Separation of Church and State

Relax! This is not a blog on politics. No, when I say "church and state" I'm talking about how most newspaper, magazines editors and broadcast programmers view their relationship with those "slimy" advertising people.

Oh, the horror!

Just imagine it...the pristine world of editorial/content being forced to work with those ad salespeople or even worse...advertisers!

(Full Disclosure - Holier than Thou editors/program director/content providers drives me nuts. The fact that they can "pretend" that business and advertising has nothing to do with their "art" of journalism borders on the schizophrenic. They are such hypocrites!)

Ok, back to my blog on "Church and State" in advertising. This edition is not just one of my rants about what is wrong with media and advertising, no this is more about what we must do as an industry to save it.

Here is the deal...traditional advertising will eventually disappear! No, I'm not Chicken Little screaming that the end is near. I think it will be awhile before 30's and 60's are extinct, but the day is coming. Technology has finally arrived that allows us to do what we have always wanted to do...skip ads! No one likes advertising. Hell, I sell advertising and I'm the first one to change the channel or scan the radio dial for most ads.

People want to be entertained, not sold. Oh sure, there are times that we actually look for ads when we are in that buying mood, but with the advent of the internet, we go online to get the information that we want. The internet is the tool for the inner transactional shopper in all of us.

So, the big question will be..."How do we build a brand in this brave new world?" As 30's and 60's begin to lose impact on TV or radio, what do we do?

Some might say the net, but they obviously didn't just read my blog. The net is the world of transactional shoppers, not branding.

No, the key to building a brand is and will always be electronic TV and radio, but it will not be in the comfortable world of spots. We must look forward to a world of integration of content and advertising. We must breach the wall between editorial and advertorial.

Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall!



Sorry, got carried away...

The future of advertising will be a blended world. A world where advertising will be woven into content. Not just product placement, production integration! Scripts that weave advertisers into story lines. Content based on advertisers (Can you hear the editors gasping?)

But, with all things this will be really hard to do effectively for both the viewers and the advertisers, but it must be done!

We don't really have any other options.

Internet Tivo ???

Two years ago, Yahoo turned down Microsoft's $44 Billion offer.

At the time, people thought Yahoo was crazy. They were right Yahoo was crazy!

But most people think Yahoo was crazy because of the downturn in advertising revenues, but I think they were crazy because of their advertising model. Yahoo makes money from search (but just a little bit) and display advertising (banners).

I believe that display advertising has a very short shelf life. Why???

Because of a little "killer app" that is just the first of many others... Adblock Plus!

What an amazing product that is changing the online ad game. This is a free extension for the widely popular Firefox web browser from Mozilla. (Yes, only 17% of web users browse with Firefox, but is because the rest of you are just ignorant of the greatness of Firefox).Firefox offers users a FREE and flawless online experience. No hackers, no viruses, and best all it is open code, which means thousands of brilliant programmers are creating extensions and add-ons for the program.

What is an add-on or extension, well, they are free program enhancements that allow users to have the ultimate in personalized browsing. And the greatest of all of these add-ons is Adblock Plus!

Adblock Plus was created by Wladimir Palant and it was designed to block all of those annoying banner, rails, skyscrapers, cube ads, etc. It helps your browser load sites faster and without all of that annoying clutter!

As a web enthusiasts, I love the quick, clean web pages that I receive by using Adblock Plus!

As a advertising consultant, well...let's just say that it makes my job a lot tougher!

Do you know how many clients are clamoring to move advertising dollars away from newspaper and television????I'll tell you...ALL OF THEM!

We all know that newspaper readership is free falling and with the advent of Tivo and On Demand, television viewers are avoiding commercials like they were a Paris Hilton movie! (sorry, low blow)

And now, the Holy Land of advertising's future...the Internet...has it's own ad avoiding technology. Yikes!

Well, at the moment, I'm not 100% sure what the answers are for you or for me, but I do have two suggestions:

1) Short Google and Yahoo stocks. ;-) (Seriously, don't take that as a recommendation on investing. I'm being sarcastic...but all internet companies need to consider this as a possible threat.)

2) Find ways to blend advertising and content! This I believe is the future of advertising...combining the best of editorial and advertising to create a new medium. No, not product placement. It must become product integration!

More on that to follow....

Forget Branding – What is your company’s DNA?

Branding is about manipulating consumers perceptions into the views in which you want your company to be seen.

Branding is what companies did in the 80’s, 90’s and even today when they didn’t understand the power of authenticity.

Authenticity is the currency for the 21st Century.

Authenticity is anchored to your companies ability to be transparent to your customers. Authenticity is what consumers get when you know what your company’s DNA really is.

The key to advertising and marketing success today is not about your marketing spin, your mission statement, or even what your company represents (i.e. your brand).

It is about knowing who you are, why you do what you do, and what makes your customers love you!

It is the very DNA of your company.

Finding your Brand

What does your brand say about you?

Most likely, you don't have one. Oh sure, you think that you do. All businesses think they have a brand. They'll toss out "buzz words" like...

My brand says that I have great service, quality products, good prices...yada...yada...yada!

I'm so bored that I can't even pretend to write more of that BS!

Imagine what your customers think about it. They hear the same crap from everyone.
[Note: If you can replace your businesses name with another businesses name in your little statement and it makes sense then your brand identity is worthless]

A real brand is easily, quickly identifiable to consumers that this is all about your business. They can't confuse your brand with any other brands!

It resonates the very essences of your core business...it reflects the very nature of your customers. Your customers know it. Love it. And want to be associated with it.

No one will ever confuse a Starbucks with a Dunkin Donuts! Harley and Honda don't ever get confused. Apple and Microsoft can't be interchanged [Even if Bill Gates would like to]

Do people ever confuse your store with some other place like it?

If they do...you don't have a brand...You have a problem!

Trust can kill a sale, but it can't make it!

"Lead generation takes place when a person's need and your brand message intersect in an environment of trust." - Joe Abraham of BOSI via Twitter.

This tweet started an interesting email discussion between Joe and myself and to make a long email trail short...here is the core of the discussion.

There are many, many elements of lead generation/sales for businesses, but there are four key elements to the process:

1) Customer Need

2) Business Solution

3) Business Message/Offer

4) Environment of Trust

Joe's belief was that the "environment of trust" was the key element to the transaction to acquire a lead. That if a prospect believed that his information could be trusted with the business, then they would reach out and share his contact info with them and become an actual lead.

I confess that at first, I was not swayed by his "tweet". In hindsight, I think he is right, but that he also didn't explain the full transaction. (I guess that is the danger of forcing us to be insightful in 140 characters or less. :-)

I believe that all 4 steps of lead generation must be taken and in order for a lead to be fully developed. There must be a need, there must be a solution and then the business must deliver a message and offer that entices the prospect to act, but finally, there must be an environment of trust that exists between prospect and business.

All four elements are critical in the lead generation game. You can't skip any of them!

• The prospect MUST have a Need!
• Your business MUST have a REAL SOLUTION!
• Your business MUST have a relevant, authentic message with an enticing offer!
• You must build trust with your prospect! (side note: I think delivering an authentic message will help build this environment of trust.)

Without trust, the prospect will not act! So, I guess Joe was right, but my argument remains....

Which leads back to the headline of this post, lack of trust can kill a sale, but it can't make a sale on it's own!

1st Amendment protects ALL Speech!

Everyone hates BP, right? Well, at least that is what we're being told on a daily basis from every media outlet and social network on the planet.

BP is the DEVIL! (Oh, wait, we can't say the devil, because that involves religion and well, all religions are bad, except for Islam, because well, we're afraid they will attack us).

BP is an EVIL Corporation (same as devil today)!

For months, we were bombarded with images of gushing oil from the BP oil well and how they were destroying the Gulf of Mexico FOREVER! (Disregard all of the news about how the gulf is just fine.) Our fabulous Congressional representatives called the executives to Capital Hill to reprimand on live TV to "punish" them and to make the reps look so powerful. (Also disregard current scandals on reps and our $200 trillion debt).

And now, that they can't show us images of the EVIL spilling oil, Congress is calling the BP Executives back to Capital Hill to chastise them on how they are SPENDING THEIR AD DOLLARS! (http://bit.ly/bmwJJs)

This is absolutely ridiculous! Since when, do politicians have the right to tell any business how they run their business, much less what type of advertising they use or the message they run??

HELLO!!! Rep. Castor!!! Do me a favor go read the Constitution, PLEASE!

YOU DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT to question a businesses advertising, AS LONG AS it's not deceptive or false!

The 1st Amendment protects all speech, not just the speech that you like, Rep. Castor! Please get back to real work and actually try and help get our country back on track!

The Medium is NOT the Message!

The medium is the message is a phrase coined by Marshall McLuhan meaning that the form of a medium embeds itself in the message, creating a symbiotic relationship by which the medium influences how the message is perceived. The phrase was introduced in his most widely known book, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, published in 1964.^[1] McLuhan proposes that a medium itself, not the content it carries, should be the focus of study. He said that a medium affects the society in which it plays a role not only by the content delivered over the medium, but also by the characteristics of the medium itself. [Source: Wikipedia]

Marshall is just plain WRONG!

The Medium is, in fact, NOT the Message! At least, it's not the message in 2010.

I believe that the "Message transcends the Medium".

In a world that is obsessed with connectivity and new technology, the message must be 100% portable to ANY Medium.

Does PR really work?

Ok...all for truth in blogging?

First, I was a radio guy. Then, I become an ad guy.

Nowhere, was I ever a PR Guy. Oh sure, my firm did PR, but I kept my distance from the PR people. I never really "believed" in PR.

I kinda always thought PR was the biggest waste of time. Actually, that's not entirely true. What I really thought, was for most businesses, PR was a total waste of time. It's not that I didn't believe that free publicity was great...no...I thought that your average car dealership, carpet store, electronics retailer etc. had absolutely NO CHANCE of having a story worth telling.

I mean seriously...what life-interest story can you really do about carpet or TV's. And NO ONE wants to read a story in the paper or magazine about your latest store or state-of-the-art toaster!

However, I have to admit that for certain businesses with an interesting story, PR is fantastic!

One of my side businesses is that I'm a partner in a barbeque restaurant in La Grange, IL. It's called Q BBQ and it's just great authentic bbq from all of the great BBQ centers of America

(Texas, Memphis and the Carolina's). One of my roles in the business is the marketing of Q.

We started with a soft-opening to make sure the kinks were all worked out. Well, our soft-open wasn't very soft. We hit the ground running and never looked back. Therefore, we never had the opportunity to implement our marketing plan as designed. However, we did have the opportunity to tell our story via some wonderful public relations.

Over a 3-4 month period, Q BBQ has been featured on several TV shows, newspapers, magazines and of course blogs. And the results have been incredible! I couldn't have "paid" for this kind of exposure. :-)

So, I guess the moral of my little story is this...

If you have an interesting story then PR can be wonderful, if you have an experienced PR team that has stellar connections within the media.

If you are a basic, run-of-the-mill business...well...then you should probably spend more time with your marketing/advertising guy. They'll help you create a narrative that you can sell!

The Good, the bad and the Ugly of a Blog

Yes, It has been 19 months since I updated my blog. Yes, that is ridiculous.

So, I thought that I would blog about the downside of "blogging". :-)

There are like a million posts on why blogs are great for your business and/or your personal "brand". (Which on a sidenote, I hate that phrase "personal brand". It sounds like such a marketing buzzword created by bored marketing consultants.)

However, there are fewer blogs about the ugly downside of the blogosphere.

So, here are my top 3 reasons not to blog:

1. If you don't write regularly, you look like a fool. (i.e my blog) You go from being an "expert" in your field to an uninterested schmuck. -- If you blog, do it at least once a week.

2. People will call you very, very ugly and mean names -- granted some of the comments might be technically correct, they still hurt. Of course, if you're not making people mad or making them think, then you're probably not speaking the truth.

3. You have to think. Yes, that may seem easy, but it takes time...a lot of time. Don't just spout off comments without thinking about the ramifications. Also, you need to bring value to your readers. Don't just repeat what others are saying...come up with new and innovative ideas.

OK, now that I have restarted my blog...I promise to keep it up. And of course, if I don't, I expect you to take me to task.