Making people and ideas findable
Do It Well Or Do Nothing!
A. If you used Microsoft Publisher to design your brochure or sales piece.
B. You have placed a 13 page book on an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper
C. You have written a page about YOURSELF and your company and placed it in your sales brochure.
There are many, many other things that make marketing material worthless. Seth Godin has a great example of crappy design and marketing in his blog Silence is a Virtue. He makes the point that sometimes silence is better than creating something that makes you look cheap and amateur. In the world of marketing and authentic communication between client and company, sometimes it is better to be quiet than handing out worthless marketing material to the masses.
Quit kidding yourself. We know you didn't spend ANY money on it. You designed it yourself. You wrote the copy yourself and it is terrible.
There are plenty of companies out there who do great marketing. Find one.
1. Make sure you can afford the cost of the professional creating your marketing pieces. Truly afford the cost of marketing material. If you can't justify the cost, the last thing you need to do is sit down at word or publisher and create one yourself.
2. Hire a professional. Unless you are Seth Godin, in that case you can pay yourself untold amounts of wealth. Seth Godin
8 Comments
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Comment by Kyle Lacy on June 25, 2008 at 3:03pm - Amen to that Don. I completely agree that making things pretty do not help. It is really a step by step process. You need the story (Made to Stick) and then you need the professional FLAVA
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Comment by Heather Lapham Kuhn on June 25, 2008 at 3:04pm - Here, here! Well said. Hopefully you will inspire some to seek professional assistance! :)
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Comment by Theresia Whitfield on June 25, 2008 at 6:16pm -
Wow! Those poor monkeys. Someone should do something about that!!
Seriously though... as a writer, I constantly face the challenge of those who think, "Oh, I can draw stick people and I passed English in 8th grade with a D, so I can handle the design and the copy." Sure.
And ditto to Don's comments about it looking pretty. You can make it as visually appealing as possible but if it doesn't say the right thing, then you should simply pass out a white canvas; you'll have just as much success.
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Comment by Lorraine Ball on June 25, 2008 at 6:58pm - And the right thing should begin with your customer's needs in mind. What is keeping them up at night, how do you solve the problem, and only after you have answered the first two questions, do you earn the right to talk about you!
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Comment by Kyle Lacy on June 25, 2008 at 7:29pm
- Absolutely. Great thoughts everyone!
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Comment by Patric Welch on June 25, 2008 at 7:48pm - Kyle, I sense an angry tone to your writing. Did you get sprayed with ice water when you were a kid?
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Comment by Kyle Lacy on June 25, 2008 at 7:51pm
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Actually....
anyone know of a psychiatrist?
I need a good one.
That just opened up the black hole.
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© 2008 Created by Pat Coyle
I'm sure you've heard the monkey story but here it is again, in case anyone missed it.
Put eight monkeys in a room. In the middle of the room is a ladder, leading to a bunch of bananas hanging from a hook on the ceiling.
Each time a monkeytries to climb the ladder, all the other monkeys are sprayed with ice water, which makes them miserable.
Soon enough, whenever a monkey attempts to climb the ladder, all of the other monkeys, not wanting to be sprayed, set upon him and beat him up. Soon, none of the eight monkeys ever attempts to climb the ladder.
One of the original monkeys is then removed, and a new monkey is put in the room. Seeing the bananas and the ladder, he wonders why none of the other monkeys are doing the obvious, but, undaunted, he immediately begins to climb the ladder. All the other monkeys fall upon him and beat him silly. He has no idea why.
However, he no longer attempts to climb the ladder. A second original monkey is removed and replaced. The newcomer again attempts to climb the ladder, but all the other monkeys hammer the crap out of him. This includes the previous new monkey, who, grateful that
he's not on the receiving end this time, participates in the beating because all the other monkeys are doing it. However, he has no idea why he's attacking the new monkey.
One by one, all the original monkeys are replaced. Eight new monkeys are now in the room. None of them have ever been sprayed by ice water. None of them attempt to climb the ladder. All of them will enthusiastically beat up any new monkey who tries, without having any idea why.
This is why companies make brochures and other worthless marketing material. If you prove that it works, then it can stay. If it doesn't, then stop doing it. No one is going to spray you with ice water.