By Roy H. Williams, Craig Arthur, Michele Miller, Dave Young, Tom Wanek, & The Wizard Partners
Editor: Craig Arthur (Wizard of Ads Australia)
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Nov 23, 2009 By Tom Wanek
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Nov 22, 2009 “Advertising isn’t a science. It’s persuasion. And persuasion is an art.” - William Bernbach
William Bernbach, persuasion | in Advertising, Words of Wizardom Nov 21, 2009 It is easy to make a promise. But do you consistently deliver on all you promise?
It is easy to write glowing ads about your business. But are your ads based on reality or fiction?
“It seems that most business owners want to control the customer relationship. But this controlling behavior breeds the habitual corporate-speak of hype and chest-thumping clichés that consumers have come to loathe and reject.
(When it comes to currencies that buy credibility)… the more you risk, the more believable your message becomes.
Your credibility investment must reinforce your message. And you won’t be able to purchase credibility unless you stay true to yourself. In other words, if your business can’t support what you’re signaling, then don’t send that particular signal. Redirect your resources.” - Tom Wanek being interviewed by Jeff Sexton.
Read the full interview by Jeff Sexton… Tom Wanek Questions For Currencies That Buy Credibility
Nov 20, 2009 “You can issue all the memos and give all the motivational speeches you want, but if the rest of the people in your organization don’t see you putting forth your best effort every single day, they won’t either.” - Colin Powell
Colin Powell | in Change, Character, Words of Wizardom Nov 20, 2009 “But do you know why she’s so famous? It’s because she always says hello or good morning, and she always says goodbye and thank you. It’s simple stuff, really. But if we could get all our employees to do that, think how people would be talking.” - Patrick Campbell of Bewley’s Grafton Street Café, talking about an employee who has been with the company for 50 years. From the book, The Myth of Excellence by Fred Crawford & Ryan Mathews
Nov 19, 2009 The Personal Experience your customers have with your business determines if they will return.
Are you losing business because of dirty toilets, gossiping staff members, stale odors, unclean carpets, peeling paint work, and unkempt car parks?
Unfortunately as a business owner you become too close to your business premises. You don’t see the place as do your customers.
To give you a hand Wizard Partner Dave Young will help you look at your business through 5 different lenses, or senses.
Here is an excerpt from Dave’s article, Sniffing for Market Share.
Sight - Look at color schemes, newness and condition of things like carpet, paint, ceiling tiles.
Touch - What is the tactile environment like? Are the carpets plush, the surfaces of countertops clean, the bathrooms spotless?
Smell - What are the odors wafting through the air in your competitor’s shops?
Taste - You don’t have to be in the restaurant business to delight people with something tasty. Spend a couple of hundred bucks on a Nespresso 1-cup gourmet coffee maker and see what happens!
Hearing - Close your eyes and make mental notes about what you hear going on around you in your business and your competitors’. Do you hear office staff gossiping on the phone or using bad language?
COMPARE - After you have notes on all 5 senses, you can easily rank your competitors according to how well they do on each sense. Then, look for ways to improve your own place.
Would you like the worksheet?
Subscribe to my newsletter list (Top right navigation bar) and I’ll email you a handy PDF worksheet that you can print out to use for your own sniffy-tasty-feely-sparkling-earcandy research project. Be sure to let me know how it works for you!
Read Dave’s full article… Sniffing for Market Share.
Dave Young, PEF | in Customer Experience, Marketing, The Customer Nov 18, 2009 “Always help the other person get rich.” - Alan Weiss
At Wizard of Ads we agree with that philosophy wholeheartedly.
By helping our clients grow and make more money, we do nicely too.
Focus all your attention on helping your Client / Customer / Patient / Visitor get what they want.
In turn, you will do nicely too.
Are you doing that now?
You should be.
Alan Weiss | in Character, Customer Experience, Strategy, The Customer, Words of Wizardom Nov 17, 2009 Feed back from clients both positive and negative should always be welcomed.
Today I received this from one of my clients…
From: The Tint Professor
Subject: RE: Radio
Date: 17 November 2009 7:33:19 AM AEST
To: Craig Arthur <craigarthur@wizardpartners.com.au>
Thanks, that 077 is a great ad and needs to run over Summer as we are booking 1-2 weeks out now!!! Great ad explains it perfectly, well done.
People tell me all the time your ads are great……………….l wish l could take the credit!!!!
Regards
Ric
It is good to get the feedback, “People tell me all the time your ads are great.”
But it is, “we are booking 1-2 weeks out now!!!” is what determines a great ad.
When you consider my client has 9 tint shops, open 6 days a week, and has the capacity to do 105 car window tints a day… 1-2 weeks of bookings is awesome.
A great ad is simply a by-product of a thorough Uncovery. From the Uncovery flows the strategy, and the message that is relevant to potential customers. Writing the ad is then the easy bit.
Do you need ads that make your cash register ring?
Tint Professor | in Advertising, Strategy, Wizard Partners Nov 16, 2009 Tom Hennen has a line in his poem, The Life of a Day, that says,
“We examine each day before us with barely a glance and say, ‘no, this isn’t one I’ve been looking for,’ and wait in a bored sort of way for the next, when we are convinced, our lives will start for real.”
That line is a little bit frightening because you read it and realize you’re guilty. You’ve been waiting for that day when your life will start “for real.”
The trouble with life is that it’s just so daily.
I share this with you because I’ve been thinking about my two grandfathers who are dead and my father who is likewise and I’ve come to the obvious conclusion:
Live while you have the chance.
“Papa was a rolling stone. Wherever he laid his hat was his home…”
- The Temptations, 1971
In the final moments of his life, my father scribbled a note for me to find. In barely legible pencil he scrawled, “All the little things in life add up to your life. If you don’t get it right then nothing else matters. It gets lonely in the promised land by yourself.”
My Dad died lonely,
Roy H. Williams | in Change, Character, Words of Wizardom Nov 16, 2009 “The planting of seed seems an unproductive thing to him who has done nothing but harvest.”
- Roy H. Williams, speaking of the difference between branding and direct response marketing
Roy H. Williams | in Advertising, Marketing, Words of Wizardom 
