Author: Garth Beyer

Your Ads Are Only As Good As What Surrounds Them

Garth Beyer

Television commercials for kids toys work great because of the TV shows that surrounds them. Fun, goofy, colorful. Put an ad for smoking between, it may not work great, but it will work because kids love the programming around it.

Beer commercials on the radio country station work great because of the music that surrounds them. Put an ad for a new pizza cutter in there, it may not work great, but it will work because people love the music around it.

Random ads on your blog work great because of the content that surrounds them. Crafty, perhaps, or motivational or delicious – whatever feeling you’re expressing on your blog. Put an ad for potatoes on a crafts blog, a boat battery on a motivation blog or a new pen on a foodie page, it may not work great, but it will work because people love the content around it.

The only ads that don’t work in this world, are the ads that have nothing surrounding them.

The ads that work great, are the ads that have great content around them.

The best ads, though, is the content.

 

Stay Positive & What Are You Advertising (Around)

When You’ve Waited Too Long

Garth Beyer

It seems fair and you might think it’s smart to wait to see if the newest social media platform works before jumping in, to wait to see if selling books in a milk carton is a good idea (it is) before you try something new with your book, to wait to see if the ad agency that focuses on a few perfect ads rather than a million mediocre ones will succeed before you adopt a similar strategy.

The only problem when you’ve waited too long to see if a risk someone else takes works out is when you finally take the risk yourself,  you’re jumping into a bandwagon already filled with mediocrity. Different wagon. Same story.

There’s no shame in not being first, but there’s plenty in the middle.

 

Stay Positive & You Don’t Need 1,000 Success Stories, One Will Do

What Are The Chances

Garth Beyer

The chances are whatever you tell yourself they are.

Most great work never happens because there’s a chance of failure, there’s a chance someone might not like it, there’s a chance no angel will invest in it.

The innate decision to declare what the chances really are to you is what I dub Pulling Wisdom.

When you get your wisdom teeth pulled (it’s now seven hours post-operation for me), before any work is done the surgeon tells you all the risks. He even lays them out to you in a list you have to read and sign off. He says there’s a 10 percent chance of this happening and a 1 percent chance of that happening. You may feel drowsy and some people vomit after.

How is this process (that so many people go through) differ any from launching a new project, starting a business, writing a book, creating a new mobile app?

You can tell yourself there’s a 10 percent chance this particular group of people won’t like your art and a 1 percent chance that you will get an investor to fund everything you dreamed up. You may feel fear along the way, you might fail, and yes, some people vomit after.

Pull out your notes, write out the risks of your venture, state what the chances of this or that happening are and then sign off on it.

There may be people who are more qualified to be a surgeon than you, and I would never suggest you pull your own wisdom teeth out, but no one is better at getting what you want than you. No one is better at turning ideas into actions and actions into art.

The risks are the same for everyone. You just have to sign off on it.

 
Stay Positive & Keep Motivated With Lots Of Iscream Along The Way

It’s Like Running Barefoot

Garth Beyer

I was 14 when I got my first pair of Nike Frees. I don’t remember seeing a TV ad or hearing a radio ad for them, I don’t remember any clerk selling me on them. I remember a sign right above the shoes at Dick’s Sporting Goods, it said “it’s like running barefoot.”

I didn’t need a salesman at that point, I didn’t need an elaborate YouTube video describing all the “special features” of the shoe. I knew it would make me feel as if I were barefoot… and I loved being barefoot.

A lot of products and services try to sell us stories, stories of high fashion, of playing like an all-star, of being more creative than others. Then there are the products and services that remind us of the stories we already tell ourselves.

The best brand strategy isn’t one that sticks to a wall, it’s one that throws itself at a wall that is already sticky.

 

Stay Positive & Welcome, Brand Journalism

You Never Know Where Your Impact Will Occur

Garth Beyer

“I think it’s the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately.” – George Carlin

Carlin is a perfect example of one who self-evaluates and redirects purpose. In his story, which I’ve chosen not to write better, Joe Sergi shares how Carlin’s Seven Dirty Words became the cornerstone case for regulating indecent speech.

It all began when a radio station aired his Seven Dirty Words comedy bit and one man called the FCC to complain because the man’s son heard the vulgar language.

Carlin went from nice suit and tie, safe (and by safe, I mean most of the time awful) jokes to a frustrated, yet intelligent spit-show of an average Joe who found stories about crossing lines to be well-liked by the audience. Through his personal transition, he sparked discussions about the First Amendment – something he didn’t need to mention in his standup sessions, but were a result of them.

I mention Carlin because he didn’t follow a path, he made one. He set out to have people realize their own stupidity and in doing so, in constantly redirecting his comedy, his passion, his words, he changed everything about the FCC, the First Amendment, and most importantly, who people can look up to. If we could ask Carlin if he knew where he would make an impact, he would say the where didn’t matter to him, all that mattered was he would make an impact.

At heart, Carlin was a true critic. A heroic one.

 

Stay Positive & We Need More Good Critics

 

 

Time

Garth Beyer

Maybe it’s not that a person doesn’t have time, it’s that you haven’t made something worth their time.

We all have 24 hours in a day. We can choose to search for people willing to give us their time to click on another page, to test out our product, to listen to our pitch…

or we can spend more of our time creating something people will willingly trade their own time for.

 

Stay Positive & Is Their Time As Valuable To You As Your Own?