The Media is Not the Message

This is today’s Monday Morning Memo from Roy Williams (www.mondaymorningmemo.com). Have a great week!

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“I’m in the furniture business. Which media should I use?”

“I’d like to target people who are afraid of the dentist. Can you recommend a good mailing list company?”

“My uncle uses television ads to attract new customers and they work really well for him. Television ads have made him rich. What’s your opinion of TV?”

“No one in my town listens to the radio anymore. Everyone has satellite or an iPod.”

“I tried advertising. It doesn’t work for my kind of business.”

People say things like this and expect me to have an intelligent response. What usually happens is that I stand there, dull-eyed, with my mouth hanging open. These are not my favorite moments.When my brain finally recovers and I tell them the truth they need to hear, they act as though I’ve sidestepped their question.

Here’s the truth they needed to hear. Maybe you need to hear it, too:

Relevance is what determines whether an ad works or not.
Every media fails when it delivers a message no one cares about.

Have you ever run an ad that failed?
Let’s pull aside the curtain and look backstage to see what really happened:

1. The ad was so predictable that few people even noticed it.
SOLUTION: Get a new ad writer or remove the handcuffs from the one you’ve got.

2. Prospective customers noticed the ad, received the message and understood it perfectly. They just didn’t care.
SOLUTION: Dump the irrelevant subject matter. Discover what people actually care about and talk about that instead.

3. The ad’s message would have been relevant, but it was unclear.
SOLUTION: Remind your writer that creativity often gets in the way of clarity. Remind your layout artist that the prettiest ad is rarely the most effective. You’re running a business, not a magazine. Make sure the dynamic duo understands that their continued employment depends on creating ads that sell the product.

4. You committed to an ad campaign that was shorter than your product selling cycle. If people buy your product once a week, don’t expect your ads to return a profit during the first week. If people buy once a month, don’t expect to break even on your advertising during the first 30 days. If your product selling cycle is longer than 2 years, you can expect to lose money on your ads – even if they’re good – the first 4 to 6 months. You’ll start pulling ahead during the second six months. Your real growth won’t happen until you begin reaching that same group of people for a second year.
SOLUTION: Commit to an ad campaign commensurate with your product selling cycle.

5. The listener failed to be engaged because the ad was written from a cultural perspective other than the customer’s own. (This is why Anglo-conceived Hispanic campaigns usually fail. Translating language is easy. Transferring cultural perspective is nearly impossible.)
SOLUTION: Hire a different ad writer to create the second campaign. Make sure the writer is from the cultural background he or she is trying to reach.

Bottom Lines:
Ads that fail in one media would usually have failed in any other.
The media is not the message.
The message is the message.
And the message is what matters most.

To deliver a pointless message powerfully is the definition of hype.

To deliver a powerful message pointlessly is the result of weak creative.

To deliver a powerful message powerfully is the first step in making a fortune.

Now go do it. And good luck.

Roy H. Williams

A Special Kind of Courage

This was posted on Brian Tracy’s blog at http://blogs.briantracy.com/public/item/167740. Enjoy!

There are several different aspects of courage. Perhaps the most important is the courage to endure, to persist, to “hang in there” in the face of doubt, uncertainty and criticism from others.

There are several different aspects of courage. Perhaps the most important is the courage to endure, to persist, to “hang in there” in the face of doubt, uncertainty and criticism from others.Practice Patience in Adversity This is called “courageous patience,” the willingness and the ability to “stay the course” in the face of uncertainty, doubt and often criticism from many quarters. Stay the Course In my experience, there is a critical time period between the launching of a new venture and the results that come from that venture. During this hiatus, this waiting period, many people lose their nerve. They cannot stand the suspense of not knowing, of possible failure. They break and run in battle, they quake and quit in business. The True Leader But the true leader is the person who can stand firm, who refuses to consider the possibility of failure. The turning points of many key moments in human history have been the resolution, or lack thereof, of one person. Courageous patience is the acid test of leadership. To encourage others, to instill confidence in them, to help them to perform at their best requires first of all that you lead by example. Allow Honest Mistakes The second thing you can do to help alleviate the fears of failure and rejection in others is to encourage them to take calculated risks and allow honest mistakes. Build People Up Give the people who look up to you regular praise and approval. Celebrate good tries as well as success, large and small. Create a psychological climate where people feel safe from censure, blame or criticism of any kind. Then do things that make people feel terrific about themselves. Become Unstoppable Courage comes from acting courageously on a day-to-day basis. Your personal development goal should be to practice the behaviors of a totally fearless person until you become, in your own mind, unstoppable. Action Exercises Here are two ways for you to develop courageous patience. First, prepare yourself in advance for the inevitable disappointments and setbacks you will experience on the way to your goal. Don’t be surprised when they occur. Second, resolve in advance that you will bounce rather than break and continually encourage others to think and act the same way.

by Brian Tracy

Develop A Sense of Urgency

This was posted on Brian Tracy’s blog at http://blogs.briantracy.com/. I think these are good habits to develop to stay goal oriented and focused on what is important in your personal and professional life. ——————————————————————— Perhaps the most outwardly identifiable quality of a high performing man or woman is “action orientation.”

Take Time to Think and Plan Highly productive people take the time to think, plan and set priorities. They then launch quickly and strongly toward their goals and objectives. They work steadily, smoothly and continuously and seem to go through enormous amounts of work in the same time period that the average person spends socializing, wasting time and working on low value activities.  Getting into “Flow” When you work on high value tasks at a high and continuous level of activity, you can actually enter into an amazing mental state called “flow.” Almost everyone has experienced this at some time. Really successful people are those who get themselves into this state far more often than the average.  In the state of “flow,” which is the highest human state of performance and productivity, something almost miraculous happens to your mind and emotions. You feel elated and clear. Everything you do seems effortless and accurate. You feel happy and energized. You experience a tremendous sense of calm and personal effectiveness.  Become More Alert and Aware In the state of “flow,” identified and talked about over the centuries, you actually function on a higher plane of clarity, creativity and competence. You are more sensitive and aware. Your insight and intuition functions with incredible precision. You see the interconnectedness of people and circumstances around you. You often come up with brilliant ideas and insights that enable you to move ahead even more rapidly.  Develop a Sense of Urgency One of the ways you can trigger this state of flow is by developing a “sense of urgency.” This is an inner drive and desire to get on with the job quickly and get it done fast. This inner drive is an impatience that motivates you to get going and to keep going. A sense of urgency feels very much like racing against yourself.  Create a “Bias for Action” With this ingrained sense of urgency, you develop a “bias for action.” You take action rather than talking continually about what you are going to do. You focus on specific steps you can take immediately. You concentrate on the things you can do right now to get the results you want and achieve the goals you desire.  Action Exercises Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action:   First, select one major task confronting you and launch into it immediately. Don’t hesitate. Move fast.  Second, start doing this every morning, first thing, until it becomes a habit.

The Seven Reasons

Seth Godin posted this on the blog connected with his new book, The Dip. I agree with what Seth says, we are all good enough to become the best in the world at something. The thing that might take time is to figure out what that something is or better yet what you want that something to be.

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Seven Reasons You Might Fail to Become the Best in the World

• You run out of time (and quit).
• You run out of money (and quit).
• You get scared (and quit).
• You’re not serious about it (and quit).
• You lose interest or enthusiasm or settle for being mediocre (and quit).
• You focus on the short term instead of the long (and quit when the short term gets too hard).
• You pick the wrong thing at which to be the best in the world (because you don’t have the talent).

By “you,” I mean your team, your company, or just plain you, the jobseeker, employee, or entrepreneur. The important thing to remember about these seven things is that you can plan for them. You can know before you start whether or not you have the resources and the will to get to the end. Most of the time, if you fail to become the best in the world, it’s either because you planned wrong or because you gave up before you reached your goal.

Even worse than quitting in the first six cases: not quitting. Settling. Sticking with it but not succeeding.

Is it possible that you’re just not good enough? That you (or your team) just don’t have enough talent to be the best in the world? Sure, it’s possible. In fact, if your chosen area is the cello, or speed skating, then I might even say it’s probable. But in just about every relevant area I can think of, no, it’s not likely. You are good enough. The question is, will you take the shortcut you need to get really good at this?

Drifting, Surfing, Drowning and Sailing

This is Roy Williams’ Monday Morning Memo for Monday, April 9, 2007. I think this is very insightful on both a personal level, about us finding our direction in life, as well as a marketing level, about marketing directly to what our customers need. Great commentary from the wizard.

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About 10 months ago Mike Metzger flew from Clapham Institute in Annapolis to spend a day with us in Austin.

“You meet 4 kinds of people on the ocean of life,” Mike said.

“Those who drift just go with the flow. The wind and the waves control their speed and direction. The drifter quietly floats along and says, ‘Whatever.’”

“Those who surf are always riding a wave, the next big thing. They stay excited until the wave fades away, then they scan the horizon for something new. Surfers don’t usually get anywhere, but they make a lot of noise and put on a good show.”

“Those who drown seem to stay in the center of a storm. It doesn’t matter how often you rescue them, they’ll soon be in another crisis, crying, ‘Help me, save me, it’s been the worst week of my life. I don’t know what I’m going to do.’”

“Those who sail are navigating toward a fixed point. They counteract the wind and waves by adjusting the rudder and shifting the sails to stay on course. But without an immovable, fixed point in your life, there can be no sailing. There’s nothing for you but drift, surf or drown.”

Can you name the fixed point in your life, your immovable object?

Metzger’s metaphor reminded me of something Ray Bard once taught me. Bard, that legendary publisher of business books, speaks of 4 kinds of opportunities:

“When you’re thinking about writing a book on a subject or considering a business to go into, it’s essential that you find out 2 things:

1. How widespread is the public’s interest in it?
2. How deep is that interest?”

“If interest is not widespread and not very deep, you’re looking at a puddle. Never invest time or money in a puddle.”

“If interest is widespread but not very deep, you’re looking at a swamp. Be careful of swamps. They look like oceans at first because everyone is interested. But that interest is shallow, not deep enough to drive action. Investors go broke when they see a swamp and think it’s an ocean.”

“If public interest is wide and deep, you’re looking at an ocean. But you’re going to need a platform on which to navigate your ocean. If you don’t have a platform, you’ll drown. And you’re going to need a plan or you’ll drift.”

“If public interest is narrow but deep, you’ve got a well. Don’t underestimate it. You can draw a lot of water from a well. I once knew a writer who wrote a book called The Care and Feeding of Quarter Horses. The book held no interest for readers who didn’t own a quarter horse, but those who did had deep enough interest to buy the book. It was extremely successful.”

Are you in a puddle, a swamp, an ocean or a well?

Are you drifting, surfing, drowning or sailing?

US Cable Networks Rejecting Google TV Ads…

This article, by Louise Story, was posted on www.backchannelmedia.com. It appears that maybe Google’s bright idea of selling TV ads is not so appealing to the US cable networks.

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Auctions on eBay may be adored by millions of consumers around the world, but the large U.S. cable television networks have decided they want nothing to do with them. Cable networks like Turner Networks, Discovery and ESPN have decided to boycott an online exchange designed by eBay to sell advertising time, the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau, a U.S. trade group, said Thursday.

Without the participation of cable networks, the eBay exchange will have no air time to sell to advertisers.

“We don’t believe that eBay is going to get this right,” said Sean Cunningham, president and chief executive of the cable association.

EBay was hired to build the exchange last year by a group of large marketers, including Hewlett-Packard, Home Depot and Intel. The group, which had pledged $50 million to test the project, has said that it thought placing ads in many types of media could be done more efficiently using an Internet auction rather than human negotiation.

But some television networks have worried from the start that automated buying and selling would reduce prices, and some advertising executives have said it would take creativity out of ad buying.

The refusal of cable networks to participate in the exchange not only disrupts the eBay plans, but also raises questions about how companies like Google will fare as they try to bring ad auctions to traditional media like television and newspapers.

Seven U.S. cable networks tested the exchange last month, and executives at those networks decided it went too far in removing humans from the ad sales process, Cunningham said.

Fewer and fewer television commercials are sold alone and solely to reach a certain age or sex. “The grand majority is about idea- driven packages that have got multiple consumer touch points,” Cunningham said.

The group of companies that commissioned eBay said it would try to recruit other media companies to use the exchange and that it would continue to pursue relationships with cable networks.

EBay did not return a call seeking comment Thursday.

Study: Marketing, IT Must Mesh

This article was on adweek.com. I think that this presents an interesting paradigm for all of us in marketing to think about because without IT not only do we not have the tools we need to do our job but we cannot create the tools that our clients need to succeed in theirs.

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By Joan Voight
 

SAN FRANCISCO The marketing and IT departments of most corporations are worlds apart, but the two groups must work more closely together to speed innovation and boost the bottom line, according to a new report by management consultancy Sapient and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Rather than focusing strategies on Web sites and interactive media, smart marketers strive to improve both their products and the customer experience, says the report, which is titled, “The New Marketing-IT Power Partnership.”

“The customers’ experience is the marketing” and positive experiences earn brand loyalty and repeat business, the report says. But to pull that off, a company’s “marketing and technology strategies must be tightly aligned and must collaborate effectively.”

The study cites as an example Netflix, which subverted the traditional movie rental industry and grew into a $682 million business in seven years by blending technology and marketing to provide an innovative service, enhance the consumer experience and effectively build its brand.

A key problem in the alignment process is that marketing and technology executives often don’t speak the same language and can have different backgrounds, skills and equipment. “Understanding each other can be slow and frustrating,” but it is essential, the report says.

For example, more than 70 percent of companies do not use technological tools and analytics to guide their marketing campaigns.

The report cites Tom O’Toole, both CMO and CIO at Hyatt Hotels, who advises that marketers take the lead, with technologists anticipating the flexibility that campaigns require and designing such functionality into hardware and software systems.

How about outside marketing agencies? Report co-author David Bond, Sapient’s director of IT strategy, said shops should act as unbiased third parties who speak the language of both departments.

“Outside partners should bring multi-disciplinary teams that can ask the tough questions of both groups to help identify what can be improved. They should serve not as auditors, but as facilitators,” Bond said. Outsiders can also provide alignment insights from other companies and other industries, he added.

Will you give this to my Daddy?

I don’t know if this story is actually true but the sentiment is in the right place. God bless our troops and may He keep them safe until they all come home.

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Last week I was in Atlanta, Georgia attending a conference. While I was in the airport, returning home, I heard several people behind me beginning to clap and cheer. I immediately turned around and witnessed one of the greatest acts of
patriotism I have ever seen.
 
Moving thru the terminal was a group of soldiers in their camos.  As they began heading to their gate, everyone (well almost everyone) was abruptly to their feet with their hands waving and cheering. When I saw the soldiers, probably 30-40 of them, being applauded and cheered for, it hit me. I’m not alone. I’m not the only red-blooded American who still loves this country and supports our troops and their families.
 
Of course I immediately stopped and began clapping for these young unsung heroes who are putting their lives on the line everyday for us so we can go to school, work and home without fear or reprisal.
Just when I thought I could not be more proud of my country or of our service men and women, a young girl, not more than 6 or 7 years old, ran up to one of the male soldiers. He kneeled down and said “hi.”

The little girl then asked him if he would give something to her daddy for her.

The young soldier, who didn’t look any older than maybe 22 himself, said he would try and what did she want to give to her daddy. Then suddenly the little girl grabbed the neck of this soldier, gave him the biggest hug she could muster and then kissed him on the cheek.
 
The mother of the little girl, who said her daughter’s name was Courtney, told the young soldier that her husband was a Marine and had been in Iraq for 11 months now. As the mom was explaining how much her daughter Courtney missed her father, the young soldier began to tear up.

When this temporarily single mom was done explaining her situation, all of the soldiers huddled together for a brief second. Then one of the other servicemen pulled out a military-looking walkie-talkie. They started playing with the device and talking back and forth on it.After about 10-15 seconds of this, the young soldier walked back over to Courtney, bent down and said this to her, “I spoke to your daddy and he told me to give this to you.” He then hugged this little girl that he had just met and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He finished by saying “your daddy told me to tell you that he loves you more than anything and he is coming home very soon.”
 
The mom at this point was crying almost uncontrollably and as the young soldier stood to his feet, he saluted Courtney and her mom. I was standing no more than 6 feet away from this entire event.As the soldiers began to leave, heading towards their gate, people resumed their applause. As I stood there applauding and looked around, there were very few dry eyes, including my own. That young soldier in one last act of selflessness, turned around and blew a kiss to Courtney with a tear rolling down his cheek.
 
We need to remember everyday all of our soldiers and their families and thank God for them and their sacrifices. At the end of the day, it’s good to be an American.
 
RED FRIDAYS —– Very soon, you will see a great many people wearing Red every Friday. The reason? Americans who support our troops used to be called the “silent majority”. We are no longer silent, and are voicing our love for God, country and home in record breaking numbers.
We are not organized, boisterous or over-bearing. We get no liberal media coverage on TV, to reflect our message or our opinions. Many Americans, like you, me and all our friends, simply want to recognize that the vast majority of
America supports our troops.Our idea of showing solidarity and support for our troops with dignity and respect starts this Friday -and continues each and every Friday until the troops all come home, sending a deafening message that.. Every red-blooded American who supports our men and women afar will wear something red.

By word of mouth, press, TV — let’s make the
United States on every Friday a sea of red much like a homecoming football game in the bleachers.
 
If every one of us who loves this country will share this with acquaintances, co-workers, friends, and family. It will not be long before the USA is covered in RED and it will let our troops know the once “silent” majority is on their side more than ever; certainly more than the media lets on.
 
The first thing a soldier says when asked “What can we do to make things better for you?” is…We need your support and your prayers.
 
Let’s get the word out and lead with class and dignity, by example; and wear something red every Friday.

Google TV Ads???

This article was on TVWeek.com by Daisy Whitney. It appears that Google is going to try to adapt the auction based ad sales that was so successful for Internet sales over to the TV ad sales business. This is an interesting concept that could change the way smaller organizations look at media buying. Very interesting…

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Google plans to see if the auction-based ad buying system that has made it billions on the Web can work the same magic for TV. 

The world’s biggest search engine today unveiled of its first foray into TV advertising via a partnership to broker ads for satellite provider Echostar that will effectively bring online measurability and accountability to TV ads for the first time.

In doing so, Google makes good on a promise CEO Eric Schmidt alluded to at the company’s annual press day last May when he said the company was experimenting with a TV ad product.

Google declined to specify when the trial would start, but the Internet giant will “soon” test an ad-buying system in conjunction with Echostar, 1800flowers.com, Intel, eTrade and other advertisers as well as media agencies OMD and Publicis, said Michael Steib, director of Google TV ads. He joined Google earlier this year from NBC, where he most recently shepherded the rollout of NBC’s online video syndication business. “We passionately believe we can bring more relevant ads to viewers by providing more relevant metrics to advertising agencies,” Mr. Steib said.

Whether Google’s entrance into TV advertising becomes a watershed moment for advertising in the way the introduction of TiVo a decade ago was remains to be seen. However, Google appears to be a shoe-in to address some of the oft-repeated concerns of TV advertisers — better measurement and more accountability.

“When the Internet started to offer more accountability and efficiency in terms of media buying it was inevitable that would bleed over into traditional media and Google has accelerated that,” said Greg Sterling, principal with Sterling Market Intelligence.

But Google’s system won’t replace traditional ad buying, and will instead co-exist along side the work of media buyers and marketing campaign strategists, he said. “This is part of a large trend towards more efficiency,” Mr. Sterling said

Advertisers are eager for faster, more accurate results. “We are always looking for maximum efficiencies and understanding ROI and this system allows us to do it,” said Steve Jarmon, VP of brand communications and partnership marketing for 1800flowers.com.

The system will operate under the same principles as Google’s AdWords, the system by which Internet advertisers buy search terms for sponsored links on Google searches.

Under Google TV Ads the advertiser pays Google and Google shares the revenue with the operator. The advertiser will only pay for impressions delivered.

The advertiser signs up online, then places bids on dayparts and networks available from Echostar. Advertisers can choose from about 125 cable networks that Echostar owns inventory in. With Google TV Ads, the advertiser bids on CPM.

At the end of the auction, the highest bidder wins the spots and pays one penny more than the second highest bidder. “The point is to encourage advertising to create the most efficient process,” Mr. Steib said. “That yields the highest return on investment.”

Then, 24 hours later, Google reports on how that commercial fared on a second-by-second basis, with data on how many households tuned into the commercial and for how long. Nielsen, by contrast, reports on ratings for the TV shows in which advertisers buy commercials.

Echostar will be able to measure the effectiveness of the ads across the majority of it 13.1 million homes, said Mike Kelly, executive VP of advertising at Echostar.

If successful, Google will expand the test to other advertisers and video distributors and will also include demographic data. In addition, Google will build an online marketplace to match advertisers to creative shops who can help craft ads for TV.