Seth's Blog : A simple way to look at effective advertising in a digital age

 

A simple way to look at effective advertising in a digital age

Would you miss it if it weren't there?

Vogue magazine regularly runs more than 600 pages in length. And that's fine, because it's worth more with the ads than without them.

On the other hand, if the ads disappeared from Twitter, would the service be better or worse?

Media companies of the future will be built on ads we want to see, ads we'd miss if they were gone.

[And yes, I mean your fundraising newsletter and your Facebook updates, and I mean the announcements on the speaker at the airport and the robocalls too.]

       

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• Symptoms and diseases
• Feeling the heat
• Smaller and smaller
• But the Beatles were out of tune
• Producers and consumers

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Seth's Blog : Symptoms and diseases

 

Symptoms and diseases

A fever is a symptom. There's an underlying disease that causes it. Giving you a fever (sitting in a sauna) doesn't make you sick, and getting rid of the fever (in a cold bath, for example) doesn't always get rid of the illness. 

The New York Times bestseller list used to be a symptom, the symptom that a book was really popular. Now, it’s so easy to game and fake that some people have confused themselves into thinking that being on the list can actually cause your book to be popular.

It’s easy to be fooled into paying a lot to hire a salesperson who is leaving a fast-growing company. After all, it seems like hot-shot gifted salespeople are often the cause of a company growing fast. In fact, we often see that a fast-growing company seems to produce hot-shot salespeople (or programmers or whatever).

Does the really buzzy launch party make the movie good, or does a good movie get a better party?

Sometimes cause and effect can be flipped (enthusiastic people can become happy, or happy people become enthusiastic) but it’s often worth keeping track of which part of the process you’re trying to invest in and which part you're working to create.

Spending time and money gaming symptoms and effects is common and urgent, but it's often true that you'd be better off focusing on the disease (the cause) instead.

       

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• Feeling the heat
• Smaller and smaller
• But the Beatles were out of tune
• Producers and consumers
• What everyone reads

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Seth's Blog : Feeling the heat

 

Feeling the heat

When things get dicey, we notice that some people are feeling the heat. Others are just fine, doing their work, unfazed by the situation.

The thing is, it's not the heat that's actually the issue. It's the feeling.

How you process what's happening is up to us, isn't it?

       

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• Smaller and smaller
• But the Beatles were out of tune
• Producers and consumers
• What everyone reads
• What are you seeking at work?

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Seth's Blog : Smaller and smaller

 

Smaller and smaller

For a long time, Australians thought of themselves as living on the edge of the Earth, a long haul from markets, from industries and from colleagues.

Today, of course, Australia is precisely in the middle.

That's because the world keeps getting smaller and ideas and connection are the currencies that matter, not atoms or molecules.

Consider this new campaign for really comfortable handmade shoes from Lahore. Lahore as in Pakistan. Handmade leather shoes are a click away, regardless of where they were made, but you might choose these. 

There will always be two ends of the market. There's the race to the bottom, based on efficiency at all costs, that says, "we have what they have, but cheaper." The problem with the race to the bottom is that you might win.

The other end is for items that we want, regardless of how far away they come from, because the ideas they embody are worth seeking out.

If you're in the idea business, it doesn't matter where you're from. It matters if we care about the change you're making.

       

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• But the Beatles were out of tune
• Producers and consumers
• What everyone reads
• What are you seeking at work?
• Two elements of an apology

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Seth's Blog : But the Beatles were out of tune

 

But the Beatles were out of tune

The pedant (that's what we call someone who is pedantic, a picker of nits, eager to find the little thing that's wrong or out of place) is afraid.

He's afraid and he's projecting his fear on you, the person who did something, who shipped something, who stood up and said, "here, I made this."

Without a doubt, when the Beatles played Shea Stadium, Paul was a little out of tune. Without a doubt, the Gettysburg Address had one or two word choice issues. Without a doubt, that restaurant down the street isn't perfect.

That's okay. They made something. 

Sure, make it better, by all means put in the time to bring us your best work. But no, of course not, no, the pedant is not our audience, nor is he making as much of a difference as he would like to believe.

News for those to seek to make something: Shopify has run a build-a-business competition every year, and I was lucky enough to be involved a few years ago. Next year, Sir Richard Branson and a few other mentors are going to be offering advice and coaching to the winners on his island (!) for a week. I wanted to let you know that I'll be making a surprise appearance (as a benefit for Acumen), running a special seminar for the winners there next September. Check it out--looking forward to seeing what you build.

       

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More Recent Articles

• Producers and consumers
• What everyone reads
• What are you seeking at work?
• Two elements of an apology
• Avoiding S-curve error

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