Giving Is The New Advertising

Here’s advertising I think we can all get behind: advertising that gives viewers what they want.

PostIt follows you around so banner ads become a list of things you want to remember.

Businesses like McDonalds are now buying the ad space of Pandora to give you 30 minutes of no-ad listening.

Even podcast advertising is seeing the benefit of giving. It’s a podcast norm that hosts advertise products and services they use and care about – no pre-recorded voiceover here.

I did lead you astray with the title. Giving isn’t necessarily new advertising as it has always been the best kind of advertising, we’re just slowly catching on.

 

Stay Positive & No One Cares About Being Interrupted If They Get A Gift For It

Using Others’ Brain Space

One of the largest perks to being in a relationship is you can rely on the other to remember certain things and vice versa.

He knows directions to the obscure mexican restaurant on the other side of town. She needs to use her GPS.

She knows all the groceries to get. He needs a list.

The same shared mental space applies to your friends, your followers, your tribe. The more connections you make, the more you can rely on others to fill one of your knowledge gaps, the more you can rely on others to be the expert.

No need to learn how to buy a house, your real estate friend has all the information for you. No need to learn about the stars or space, your astronomer space-head follower has your back. No need to think of a clever email CTA, your tribe can tell you what they want.

The sad part is we often rely so heavily on using others’ brain space that we forget to be the expert for others, the brain they pick.

 

Stay Positive & Curiously Passionate

Saving ≠ Not-Giving

It’s rare for me to hear an employee say, “how much more can we give?”

It’s a lot more common to hear, “how much can we get away with saving (not giving)?”

Zig, Godin, Marx all talked of the race to the bottom in one way or the other. The bottom is sharp. It’s beyond efficient if you’re defining efficiency as giving as little as possible with an acceptable return. Is that the race we want to win?

I’ve always thought saving to be a funny concept. For some reason people view saving $5 on a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Iscream the same as saving $5 on a muffin for the Boys & Girls Club.

Likewise, in the work place, they see saving $50 on unnecessary banner ads the same as saving $50 on better packaging.

While the Iscream will make you instantly gratified and the banner ads may seem like you’re doing advertising that matters, it’s the donation to something positive that stays with you; it’s the over-delivery of your product that your customer will always remember.

Let’s not confuse saving with not-giving.

 

Stay Positive & If Anything, Give More

Things To Consider About Getting Ahead

These work. They always have. They’re simply often forgotten.

1) Do what others won’t. I don’t mean clean the toilets or put in more hours than them. I mean do things others don’t even think of doing. Think outside your span of present duties.

2) You can’t rely on others to tell each other (or your boss) about your awesomeness, you have to tell them yourself. You can talk about what you’ve accomplished without it sounding as if you’re egotistical.

Just like Michael and I discussed on the latest In The Box Podcast episode, you can either complain about grunt work by saying how much you dislike it or you can joke about how terrible it is.

The same goes for talking about work you’ve done that matters. There’s the bragging way and there’s the extremely proud, emotionally light way of sharing the feeling of accomplishment with another person.

3) Find ways to give to those around you. Pulling from the past, here’s three things you can always give – no money or baking skills required.

 

Stay Positive & Get Ahead, It’s Where You Belong

10 Ways To Make A Difference (Lessons From Cambodia & Thailand)

10 Ways To Make A Difference (Lessons From Cambodia & Thailand)

Cambodia

1) Smile at people until they smile back. Not much is more universal than a smile. And nothing so simple can change the day for someone.

2) Provide the most selfless service you can when you can. It’s one of the beauties about Cambodia. Unlike here where we have to work to be selfless, there it comes natural. Surely it’s something we can work toward and achieve.

3) Observe the little ways you can make the life of another easier. Sometimes carrying the luggage of someone else is all you need to do. It’s difficult to change someone’s life in a huge way. It’s quite easy to make a lot of people’s lives a bit easier. Let’s face it, we can all use a break with this or that.

4) Always suggest the scenic route. You won’t ever regret it. I mean that. They say let the fear of not doing something scare you more than it not going as planned.

5) Put yourself in a location where others are making a difference. It’s sometimes difficult to make a difference on your own, but if you go where the movers and shakers are, there’s no doubt you’ll make the impact you’ve dreamed of.

6) When in doubt, play. (Particularly with children) There’s not much explaining to this one. You’ll experience and learn why this is a way you can make a difference once you do it.

7) Give thanks to three things a day. If you’re thankful for something that involves someone else, let them know directly. Gratitude is the dictator of attitude.

8) Travel. Period. When you go out into the world, doors to making a difference open every minute.

9) Teach someone how to do something or fail at something new together. The deepest impact you can make with someone or yourself involves learning.

10) Keep an open mind while observing ways to give and receive love. Corny, yes, but ultimately underrated. Also, emphasis on the “receive” end of it. Those who only give and never receive deprive others the satisfaction of sharing an experience, of making a difference.

 

Stay Positive & Impact Others To Improve The World (And Your Own)

What More Do You Got?

What More Do You Got?

Junk Drawer Gift Shop

Once you’ve met your promise, it pays to exceed expectations.

After all, expectations have more weight than promises.

However, exceeding expectations doesn’t mean you have to blow someone’s mind. It can be about adding something little.

It can be a grocery bagger asking if there is anything else he can do for you.

It’s adding a pin, a mint, a random goonies playcard in one’s package like Johnny Cupcakes.

It’s giving someone access to a part of your site that they never knew about before they bought your book.

By all means, set out to give something remarkable to the world, but be open to the ways you can surprise someone with more. If you’re a funny brand, this might be the perfect opportunity to clear out your junk drawers. If you’re an author, maybe it’s worth sending a copy of the book that inspired you when you were little.

What more do you got is a rhetorical question.

The better one is will you give it or stay comfortable?

 

Stay Positive & Everyone Loves Surprises

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Giving Whenever Asked

Giving Whenever Asked

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If I signed up for everything my friends and acquaintances asked me to, I would be spread out, seriously vulnerable and broke. If I gave whenever asked to give, I’d have nothing left to give. Out of time, of money, of resources. I have to say no to people I care about more often than you may think. I’m not necessarily a hard sell. I’m just selfish. I have to be.

For those I say no to, I wish I could help, but I can’t. For those I say no to, let me suggest something new and give you a newsflash. Newsflash first.

Newsflash: You don’t need my help, my tribe, my resources to be successful. You have the power to gather your own tribe and create a strategy for success.

Something new: Do the hard work. Don’t seek out the people who can make your success happen with a wave of their wand and don’t seek people out who you can piggyback off their success. Do the hard work of developing your one page marketing plan, the hard work of seeing it all the way through, the hard work of starting out small and growing over a long period of time.

If you’re not in it for the long run, why are you in it?

 

Stay Positive & Enjoy The Journey, Really, Enjoy It

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