Vision...

I've worn glasses since I was three.

I rarely even realize I'm wearing them.

Until recently.

I'm getting to be "that age". Now, when reading, I find myself looking around my glasses.

It's time to consider either separate reading glasses -- or (gasp) bifocals.

It's not the learning curve of bifocals. It's pride. I want to hold out on getting "old".

With today's technology, no one would ever know. But I would.

The same thing sometimes happens in marketing.

We'd rather not see changes, so we resist admitting to them.

But things change. Customers. Products. Marketing. Media.

Just as I am being foolish looking under my glasses than getting a working pair, marketers can be equally foolish by not changing with the times.

Takeaway: Times change. Are you?

What Was It...?

I'm swamped this week.

So, instead of an object lesson, I have a history lesson.

Here's a famous 1958 McGraw-Hill ad...



















It reads:

“I don’t know who you are.
I don’t know your company.
I don’t know your company’s product.
I don’t know what your company stands for.
I don’t know your company’s customers.
I don’t know your company’s record.
I don’t know your company’s reputation.
Now — what was it you wanted to sell me?”

MORAL: Sales start BEFORE your salesman calls.

Takeaway: As true today as it was in 1958 -- advertising pays.

[By the way, see the next ad in my direct mail series...]

Ground Crew...

My marketing tip last week hit a raw nerve.

My point was: putting your advertising in a holding pattern because of the recession is dangerous -- if a plane circles too long it will run out of gas.

Let's look at that more this week...

One reader pointed out the impact on others: "Take too long to land and the ground crew may go home. And who wants to land at an abandoned airport?"

Another angle was: The media people can only spend what they have: "Buy from us, so we can buy from them so they can buy from you."

Another: Why does a retailer that doesn't advertise always advertise their going out of business sale? (How about a "Going Out FOR Business" sale?)

And finally: Advertising is on sale today. Stock up.

Takeaway: The longer you wait to resume ad spending, the greater the potential long term damages.

Holding Pattern...

My office is a few miles from O'Hare Airport.

PJ loves it. I do, too. It’s fun driving past the airport watching the long line of planes queued up in the sky waiting to land. (It looks like a huge connect-the-dot puzzle.) When landing planes come so close you almost want to duck.

Exciting to watch things happening from the ground. Not so exciting if you're on a plane in a holding pattern.

And that seems to describe advertising today: in a holding pattern.

Jeff from New Equipment Digest used that plane analogy a while back. Then he took it a step further...

"If you stay in a holding pattern too long, eventually you run out of gas," he said.

Brilliant!

Many marketers have slashed ad spending -- waiting for the recession to end. But the less they advertise, the less they sell. So, is less spending the solution? Or is it perpetuating the length and depth of this recession?

In fact, I'm so convinced advertising can change things that I'm launching an aggressive, targeted direct mail campaign for Sasso Marketing. [Here’s the first mailer in the series…)

Why not join me? Maybe if we all spend a little more on advertising we can make the economic recovery really take off.

Look around you: great ad deals are everywhere. Take advantage of one.

Takeaway: Advertising fuels sales. So, what happens when you run out of fuel?