NY, we don’t do stuff like that. We’re just that cool.
The day your ad-firm wins a Clio, fire them
Monday, April 7th, 2008
I am a hyper-creative person. It’s in my blood. It’s what fuels me.
But, when it comes to creating marketing messages for my businesses or those of clients, I often have to touch base with the real reason I am writing or otherwise creating. And, for that, I often turn back to a quote that keeps me pointing in the right direction:
I do not regard advertising as entertainment or an art form, but as a medium of information. When I write an advertisement, I do not want you to tell me that you find it ‘creative.’ I want you to find it so interesting that you buy the product. When Aeschines spoke, they said ‘How well he speaks.” But when Demosthenes spoke, they said, “Let us march against Philip.’
Persuasion and the power of patterns and expectations
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008
In baseball, there’s a pitch called a change-up.
It’s generally slower and easier to hit than other pitches, but, more often than not, it ends up as a strike. Why? Because batters react as much to what they expect will be coming their way as they do to what actually comes their way.
It’s all about expectations and patterning.
In fact, we all do the very same thing all day long. We respond to the circumstances of each day based, in part, on what those circumstances really are and, in part, on what we project or expect based on prior experience.
Why 99.9% of your ads will never be seen
Monday, March 31st, 2008
5,000.
That’s the number of ads the average citygoer is exposed to on any given day, according to a study by Yankelovich.
So, before this day ends, I will have been asked to buy something, in some way shape or form, 5,000 times. And, of those, I’ll buy about five, including food.
I am awake about 50,000 seconds a day.
Were I to spend even a second simply noting that each ad existed, without even considering their merit, 10% of my day would be gone.
Is visionary just another word for masochist?
Thursday, March 6th, 2008
In Seth Godin’s recent post on the forces of mediocrity, he wrote,
Remarkable visions and genuine insight are always met with resistance. And when you start to make progress, your efforts are met with even more resistance. Products, services, career paths… whatever it is, the forces for mediocrity will align to stop you, forgiving no errors and never backing down until it’s over.
Seth is onto something powerful (duh, isn’t he always).
No doubt, those with the most innovative, earth-shattering ideas, the mavericks of the world, often endure serious bashing, before they are anointed visionaries. Where Seth and I differ, though, is that I don’t believe it’s mediocrity that underlies the resistance to people pushing innovation.
What warring first-graders taught me about perceived value
Friday, February 15th, 2008
Next time you think you’re smarter than a 6-year old, think again!
So, I’m driving my daughter and her pal around the other day and, over the sounds of Miley Cyrus singing Best Of Both Worlds, I hear a storm beginning to brew in the back seat.
Seems one of them is desperate to have the DVD player’s headphones on, while the other is even more desperate for sole possession of the Polly Pocket wrapper.
Now, this wouldn’t be news, but for the fact that…
Building business and blogs with extreme value
Friday, January 25th, 2008
Every once in a while, you stumble upon a story or an experience that brings you back to Earth.
Something that reminds you to ask if you’re spending enough time creating extreme value…instead of extreme image.
How my killer idea ended up on someone else’s infomercial…again!
Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008
Did you ever come up with a great idea only to shelve it and find out, six-months later, somebody else came out with the same damn thing and made a ton of money?
The Name Killer: how the wrong name took down a $2-million business in 2-weeks
Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008
It’s got to be the biggest fear of every new entrepreneur.
You pour a ton of money into a new venture, devote relentless hours to get it going. It’s perfect in every way. But, within hours of launching, you realize something is wrong. Not leaky faucet wrong. Not temporary signage wrong…but head-on crash, fatally wrong.
How can something so apparent have been so hidden?
How to make every word you write unputdownable
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008
Ever read a James Patterson novel? I have. Every one.
And, every time I do, I curse the bastard!
Not the character, but Mr. Patterson himself. Why? Because…I don’t want to stay up until 4am to finish, really I don’t. But, he grabs me with the opening line, hurls me in, then greases the slide thoroughly-enough to render me powerless to stop my screaming descent to the last page.
He makes it un-put-downable.
Is he a master of story-telling, plot-development and suspense? Sure. But, he’s also a master of a handful of literary techniques that appear in the world of direct-response copywriting. They’re the ones that compel you to read long after you’ve decided you really don’t have time to devote another second to the book, blog or ad.
And, once you know them, they’ll give you the near-magical ability to make almost everything you write, from ads to blog-posts and letters to books, a giant step closer to un-putdown-able, too.
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