Marketing and advertising advice for owner-operated businesses
When events confound me, I’ve learned to ask: under what circumstances would those events make sense?
It’s a good question to ask when a competitor does something you’re tempted to dismiss as crazy. Or, when something you thought perfectly absurd becomes wildly successful.
When change confounds your view of the world, it’s a good time to reexamine your view.Continue Reading
There’s no business like home show business. While they’re not for everyone, my Wizard of Ads Partners and I have clients across the country, Canada and Australia who have learned how to make effective use of trade shows.
I’ve gathered the shared experiences of Jane Fraser, Tim Miles, Sarah Ripley, Steven Sorenson, Dave Young, and myself to help make your next show more productive. From planning and design to staffing and strategy, there’s bound to be something you can use. Have more ideas? Add them in the comments area below. We’re all in this together!Continue Reading
The harder I work, the luckier I get. That mantra has long served me well. It’s also created a blind spot: when in doubt, I work on my laptop, iPad, phone. If you don’t see a problem with that, we may have something in common.
We are fast becoming a nation of screenaholics; addicted to screens for stimulation in one form or another. We are, in short, too plugged in. We are screening out our best work.
Between work and play, how many hours are you with a screen? The Council for Research Excellence says it’s about eight hours a day—more for adults 45-54.Continue Reading
Aim at a moving target and you’ll miss. It’s better to anticipate, aim just ahead of it. Ask hockey legend Wayne Gretzky. He changed hockey because he would “skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been.”
So it goes with advertising. Aiming at the market now puts you behind the game. Gretzky leveraged experience of the game. We have something better: historic cycles that predict what’s coming.
In their new book, Pendulum: How Past Generations Shape Our Present and Predict Our Future
“We become an entirely different people every 40 years,” says Williams. “We think of these as the ‘me generation’ and the ‘we generation.'”
