Wizard of Ads Clay Campbell

NO DELUSIONS

Imagine No Delusions

We Baby Boomers had beautiful dreams back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, but we didn't do much about them. It was enough back in those days just to "Visualize World Peace" and sing wistfully about a brighter tomorrow. Remember John Lennon's song, Imagine?

Imagine no possessions.
I wonder if you can.
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man.
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer,
but I'm not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.

But dreaming didn't change the world. We don't all live in a yellow submarine.

Those who have heard me explain Society's 40-year Pendulum will recall my conviction that we're in the third year of a new generational cycle that will be remembered for its small-but-effective actions rather than its grand-but-impotent dreams. This new worldview is clearly communicated in the recent movie, Batman Begins, when Bruce Wayne's childhood friend says to him, "It's not who you are inside, but what you do that defines you."

Two weeks ago I made my famous Pendulum presentation to the good folks of Procter and Gamble at their world headquarters in Cincinnati. They loved it; said it explained a lot of weird phenomena they're seeing. Last week I presented it to the senior execs of Clear Channel Communications. They, too, were deeply moved. I'll be doing it one more time on October 15 at the Wizard Academy Reunion and Open House in Austin. Are you coming?

Remember what I'm about to tell you: 2006 and 2007 will be years in which the world of advertising changes in tumultuous ways. You can ride these waves of change to the far horizon or you can attempt to tread water, stay where you are, and fight the undertow. I'll be talking about these coming changes on October 15 as well.

Free the Beagle.

Roy H. Williams

GREAT NEWS: How to Write Powerfully and Clearly is a new, 12-week, online course at Wizard Academy in which a dozen of your individual homework assignments will receive detailed, personal feedback. You'll be sent a textbook, be given specific reading assignments, and have weekly deadlines in which to complete your work. Upon graduation, you'll be able to write cleaner, tighter, punchier ads, memos, news stories and sermons. Class sizes are limited. The first will begin in October. I'd sign up today if I were you.

Note to the Cognoscenti – Dr. Jerre Levy of MIT has an interesting theory that the left brain maps spatial information into a temporal order, while the right brain maps temporal information onto a spatial order. "Understanding" largely consists in the translation of information between the temporal ordering and the spatial one - resulting in a sort of stereoscopic depth-cognition. The superiority of the right brain in emotional matters reflects the fact that emotions, like music, are temporal in nature and their articulation requires the temporal-on-spatial mapping that is the specialty of the right. To put it succinctly, Space is mapped in Time in the left brain. Time is mapped in Space in the Right. If you recall your Magical Worlds session on dimensional realities, her theory makes perfect sense. Aroo! Arooo-Arooooo! - RHW

How to Develop Above Average Advertising

Clay Sez,

Much has been written on the topic of advertising and the people who need it most are small business owners. Most of them won't take the time to read it though, because they are too busy trying to make a living, worrying with employees, people stealing stuff, government intrusion, taxes, employee benefits, insurance on everything, irate customers, and keep their business from going backwards or worse yet …going broke.

There are a few business owners though who are very happy with the return on their advertising dollars and know what is working for them but they are rare. The national average is only 10% who are satisfied! So about 90% of the small business owners in America get up early, try to make a living for their families, they work late, they try to figure things out, what works and what doesn’t, in most areas of they do pretty well, but in the area of marketing and advertising their business they just can’t seem to figure it out. That’s because it is hard to read the label when you’re on the inside of the bottle.
Most of my Wizard Partners have BLOGS dealing with the subject of advertising and have tons of great information on them. The majority of small business owners won’t go to the trouble to find them and read them either: they’re just too busy! In the past several years I have read everything I could get my hands on, taken every course available, and practiced and used my own business as a “guinea pig” to improve my skills and become an expert on advertising. As a result our business has grow about 285% in the last five years. To check that business out go to
www.kentuckyopry.com
I believe some advertising out there today, for small businesses is below average, doesn’t work at all, and was a waste of the business owner’s money. A good portion of advertising today is average at best, will get mediocre results, and the business will get some kind of a modest return. Then there a very few businesses that get tremendous results from their advertising and their businesses are growing at a good healthy rate every year.
Here are a few suggestions to start you on your way to Above Average Advertising:

# 1 Sign up for Roy Williams Monday Morning Memo. It's Free!
Go to www.wizardofads.com

# 2 read the book Wizard of Ads.
There is a condensed “Readers Digest” version, which is a compilation of all three of the Wizard books. Wizard Partner Craig Author from Australia wrote it and calls it Making Ads Work.

#. 3 A great book that just came out in 2004: Fishing for Customers and Reeling Them In by Chuck McKay

# 4 there is a great book about low cost, or free ways to promote your business. It's called Gorilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson. You can get a copy on ebay or get it from any bookstore.

# 5 If you haven't done so already, start an email mailing list Newsletter to your core customer base. Try to get every customer to give you his or her email or US Mail address. A great way to do that is by offering a helpful newsletter that THEY would enjoy reading.
Write in the Newsletter about things that would be helpful or insightful to your customer and keep it short and to the point. For instance If you have a consignment clothing store you could write about how to save money by purchasing nice used clothing for one's family. Gather a few emails or addresses each week. Give good honest, helpful, free, advice in it each month. Become an expert on buying used clothes, wearing them, then reselling them again…. many people, including my wife and I, would appreciate getting that kind of helpful newsletter. In your newsletter help the consumer to solve some problem they might have and they will love you for it. It is very likely they will tell everyone they know about you.

If you’re an accountant build your business by sending your newsletter out with tips on ways to save money on taxes, ways you could keep better records. Perhaps answer a couple of the most commonly asked questions of an accountant.

If you have an auto repair shop you could tell about things to do to keep your car in good repair and avoid needless stress and grief by have regularly scheduled maintenance done.

If you are a dentist tell about ways to take care of your teeth so you can avoid costly and time-consuming trips to the dentist and orthodontist.

You get the idea.
More Later
Clay