What's wrong with Advertising today? - Part 1

Let's just take a look at what advertising is supposed to do...

1. First, it has to get the attention of the prospect or buyer. Before a buyer will do anything they have to be drawn to your ad.

2. Second, you must present the buyer with additional information that will help them as they gather knowledge and form opinions about your products or services. Assist your buyer and help them along in their decision making process.

3. Third, you need to make buyers feel that by purchasing from you they are making the very best choice available. They may have lots of options, but yours is the best. They are going to make a decision by reducing their risk, and your ad should be helping them do that.

Now if you look at most ads you’ll see that they don’t meet the above three criteria.

You will find that for many companies the most dominant part of the ad is their company name and logo. Do buyers really care about your name and logo? Does this draw to their attention what you are selling? Remember the first thing you have to do is get their attention.

Other ads will have some really great pictures or backgrounds that again are supposed to capture our attention. This may be very appealing to an artist but it doesn’t do anything for your potential customer. Unless maybe he or she is an artist!

And then we’ve got ads with gigantic maps showing people how to find you. Or what we call menu type advertising where you have lots of products with prices that again are supposed to grab our attention. Most don’t.

Take a look through the newspaper and see what ads get your attention. Most fail miserably.

So what about our second criteria, which is assisting the buyer in their decision making process. Again you will find most ads use worn out clichés. “In Business for over 40 years”, “Best Service Guaranteed”, “Quality Workmanship”, “Reliable”, “Trustworthy” and so on. Well so what? Would I want to do business with you if you didn’t offer all these? Most people expect all these things so why do we have to say them.


Other ads will talk about their products and services in the same fashion. “Our copiers will make your office more productive”, “We service all makes and models”, “Our athletic wear helps you look and feel fabulous”, “It’s not what we do, it’s how we do it”, “Your performance is our priority”.

Again if I’m a prospective buyer I would hope that all of these things are a given. I shouldn’t even have to ask. None of these are assisting the buyer in gathering information and helping them form opinions in their decision making process. Look at some more ads and see for yourself.

Let’s look at the third thing advertising is supposed to do. Lower the risk so they can make a wise decision.

None of what we have previously discussed regarding what most people put in their ads do this and the main reason is that we have not educated our prospect to the point where they are willing to do business with us. Clichés don’t work and neither do great pictures, company logos, maps, phone numbers etc. Even things like “Best Prices In Town”, “Deepest Discounts”, or “Fastest Delivery” mean nothing. Would you really want to do business with someone who says “Highest Prices In Town” or “Slowest Service”. So why do we have to say it? We hope to get these things anyway. We need to help the buyer by educating him or her to the point that they are ready to call or visit.

So in short, most forms of advertising fail because they don’t meet these three (3) criteria.

In our next segment we'll delve a little deeper into today's advertising methods.

Do countries lose religion as they gain wealth? - World - CBC News

Do countries lose religion as they gain wealth? - World - CBC News

Of course the answer is yes. When people have money then they perceive that the amount of suffering is reduced. By suffering I don't necessarily mean physical pain, it could be emotional, mental or any afflicted states. Religion is what people in poorer countries latch unto in an effort to ease their discomfort. However money or the glamour of money can also bring suffering and discomfort. When this happens people generally reach out to religion again as it is something from memory that can ease their pain etc. Unfortunately money doesn't buy happiness, unconditional love, peace, tranquility and meaning to ones life. Our thinking keeps us ever wanting more and more with increased wealth. It's just a perceived thought that  comes and then dissolves.

Headline: Papal contender says issue of women in church 'secondary'

My wife is a devoted Catholic and I go to church with her and the kids as a means of support. She wants me to go to Catholic School but it's not for me. My last visit to the church was embarrassing as I dropped the bread wafer and didn't stop to pick it up. Afterwards my wife scolded me for leaving it there and said the priest would have to pick it up and eat it. I'll be more careful next time.

 Anyway it's reading stories like these that makes me wonder why the church considers women's issues (and other important issues like gay marriage etc) secondary. Shouldn't these be a priority for the next Pope. If not then maybe we should pick a Pope like they pick a contestant on The Price is Right... "Come on down, your the next Pope on "The Vatican Is Right".

Story Link... http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/03/05/pope-election-women.html

Tech toys for our kids

"I grew up in a world where there were no tablets, PC's, cell/smart phones & a host of other gadgets. My childhood memories are of playing catch, going fishing with my Dad, playing ping pong in the basement, street hockey in the winter, going swimming with my friends or family and other things of that nature.

I'm not against teaching our kids to use or have all these great devices. I just think we need to have some balance... for their mental well-being, and so they too will have good memories of us when we're gone."

When old firms launch new products: Think like a startup again - The Globe and Mail

When old firms launch new products: Think like a startup again - The Globe and Mail

What is Optimal Intelligence?

Optimal Intelligence or Open Intelligence is what one discovers when the mind is relaxed. There are a number of ways one can do this, but one method is by utilizing short moments, many times during the day. By short moments I mean when positive, negative or neutral thoughts, emotions, perceptions or experiences enter our mind/body we let them pass on without going into multiple stories about them. For many people negative thoughts, or what could be called afflicted states, generate a multitude of points of view about what enters the mind. Relaxing the mind when this occurs not only relieves the negativity but also opens up the mind to marvelous clarity.

When I started listening to the talks on Great Freedom's web site (now called Balanced View) I was having severe afflicted states of mind. At first I was not sure how this could relieve the stress levels but I kept on listening. Eventually I started to practice short moments, and in conjunction with listening to the talks, found over time that these negative thoughts didn't hold the power that I used to think they did. In fact none of our thoughts or points of view have any power. We are led to believe from the time we are born that they do have power to control our lives and our mind. But in fact they have no independent nature of their own and are like a hologram or mirage. There is nothing there. I found that this realization of no power in our points of view changed my whole outlook on how I felt. It was a wonderful peace of mind I was experiencing that I had not had before.

Everything I had read, heard or watched previously in all the books, tapes, talks etc. talked about practicing positive thinking, or replacing the negative thoughts or points of view with positive ones. Unfortunately this only works for a short while or until another afflicted state comes along and we are right back where we started. So for me the key was listening to the talks, practicing short moments and giving my mind a rest from all the stories etc.

Optimal Intelligence is what we achieve when we practice these teachings. I found eventually that I had great clarity of mind. I could think clearly and solutions to problems came easily. What a blessing for your personal and business life. No longer do we worry excessively about what others think, say or do to us. We are able to concentrate on our work with much more clarity and freedom then we ever had before. Sure, we still have our ups and downs, but the curve of live is more balanced and evened out. We not only benefit ourselves but to all around us. Compassion and love for others becomes our beneficial nature.

What a feeling... remembering Mac's launch in "84

Most of my reading, watching & listening these days is off the Net. This includes the full gamut of regular news from local to worldwide and all the specialty news sites from professional/business to personal articles. I think I have about 40+ sites that I try to get to daily or at least every few days. Then there are what I like to call the fun or humorous sites that give me a laugh or two. And of course the social media sites like Facebook etc.

Smaller chunks of news are the wave of the future for most people as technologies implode, meaning phones, tablets, computers and TV’s merge. It’s exciting to see all this unfolding and it reminds me in a more modest way of the Macintosh’s introduction back in 1984.

Up until that time, PC’s were basically MS/DOS or CPM based and what you saw on the screen were ASCI or text only pages. I remember going to San Francisco to see the Mac launch, as I owned an Apple retail store at that time. At first we watched George Orwell’s “1984” Macintosh video/ad, which also ran during the Superbowl. This had the audience on their feet as it was simply amazing, and if you haven’t seen it, take a peek below...

Steve Jobs takes the stage to the music of Irene Cara’s “What a Feeling”, and you can see the insanely great beam of light coming from his demeanor. This was no doubt a great flash in history and Jobs was going to “strut his stuff” for all it was worth in front of the world. Two programs were ready to launch… MacWrite and MacPaint. At first Jobs demonstrates MacWrite and the crowd goes wild seeing how text and fonts can be changed in an instant. Remember before we were dealing with straight text on the screen and now it was text appearing as a graphical font… easily manipulated.

Next came MacPaint and if the audience loved MacWrite it was absolute chaos for Paint. WYSIWYG was the buzz word, meaning “What you see is what you get” and even though the first Mac was just black and white, one could not help but witness that Jobs had just changed the future. As I sat there, bedazzled with everyone else, I remembered purchasing my first Apple II computer in 1979 and how that propelled me into this fantastic wave of technology. I also remembered that I had 20+ orders for the Mac to fill when I got home. Most were already prepaid ($4999) and we made a cool $2500 profit on each one. We also got to take a Mac home with us in our own cute little Mac bag.

It was a sad day when we lost Jobs but his memory and accomplishments, including the Mac launch, will live forever. What a feeling… indeed!

3 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Naming Your Business | Entrepreneur.com

3 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Naming Your Business | Entrepreneur.com

General tips for using the phone when making sales calls…

Know what you are going to say before you make the call.

Be prepared for different responses and plan your answers. Write out some sample scripts and practice them with a friend.

Schedule calls for a certain time of day. Establish a routine so you don’t procrastinate.

Set a daily and weekly goal for the number of calls to make. The more calls you make, the more opportunities you will make for yourself.

Take a break after several calls. You are doing something difficult!

Be prepared to take notes. Have a pen and paper handy.

Be courteous and sensitive to the person on the other end. Introduce yourself and speak in a pleasant, understandable manner. If the person you are talking with sounds rushed, ask if there is a time you can call back that is more convenient. Then be sure to follow up on the call.

Sound confident and professional. Use language that demonstrates your enthusiasm and abilities.

Keep background noise to a minimum. Radios, televisions, barking dogs and crying children are distracting to the person you are speaking to and yourself.

Practice before you make your calls. This may sound silly, but keep a mirror in front of you when you talk on the phone. You will pay more attention to your image, smile more and this will carry into your voice.

Start your calling with the prospects you are least interested in. Your telephone techniques will get better with practice, so polish your skills before you call your best prospects. Modify your technique if you are not getting the results you expect. Keep trying!

Leave a professional, friendly message on your answering machine. 

Expect that prospects will be calling you!

Be prepared for "no’s" and don’t take them personally. You will meet them along the way in your sales calls — your objective is to turn a "no" into a "yes."