Do It Well OR Do Nothing At All.
As business owners, salesmen, and entrepreneurs we are inundated daily with worthless marketing material. We may even have some worthless marketing material ourselves. Pages of mindless jargon thrown on a page because we feel the need to fill something. We feel the need to GIVE away something. What is worthless marketing material?
A. If you used Microsoft Publisher to design your brochure or sales piece.
B. You have placed a 13 page book on an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper
C. You have written a page about YOURSELF and your company and placed it in your sales brochure.
There are many, many other things that make marketing material worthless. Seth Godin has a great example of crappy design and marketing in his blog Silence is a Virtue. He makes the point that sometimes silence is better than creating something that makes you look cheap and amateur. In the world of marketing and authentic communication between client and company, sometimes it is better to be quiet than handing out worthless marketing material to the masses.
Quit kidding yourself. We know you didn’t spend ANY money on it. You designed it yourself. You wrote the copy yourself and it is terrible.
There are plenty of companies out there who do great marketing. Find one.
1. Make sure you can afford the cost of the professional creating your marketing pieces. Truly afford the cost of marketing material. If you can’t justify the cost, the last thing you need to do is sit down at word or publisher and create one yourself.
2. Hire a professional. Unless you are Seth Godin, in that case you can pay yourself untold amounts of wealth. Seth Godin
Something TRULY From George Carlin
Honesty may be the best policy, but it’s important to remember that apparently, by elimination, dishonesty is the second-best policy.
-George Carlin
A Message. NOT from George Carlin
I have killed the person who sent me the George Carlin misinterpretation. Now we are are good to go.
This was no George Carlin.
I received this in an email.
These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete…
Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.
Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.
Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn’t cost a cent.
Remember, to say, “I love you” to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.
Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.
Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.
AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
-George Carlin Actually written by Dr. Bob Morehead
Is Mindless Marketing Ruining True* Blogging?
I have always been under the assumption that “blogging” is a personal hobby. The technology allows you to post your thoughts, opinions, and views on everything in life from business to the new Prius. Recently I have been aware of a new form of blogging entering the mind share market of the Internet. This phenomenon I have aptly named “the marketing bloggers.”
The Marketing Blogger: an individual that writes a blog that focuses only on business information pertaining to their area of expertise but doesn’t put much original thought into the posts. Basically, I feel like I am reading a direct mail piece or a e-newsletter. Thank you but no thank you, Dan Kennedy .
On top of that, the marketing blogger has links everywhere which tout their business as well as their services. Shameless Self Promotion.
Not to mention, their blog posts could be printed as a small book.
Give me a break. (of that Kit Kat bar)
In my humble opinion, business/professional blogging should be used for original thought as well as industry updates and new ideas.
Authenticity is not an option any more. You are either authentic when you communicate or you are extinct. Talk about business. Talk about your life. Be a person and not a mindless marketing vehicle.
If I wanted to read your mindless jargon I would sign up for an e-newsletter or request a direct mail piece.
I still love all of you. Just be authentic. J
Some Authentic Blogs:
Douglas Karr
Pat Coyle
Erik Deckers
Another Cool Collaboration Tool!
I just had this sent to me by a friend and I think it is pretty cool!
http://fontstruct.fontshop.com/
It is an online application that let’s you build fonts and share them with people.
COOL!
Firefox 3. Burn baby, BURN!
I downloaded the new Firefox 3 yesterday and I have to say, I like it already! I haven’t had the time to really dive into the application to discover all the cool app stuff but overall I am pretty happy.
The new browser is faster and sleeker and I’m always a fan of custom skins. 
I would encourage everyone to go download the browser. We all know the PC users of the world need to discover the Firefox POWER! If not, go hunker down in your Internet Explorer world and rot.
Cheers!
Support Tiffany Mullen! Local Florist!
TheIndyChannel.com is giving you the opportunity to vote for Indiana’s Best Businesses again this year, and we’d like to ask for your support! In 2007, we were named Indiana’s Best Florist on the A-List, and for 2008 we’re kicking it up a notch. This year, instead of just going for Indiana’s Best Florist, we’re looking to be named Indiana’s Best Wedding Florist!
Please take the time this summer to cast your vote for Eventful Florals as Indiana’s Best Wedding Florist. Simply go to http://wrtv.cityvoter.com/alist between June 23rd and August 18th and click on Eventful Florals under the category “Weddings > Flowers.” Thank you for your support!
Sliderocket CEO says, “Powerpoint Sucks!”
Thank God. Thank God. Thank God.
First off, thank you to Douglas Karr for keeping me aware of emerging technologies in the new media environment.
I have been waiting patiently for an open application that rivals Powerpoint and adds in the tool of collaborating between friends, clients, and co-workers.
Enter: Sliderocket
Check out the video.
This application is amazing and it is just another small step to ridding the world of the Microsoft.
The coolest feature, in my humble opinion, of Sliderocket is the amount of typography manipulation you can accomplish! What a great tool! I dare any of you to fight over the fact that Powerpoint is an awesome type manipulator. If we bring up the point of bubble letters… I would concede. They are really good at bubble letters.
GoDaddy a No-Go. Screw them.
I have always enjoyed using GoDaddy here and there because of their hosting connection and plug-ins for sites like WordPress and other apps. It was easy for me to navigate. Recently I have run into some problems with searching for domains and a couple of days later finding them bought up from sites like About Domain and Domain by Proxy. I have also found multiple accounts where friends have searched for 10-20 domain names and then finding them all purchased by the end of the day.
I am officially done with GoDaddy and I encourage everyone who uses them to pull out of the site as well. Screw GoDaddy.
Great New Ad. Maybe Misinterpreted?
I had received an email recently with the image above pasted three deep in the content of the message. It was a forward from my father, Dan Lacy(http://www.danlacy.com). I thought to myself. Wow! This is a great advertisement for Pioneer Suspension! And that is where it hit me.
The forwarded email read:
It had NOTHING in the message about Pioneer Suspension. The person who forwarded the email to my father was under the assumption that the picture of the vinyl speed bump was meant as speeding restraint. He completely missed the fact that it was actually an advertisement.
Of course, Pioneer would never have been able to use a government roadway as a advertising medium unless something had been fully worked out pertaining to SPEED regulation.
Is the ad worth it?
Is it dangerous? I would more than likely SWERVE IF I WAS DRIVING TOWARD A MASSIVE POTHOLE and completely miss the ad. With my luck, I would probably drive straight into a tree or the man on the bicycle. I might even hit a hot dog cart vendor and be covered with beautiful yellow mustard. Who knows?
The point is, I love the piece because of it’s creativity but did it work? In the advertising world creativity is KING and the increase of sales is secondary. Keep winning those awards Bass & Yager, because in the end, it may be all you have.
