Life Lesson

The old waterbed ad copy reads: “Two things are better on a waterbed. One of them is sleep.”

It’s humorous copy, but what makes it work is that it gets to the truth.

A slow close-toilet seat ad is better off pointing out how it prevents terror-filled screams from children because there’s no way their fingers will get slammed in the seat when their playing without adult supervision. (Surely there’s a shorter way to say that in an ad, but you get the point.)

As marketers, it’s our true responsibility to find the truth in the products or services we’re attempting to share.

Fortunately, getting to the truth is easy: ask and listen and watch.

After you ask, listen and watch enough, you’ll find a Truth Trend and that becomes your hook, main point and converter.

There’s only one thing better than being advertised to. It’s being understood.

Stay Positive & Find The Truth

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An older lady was in line at the grocery store and purchased more than she could carry.

“Can I help bring this to your car?” the clerk asked.

“No, I think I’ll be okay. I live right up the street.”

“Well, let me bring it to your door for you. Really, it would be my pleasure.”

That’s service that’s not mandated. It’s not written down anywhere. It’s not paid extra for. The boss doesn’t know the clerk went out of her way for the lady. It’s simply the service of someone who cares.

What’s your version of carrying groceries to someone’s door?

Stay Positive & If You See An Extra Mile, Go For It

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I love April fools’ day for a lot of reasons, but none more than the fact it gets more people thinking with the “what if” mindset.

What if the unexpected happened?

What if what we dreamed of happened?

What if the thing people joke about were to come true? And what if it never does?

Jokes are great because they force our brains to make new connections; and with every new connection and “what if” consideration, we have the opportunity to be inspired, to encourage the joke to become a reality (or not!), to take action.

The real fools are the ones who don’t dream or play. They can’t stand today.

Stay Positive & That’s Not Going To Stop Us, Is It?

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As in learning together.

Talking together.

Creating together.

Dreaming together.

Searching together.

Challenging together.

All the things we know and love to do together; we don’t need to wait until we can be less than six feet apart to do.

Stay Positive & Who You Gonna Call?

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For the most part, we know if something is right or wrong.

We know if something we write is full of empathy or not.

We know if we should take the leap or not.

But, damn does it feel good when someone else is there to tell us what we already know.

Call it reassurance or confirmation; it may be all we need to take the step we’ve hesitated on.

The hard part, then, is making sure you have the right people around you; someone to tell you to do the right thing; that you’re writing could have more empathy; that you should leap.

Stay Positive & Keep Them Close

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We’ve been running around with a lot of weight on our shoulders for some time.

Every pound we drop off enables us to run faster, longer; we can breathe better, we smile more.

It might not be deadweight, but there’s certainly weight we can toss.

You’ve probably started to do it, already. You’re working more efficiently, you’re connecting with more people who care, and you’re doing more of what makes you happy.

Stay Positive & Watch Less Become More

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There’s this opportunity in front of us to decide how we want things on the other side.

It’s a chance to see how we feel about working differently; a chance to see if that hobby we had an eye on is actually something fulfilling; a chance to have more meaningful conversations with people.

It’s rare to be handed free-time or flexibility; under normal circumstances, we have to make it ourselves.

Yesterday was a great day to call a friend, write a letter, try a new activity, do work more efficiently, remind your significant other just how much you care about them, make the bed, play an instrument and join the others.

Today’s a great day, too.

Stay Positive & See You On The Other Side

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