If your search engine sent

you here looking for a fight,

you’re in the wrong place!

     . . . Uh, the post title — that’s “Profiling” as in filling out website subscriber info about yourself and your business.

Sorry. My apologies to all the rest of you (including lawyers of course) who’ve landed here  looking for a bunch of racial slur charges and counter-charges (hopeful no doubt of gathering ammunition for getting yourselves in an uproar about who is subjecting whom to bias and prejudice in which states, and why, and how awful it all is).

You know who you are: Anti-Arizona political types, NPR and network TV news desk occupiers, and fans of “Cops.”

Three messages for you: 1) The truth will out 2) Sorry to disappoint you, and 3) Click off of here and go yell at your search engine.

     Well now that we’ve cleared the air, and have sent the vast armies of contentious network news and incompetent government types packing, let’s get down to business.

     When you fill out a website profile, here are some good rules of thumb to consider that will help you present a more attractive picture of yourself and your business:

• As a matter of PROCEDURE: draft it first; edit it second; edit it third; edit it fourth; save it fifth; cut and paste it into the window sixth. Not much creates instant panic as effectively as clicking “Save” a blink too soon. Take your time. Get it right.

• As a matter of FORMAT: Live with what’s provided. It will be a lot of years before subscriber websites are all up to speed with the latest options for type sizes, line and border spacing and special (color, shadowing, bolding, Italicizing-types of) accent treatments as you may be used to with your PC and Mac text formatting choices. What you get is what you get! When bullet and numbering options exist, use them, but sparingly.

• As a matter of CONTENT: keep it short and sweet. Conciseness counts! Suffice it to ask when was the last time you read a long wind-baggy profile? Don’t try stuffing your thirty-pound resume into some one-pound profile window. Use highlights as teasers to prompt a reader to want to know more. 

• As a matter of INTENT: Keep it honest; if you don’t you have my word it will come back to haunt you. You may even (shudder) lose Twitter Followers and Facebook fans! Think of your profile as a combination of your “brand” and your “elevator speech.” No matter what your intent is about what you say and how you say it, don’t allow yourself room for exaggeration to creep in.

• As a matter of EMPHASIS: don’t try to be cute; don’t write sales or advertising copy; if you have strong credentials, list them but don’t belabor them; if you lack strong credentials, don’t try to make weak ones look impressive. It’s a profile, not a sales pitch! You can deliver that after a prospect likes what she or he sees and decides to contact you. Humor? Doubtful it has a place in 99% of business profiles. If people want a laugh, they need only start hanging out with that other “profiling” crowd mentioned at the top of this post.

 www.TWWsells.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You. God Bless America and America’s Troops. “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]  Make today a GREAT Day!

Okay, before you buy it,

here’s what’s wrong

with our product!

     The smaller the business, the closer it gets to practicing transparent marketing.

     The farmer at his produce stand will tell you that the corn wasn’t picked today, or that the peaches are maxed and need to be consumed within 24 hours, or that the berries may be tart because they’re not quite in season.

     The bigger the business, the more money that’s paid out in fees for ad agencies and PR firms to cover up product and service faults with retouched photos and exaggerated claims. Always intentional? No, not always, and especially not always on the part of the hired creative guns because clients often keep bad news locked up and intentionally mislead their marketing people.

     What kinds of product and service faults? HA! Start with air!

     Soap companies pump air into their bars of soap to give them bulk and make consumers think they’re getting bigger amounts and better dollar value. Note how many more bars of corporate giant soap you go through compared to homemade soap. In the end, the big brand names full of air cost more.

     How about big brand ice cream? Pumped in air? Of course!

     They can fill the containers with less product and make more profit. Do you think consumers ever think about weighing their ice cream? Maybe we should. Guaranteed that volume doesn’t correspond to weight anywhere near as closely as with homemade ice cream (and don’t believe any stories about the big boys using lighter ingredients!).

     And you thought just car dealerships, banks, and hospitals had a lock on dishonest representations?

     How about beauty products? Dense creams used in many big name skin and hair care brands get watered down and sold as “Instant” formulas — as, for example, sprays instead of in jars —  using a fraction of the original thick ingredients from the jar version, and selling it at a higher price because now it’s “Instant.” Uh, that’s “Instant” as in instant profit rewards for adding the water.

     This could go on for a zillion blog posts, but I don’t pretend to be Ralph Nader or Consumer Reports. I’ve just experienced situations like these first-hand and have stories you wouldn’t believe about hot dogs, pickles, bacon, chicken, drugs, doctors, and all the electronic stuff that thrives on planned obsolescence. (And you needn’t go any further than the recording industry on that count!)

     The point is that none of us will ever live long enough to see totally honest transparent marketing (or leadership, for that matter), but the answer is NOT “if you can’t lick ’em, join ’em” because THAT is an evasive political response that’s routinely practiced by dishonest money-crazed government and big business, and WE are small business, right? (No, this is not a rallying cry!)

     We are 30 million strong in America. We are not all honest. We are not all willing to be forthright in our marketing, And we are not all beyond telling some white lies or committing errors of omission when they fit our purpose, but most small business owners are, I believe, basically honest about the products and services they represent and market.

     If you think you need to “pad” the wares you offer or the claims you make or the words that drive your marketing programs, perhaps you should consider re-evaluating where you’re headed with your business and where you see yourself going in life. If there’s not some genuine compatibility evident, you could be setting yourself up for disaster.       

 www.TWWsells.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You. God Bless America and America’s Troops. “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]  Make today a GREAT Day!

When it looks, tastes,

smells, feels, and 

sounds like garbage

 . . . guess what?

     Many people think advertising is the root of all evil. You’ve heard the complaints. They think advertising is at fault for fostering and nurturing societal problems. They wag their fingers at the TV and scold the announcers for having such low-life values. They bang their fists on desktops when they’re overrun with email spam. They poke their pens through newspaper ads that they find offensive.

     Sound at all familiar?

     But advertising is merely a reflection of society. Think of advertising as a mirror. That’s all it is. That’s all it’s ever been.

     The truly talented advertising creative and strategic planning people in this world all know that this is true. They don’t pretend to control anything. They don’t see themselves in the “agent of change ” roles that entrepreneurs play.

     They merely imagine ways to playback to society what’s going on in society.  

And we are living in angry times.

Not for the first time, and not for the last, but we are clearly not a nation of happy wall-to-wall campers right now!

     Our economy sucks and even as we continue to hear daily claims of recovery and promises of improvement, it continues to get worse.

     We have a catastrophic oil spill in our backyard that any halfwit entrepreneur or small business owner would have pounced on and resolved by now, but delays piled on top of delays and indecision added to incompetency and inexperience have pushed us into a corner. These accumulated screw-ups — like the floundering economy and accompanying empty promises — offer us no end in sight.

    Instead of solutions, we have brinkmanship, excuses, and rhetoric.

     Instead of action, we have talk.

     It’s coming from our President, from our Vice President, from our governors, from our U.S. and state senators, from our congressional representatives and state representatives. Nonaction and ineffective do-nothing conduct festers wherever politics lives.

     It is taking it seems forever, but we’re finally starting to see media people becoming disconcerted. They’re starting to realize that they are rapidly turning into the vocal minority . . . and that posture doesn’t sell newspapers, or generate paid advertising revenues.

     So the next time you hear someone complain that advertising that’s filled with innuendos of sex and violence and racism is causing the murders, drug deals, rapes and disrespect of others, tell that person to just look around at what’s going on between friends and neighbors and regions and nations and to think about not adding fuel to the fire.

     Society creates society’s problems — not advertising. When times get better, so will the advertising.

     And guess what? There are actually three things you can do about it:

1)  Don’t endorse, buy or encourage others to buy products or services that are promoted with questionable and bad-taste advertising. This includes tasteless Hollywood and video game productions.

2)  Clean up your own act. Get someone with extensive business experience, who truly understands the impact of words, to put an eagle eye to your marketing themes and messages –all of it — sales presentations, news releases, website pages, email promotions, ads, commercials, business plans, mission statements. Get that person to tweak what you’re using to make sure you’re representing to your market and customers and employees and communities what you want to be representing.

3)  Do something to help see that new leadership is given rise to better representation of small business interests. There are 30 million of us! If every small business does SOMEthing, anything, it will make a difference. America was built on and by small business, and will only right itself by relying on the innovative pursuits of small business. Step up to the plate before November.  

www.TWWsells.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You. God Bless America and our troops. “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]  Make today a GREAT Day!

What I am learning about

me right this minute is…?

     A scene from my new novel manuscript traces its roots to my professor years when I would challenge students 5-10 times per class to complete the blank ending to the statement: “What I am learning about myself right now is . . . ?”

     The repeated question and the answers, no matter what they are, or who offers them, achieve two primary objectives for human growth and development:

1) The question itself literally forces increased awareness of the present (here and now) moment, which is of course the only true reality, and

2) The answers force increased awareness of the self.

     “Why would I want to know more about me?” is a question often offered in response to the question. And the answer to that one is that the more each of us knows about ourselves and what it is that makes each of us “tick,” so to speak, the better equipped we are to more easily relate to and communicate with and understand others.

     In business, increased self-awareness translates to exceptional sales and exceptional customer service. In management, it is the cornerstone of true leadership. In life, it is the key to human authenticity.

     So, let’s backtrack here a minute . . . increased awareness of the present moment. Is there any other? Are not the past and future moments we tend to dwell on and worry about simply reservoirs of fantasy? They’re not here now.

If the moments are past, nothing can be done to change them.

Though memories can be educational and also soothing, when we reach the point of dwelling on them, we are pushing the emotionally unhealthy envelope of make-believe, and losing sight of what’s right in front of us.

If the moments haven’t come yet, they may never.

Expectations can be fun, but they also breed disappointment.

Planning is an important function for all humans, yet when we reach the point of worrying about what hasn’t yet come. we are pushing that emotionally unhealthy envelope of make-believe — also losing sight of what’s right in front of us.

     So there you have a gourmet serving of reasons to want to be learning as much about your self as you possibly can. When? As many waking moments of your day-to-day existence as you can muster. The financial, emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual ROI (Return On Investment, for our non-business-minded visitors) can be astronomical.

     You needn’t look far for great achievers in every walk of life who have strongly endorsed or who presently do underscore this thinking. Will you? What does it take for you to make the choice to open this focus? What are you learning about yourself right this minute?     

302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT Day for someone!

Your business may

be your life, but your

life is not a business!

     Entrepreneur, right? So what does it take to jolt your brain out of that innovative thinking tunnel long enough to appreciate and enjoy some of the real-life reasons you exist on this planet to begin with? (Clue: This is not a Red Bull chug-a-lug contest idea!)

     Will a family birth deliver enough power surge to give you a wake-up call? Not enough? How about a couple of funerals? Maybe a fender bender or stepping in your neighbor’s Saint Bernard’s leavings when you’re running late and rushing to an important meeting? A nasty bill collector pounding on your door?

     Stop for a minute. You’ve read this far looking for some kind of answer or provocation or support or or assessment tool, but maybe you need to consider asking yourself more questions before you start looking for answers?

     When, for example, did you last stop to smell the roses? Literally. Be honest here; no one else is looking. When did you last interrupt your compulsive workday habits to sniff?

     When did you last push the paperwork aside to give your complete attention to a troubled associate, employee, supplier, or customer? Did it make you crazy to have to shift gears out of your head space and into someone else’s?

     After all, life is just a bowl of worries, you might think, so why get caught up in other people’s bowls? 

     When you make yourself too busy to socialize or too busy to deal with priorities, inventory your actions to make sure you’re not just doing tasks of avoidance. Do you find the expression, “Yes, but . . .” (or the sentiments it represents) creeping into more and more of your answers. Are your responses to questions starting to sound more like reactions, or excuses?

     If you can respond instead of react, you can never over-react!

     Are you breathing? Click here for the free 60-second exercise

     Your business may occupy most of your waking hours (and probably some dream time too!), but neglecting your health — eating, drinking, sleeping, and exercise habits — and neglecting your family and friends and neighbors and community, is not a good trade-off (unless of course you’re bucking to be the object of one of those funerals mentioned earlier)!

     The better you are at business, the more focused you are on your business, the more rewarding your business efforts, the greater the odds that you are setting a trap for yourself to start to think your life is also a business, or is part of your business pursuits. You will start making excuses to yourself about why you need to stay on the job, to the point of being a crispy, well-done burn-out.

     You may start to look on life, and manage and operate it as if it were a business. This is clearly not a healthy place for anyone to be. Breaks are more than pulling yourself away from the desk or workspace. Breaks are rests for your brain that are like investments, and that will pay back with ever increased energy, productivity, and innovativeness when you return to your career pursuits.

     You need ’em. Take ’em! If you can’t do it, get some professional help . . . no excuses.

# # #

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Hal@Businessworks.US or 302.933.0116

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals. God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

Are you driven,

or just driving?

     Next time you slide in behind the wheel, think about how many similarities there are between operating a motor vehicle and running your business. Why? Because it will give you a new or renewed perspective on many if not most of the things you do every day, and shed some new light on old issues that may be clogging up your business works.

     Most of us tend most of the time to ignore business clog-ups, thinking they’ll just go away (or not thinking about them at all), but — like any plumbing problem — things unfortunately have a way of coming to the surface at the least inopportune moments.

     This is not to suggest that your business should be preventive maintenance-driven (unless you’re a doctor, lawyer, accountant or mechanic) because giving that kind of mindset your priority wouldn’t leave much room for fueling up on innovative thinking. But, much like a periodic tune-up for your car, you may want to do a little service work on your business. So, try this . . .

     What does your car have in common with your business when it comes to you exercising control? How much do you really have? What’s controlled by others? Who? What? When? Where? How? Why? Does that work for you? Does it work for your business?

     What is and isn’t safe about operating your car as opposed to operating your business? What is and isn’t productive? Economical? What is and isn’t a good direction for you to take? What laws and circumstances confound, delay and punish you? How often do you need to fuel up? Do you use economy or high-performance ingredients? Attitudes?

     How much baggage and how many passengers can you comfortably carry over what distances? How frequently do you need to detour from the routes you planned? In getting your driving and business missions accomplished, how dependent are you on mechanical and computerized functions? How adept are you at handling inevitable glitches? Are you dependent on others for this? How so?

     How dependent are you — driving your car and driving your business — on your instincts, intuition, experience, training, knowledge, observations, communication skills? How easily distracted are you –driving your car and driving your business — by outside influences (everything from sirens, cell phones, traffic patterns, B to B services, social media, industry trade and community activities, to weather reports, headline news, sports scores and issues, and tire rotations)?

     How much are you willing to pay to be able to pursue certain directions in the driver’s seat of both your business and your car?

     If you just scan these questions and answer only a couple, odds are pretty good that prompting some quick assessment thinking on your part will pay back your periodic time investments for giving yourself check-ups and arranging occasional servicing.

     Bottom line: Your car? Change the oil every couple of thousand miles; drop it off for regular servicing and keep aware of performance and tire pressure issues. Your business? Change the routine every couple of months; hold regular weekly “how goes it?” status meetings (Mondays better than Fridays); hire occasional consultants to bring fresh perspectives to your doorstep a few times a year. Keep aware of performance and pressure issues.    

www.TWWsells.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless:  You, America, and Our Troops. “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]  Make today a GREAT Day!

Once you’ve gathered it,

what do you do with it?

     We’ve all experienced it, some more than others. Leaders, campaigns, competitors, gamblers, teams, and combatants “get on a roll.” 

     Webster’s defines it as “strength or force gained by motion or through the development of events.” The Flip Dictionary says it’s “drive, energy, force, impetus, motion, thrust, tide, velocity.” Roget’s Thesaurus adds “push, drive, impulse, go, and speed” to the list.

     As a human attribute, it can be here one minute, and gone the next . . . it’s all about MOMENTUM.

     One baseball team gets two runs and goes ahead, gaining momentum in the game, but the next two batters strike out and the third out is made by an amazing outfield catch. BOING! Momentum shifts.

     Momentum untangles a sales pro from an ordinary day and throws her into the control seat of a speeding locomotive.

     Like a giant hand gently pressing your spine forward, momentum is a psychological phenomenon that produces surges of self-confidence-boosting thoughts and behaviors.

     No one goes home at 10am after making a big sale at 9am. That’s when he trots off instead to see all the non-committal hanger-on prospects, that’s when the sales lead generation task becomes challenging and inviting.

     Those are the moments of “Well, let’s not stop here; now I’m on a role; lemme into that pipeline! Now’s the time to go get those other sales that I’ve been dragging my feet on.”

     Business leaders of every description thrive on momentum. When everyone in a department “clicks” and the workload is happily and productively dispensed with, leaving time for a celebratory water cooler or snack room gathering, that’s momentum in action.

     The funny part is that the same thoughts and actions that serve to gather momentum also work to sustain it.

     Making conscious choices to do whatever it takes to make things work to your favor, and then making those choices again and again and again and again throughout the hour, and the day, and the week, and the month…is all the magic you need. Even in sales.

     I know, I know, sales –that is, selling– is a multi-faceted, job function that demands more than attitude. Or does it?

     Sure, your appearance and product/service know-ledge, promptness, a genuine smile and handshake, a couple of attractive “deals” up your sleeve, and a strong listening skill-set are all critical ingredients, but the attitude you choose to practice dictates how well those multi-facets perform!

     And what’s this to do with leadership? Sales and selling are just part of the business. Perhaps, but every business needs every person in the business to be selling all the time, every day.

     Selling needs to be as much the responsibility of the owner and the operations head and the financial head and the IT head as all the other functions they perform. Even in big business.

     Talk to yourself. Tell yourself you won’t settle for sedentary status quo hours and days and weeks. Remind yourself that you’ve got what it takes and that it’s all inside your head.

     No one else and no event can control what you think. What you think and how you act are 100% your choice. Choose success and productivity and keep choosing it.   

www.TWWsells.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless:  You, America, and Our Troops. “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]  Make today a GREAT Day!

Two Simple Examples:

“Do!” vs. “Say!” and

“How?” vs. “Why?”

     I’ll never forget the lesson I learned many years ago as a young college professor when I tried using a Gestalt Therapy “Empty Chair Role-Playing” technique with a disgruntled student in a business career development classroom.

     I used the wrong word. The angry student nearly injured at least two or three other students because I said “do” instead of “say.” 

     Facing an empty wooden chair I placed in front of him, I draped my jacket over the back and asked Tony, who was extremely annoyed with his boss, what he would do if his boss was in that jacket sitting in that chair facing him right now.

     Tony strode defiantly toward the empty chair, picked it up and flung it full force over the six rows of floor-divers and ducking heads, smashing it to smithereens against the back wall. Lucky for him (and for me) that no one was hurt.

     You’re the boss, right? Ask any employee WHY she or he was late to work or an appointment or meeting. What’s the response? Ask WHY some operational function broke down or WHY your best customer account had been gradually cutting back their orders while increasing competitive purchases. What are the responses you get?

     The word, “Why?” is a request for reasons. It is a set up for anyone to respond with excuses. Asking “Why?” will never solve a problem.

     The most current example of how this word mix-up fails, comes from a befuddled White House asking why the catastrophic Philadelphia train derailment happened, instead of taking a genuine leadership position and asking “HOW?” . . . “HOW can we fix it?” would certainly have been a better approach and accomplished more. Corrective actions speak louder than analytical investigations. 

     Yes, of course there’s a bit more to this last example. It would seem to most businesspeople rather inconceivable that anything as potentially disastrous as a derailment by a government-run railroad that resulted in at least 7 deaths and hundreds of injuries could be ignored for half a day, and even then, still be preoccupied with where to place blame instead of how to solve the problem.

     So, yes, timing is a critical ingredient in word choice, but difficulties often start and end with the exact words selected and used. Before you might jump to conclusions about some issue in your workspace, you may want to respond prudently instead of react in ways that simply make the situation worse.

     Pause long enough before speaking to consider how the recipient(s) might perceive the words you choose, as well as the integrity of your timing.

     These examples and this discussion are not far-fetched by any means. Imagine such vast differences (as between “do” and “say” or “how?” and “why?”) in word choices you use — or overlook or let slide —  in your advertising, marketing, promotion, public relations, customer service, sales presentation.

     Was it your grandfather who said “think first and speak second”?

   # # #

931,854,0474       Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You. 

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Tonight’s blog post is dedicated to my friend Ernst Dannemann who died yesterday as he approached his 89th birthday.

I have been fully absorbed in writing Ernst’s memoir for the past year, and finished the text just a couple of weeks ago. A truly remarkable man I admire and respect, Ernst arrived –out from under Hitler– in NY Harbor at age 15 (with minimal English), graduated high school and signed into the Army in response to Pearl Harbor, became a decorated soldier and a U.S. Citizen, courted a Holocaust survivor for 60 days and ended up married to her for 60 years, started as a chicken farmer and built a highly successful 6-state retail fabric chain.

Ernst worked his way up to be trusted advisor to 6 governors, close friend to a U.S. President and contenders, and a U.S. Vice President and contenders, as well as many nationally prominent senators and congressional leaders.

For his volunteer work and his Brotherhood Award from The National Conference of Christians and Jews, Ernst won the highest honor given to a civilian in the State of Delaware. Many will miss him dearly. He was a true gentleman as well as a great father, grandfather and great grandfather in every sense of these words and titles. . . and, I believe, Ernst, though never a Scout, could have easily been the poster boy for the 12 principles embodied in the “Boy Scout Law”:

A Scout is trustworthy, 

loyal, helpful,

friendly, courteous, 

kind, obedient, 

cheerful, thrifty,

brave, clean, and

reverent. 

     Okay, so put aside everything you know for a minute and evaluate your business performance as it measures up against what we should have learned as Boy Scouts (or, sorry, Girl Scouts, but I don’t know their “Law”). Can you 1-10-rate yourself and your business performance against each of these twelve points and come away with a hundred points?

     Can you figure out your strengths and weaknesses in matching or not matching each of these qualities. Does your customer service mission sound anything like this? Do you have employee policies, written or simply understood, that come anywhere close to the elevated level of these twelve behavioral traits?

     Where are you short? How can you bolster that up? What steps can you take tomorrow morning to boost even one of these and make it a shining star for your business? What’s preventing that? Is it attitude? Is it what others think? Is it too hard or time-consuming? Is it just something you feel you’re stuck with? Are you remembering that behavior is a choice?

     Are you remembering that you can choose to make these values ring throughout your business everyday and that all you have to do is decide to do it and keep deciding to do it, over and over? Hmmm? Imagine. Imagine what else we can learn from our youth that can work for our business growth now? Maybe it’s worth visiting a local troop meeting to learn some leadership skills long forgotten? 

www.TWWsells.com or 302.933.0116 or Ha@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God bless you. God bless America and our troops. “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]  Make today a GREAT Day!

Does your marketing

Snap, Crackle and Pop?

     Do the words you’re using for your marketing pieces and programs toss off enough zing and sizzle to get through the clutter?

     Are you using the right words in the right ways? In other words, HOW you say what you say is at least as important as WHAT you say!

     Canadian educator/philosopher/futurist Marshall McLuhan, considered the first father and leading prophet of the electronic age, taunted us 50 years ago with his proclamation “The Medium is the Message!” Certainly there is no greater proof of that today than the Internet. Considering how visual the medium is, it’s astonishing that words stand alone as king of Internet sales.

     Or do they?

     If your homepage is still using lame old words like “Welcome to” and “Now introducing” and “Announcing” and “Therefore” and “However,” your Internet efforts are not king of much worth talking about; you might need to chat with some teenagers.

     You definitely need to throw down your walker and start listening to what the world’s most successful marketers are saying: NOTHING RUNS LIKE A DEERE and I’M LOVIN’ IT are about as close to self-talk back-pats as you’ll find.

     Take this YES/NO Test . . .

• What are your marketing messages all about? Are they busily pounding chest with repetitive references that use THE 6 KILLER WORDS: I/me/my/us/we/our?  (Instead of focusing on “you” and “your”?) ___YES ___NO
• Do your ads, brochures, web pages, on-hold phone messages, news releases and direct mail beat the drums with braggadocio about “how great we are”? ___YES ___NO 
• Is the message emphasis on how much we can do for you, why / how we earn our reputation, how reliable (trustworthy / attentive / respectful / courteous) our exceptionally trained and experienced professional people are? ___YES ___NO

     If you answered “YES” to any of the above, your website and the rest of your marketing program are positively not working for you in a way that’s even close to achieving your potential. In fact, they are likely to be working against you!

     Unfortunately for most business owners, this whole world of promotional text and copywriting, website content, branding, slogans, jingles, public relations news releases, mission and vision statements, ebooks and feature articles, might as well be the makings of another Harry Potter book . . . Cauldrons of Text Turmoil perhaps? 

     So what’s the answer? How can you give your business a “Snap, Crackle, Pop” dose of Rice Krispies to make more of what you already have, and to keep costs within reason? Start with using AIDAS as your yardstick. Do your marketing words attract Attention? Do they create Interest? Stimulate Desire? Bring about Action? Deliver Satisfaction?

     Where are they weakest? Now you have the groundwork for maximizing the creative development time and energy of an experienced, qualified business writer. Spell out what you need, and agree to terms. This is MUCH smarter than hiring and giving free rein to a marketing, PR or ad agency/group who will feed you many unnecessary and expensive steps to (maybe) get to the same ends.

     The medium IS the message. Don’t let service providers run you around in circles to discover the truth of it!

# # #

  302.933.0116   Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You. 

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!