The Secret and Marketing Presence

A lot of folks treat marketing and advertising as a form of insurance, a sort of protection against the crisis day when the phone stops ringing and the nobody walks through the front door. In fact, that dreaded day came for many a business over the past few months; frequently their insurance policy failed to pay off.

Some wait until their showroom floor resembles a morgue before thinking about doing any marketing. They’re thinking: “Dear Lord, what will we do if this offer doesn’t pull in some business.”

Will your work be creative and innovative while a cloud of doom hovers over your head? If you’re advertising under duress, the universe responds in kind and brings you what you dread the most. It’s as if your customers can smell panic.

On the other hand, if you enjoy the marketing process, stay the course through thick and thin, proceed with positive long term expectations, keep a calm and quiet mind, and focus on remaining thankful for the myriad gifts we so often overlook, the universe will bring you more to be thankful about.

Here’s the math: Q=SM2. The quality of your work is geometrically proportional to your state of mind. It’s the Secret Formula for Success. Along these lines a quote from Eckhart Tolle:

When you are present in this moment, you break the continuity of your story, of past and future. Then true intelligence arises, and also love. The only way love can come into your life is not through form, but through that inner spaciousness that is Presence. Love has no form.

Writers of Short Sentences

by Bill Alpert

Perhaps you’re old enough to remember video of John Cameron Swayze delivering the iconic Timex slogan: Takes a Licking and Keeps on Ticking. Fans of the recent TV series Mad Men were recently reminded of the classic Think Small print ad campaign for Volkswagen. Both ads were conceived and penned by the legendary copywriter Julian Koenig.

Seems like great copywriting is largely a lost art. A recent blog post by from a well known e-mail marketing company posited that “e-mail copy that sells” must include benefits, subheads, short blocks of conversational copy, a well crafted subject line, etc. All of these elements refer to form, and little falls to content. There’s nothing about reaching out to the reader with a single coherent message. Nothing about capturing the readers’ imagination. Nothing about ideas that are compelling and memorable.

And then there’s the disturbing adulation of psychological trickery in web marketing content as well as the ascent of highly paid Google AdWords strategists. All of this seems to nicely coincide with the collapse of our economic system. It’s like the dot com bubble all over again, this time accompanied by credit default swaps and insanely over-leveraged financial institutions. Lack of substance might be the appropriate words to sum things up.

In the good ol’ days, marketers were gifted writers who worked in a commercial setting. Though these writers of short sentences (a phrase credited to Mr. Koenig) weren’t revered by their peers, today one can find much to appreciate in their work. A fascinating account of the advertising world, including a contemporary interview of Mr. Koenig can be heard on a recent installment of This American Life.

Today’s e-conomy can be looked at as a house of cards. Much is free or cheap on the internet, and the temptation to do-it yourself is the order of the day. The problem is that talented graphic designers, skilled commercial artists and great copywriters (for that matter all stripes of writers) need to eat too. Ironically, their talents are needed now more than ever.

Company recognized by Adobe Systems

Our Copies&Ink division was recently honored by Adobe Systems as a Success Story on the Adobe Systems website. Our thanks to Laura Thurman of Big Sky Communications who wrote the feature story, and our client Erin Johnson of Aubrey and Associates, whose project was also featured in the story.

The article can be viewed online on here or viewed as an Acrobat document.

New Tools, Same Old Traps

OK, I love the web, and likely you do too. Still, I’ve been hard pressed to understand how “social networking” comes into play for business marketing. Most of what I’ve seen falls into the category of shameless self promotion. And that’s a shame.

Certain hard truths will always be unavoidable, be it in print, direct mail or on the web. Foremost among these, nobody else cares about your self-serving PR message. On the other hand, if you’re willing to share your knowledge and gifts with the world and do so without the expectation of reciprocity, the universe will amply reward you.

Giving away the store may not be what your sales department is looking for but on the other hand, generosity is the only message that will ring out above the din of myriad competing sales messages that buzz overhead like mosquitoes in a swamp.

There’s no quick fix here, but if you’re willing to invest in a valid online strategy, here’s some audio that might be useful. It’s from a webinar entitled Taking Your Brand Online hosted by John Jantsch with an all-star panel including Guy Kawasaki, Chris Brogan and David Meerman Scott. Grab a latte and put in an hour with some of the most interesting online personalities around.

(Not So) Simple Choices

As a marketer, I’m allowed to choose from only one of these operating paradigms:

Option One: I’ll be persuasive, methodical and diligent in convincing you to buy from me, or:

Option Two: What I’m offering will be so coveted and compelling that you’d seek me out and/or even become my advocate to others.

The first option gets you up and running quickly, but demands a long term dedication to the tangential task of finding and keeping customers.

Option two may require a protracted startup, though once up and running will be self perpetuating in that it will keep you focused on your most enjoyable tasks and will magnetically align you with your chosen mission.