Gratuitous sorcery and incantations from actual Wizards.

There are two kinds of advertising.

The goal of the first is to make yours the company the customer thinks of immediately and feels the best about when they – or any of their friends – need what you sell. This is called a “relational” ad campaign. It works better and better with each passing year.

The goal of the second kind of advertising is to cause the reader/listener/viewer to buy something from you immediately. I began my career writing these “transactional” ads. I was good at it. This type of campaign is called “direct response.” Transactional ads work less and less well the longer you run them.

Today I write only the first kind.

If you have the staying power to build a relational ad campaign, you’re going to need to remember your origins. You’re going to have to write your Genesis Story.

There are two kinds of staying power. The first is financial.

Here’s my advice: Don’t launch a relational ad campaign so big that you would not be able to sustain it indefinitely. If you say, “I can fund this for 6 months, but by then it needs to be self-supporting,” then you’re spending more than you can afford. It’s impossible to predict the moment of breakthrough, that moment when all your previously fruitless efforts will begin to radiate results like a newborn sun.

This is why you have to have the second kind of staying power: emotional staying power. Three or four months into your campaign, you’re going to begin to panic. But the only thing worse than never launching a relational ad campaign is to launch one and then abandon it.

Relational ad campaigns are never about having the lowest price. A customer who switches to you for reasons of price alone will just as quickly switch from you for the same reason. And there is nothing that some other company can’t do a little worse and sell a little cheaper.

People don’t bond with companies so easily as they bond with people. We bond with people we like, people we feel good about, people we think we know.

Here are three examples of well-told stories of origin:

“My Dad was a house painter. He taught me to sand and scrape old paint until my fingers were aching and raw. But I wanted to make him proud, so I always worked hard. I’ll never forget the day we opened our brown bags at lunchtime and he said, “Son. I’m proud of how hard you work, but I hope that someday you’ll get a job where you can wear a tie.” And because I wanted to make him proud, I decided to open a jewelry store. I watched as my Dad took his last seven hundred dollars out of his sock drawer to help me get started. But he never got to see that store. He died just before it was open.  I lived on wieners and beans for the next 11 years until I finally figured it out:  Lose the tie… And be a regular guy just like your Dad. That’s when things turned around for me. I’ve been sharing the story of that 700 dollars with young entrepreneurs in High Schools and Colleges for years. America’s newest and best Kesslers Diamonds is about to open in front of Cabela’s next to the Rivertown Mall in Grandville. I’m Richard Kessler, and I’m hoping to become your jeweler.”

Your origin story doesn’t have to be your first ad. Some of the most successful stories of origin have been introduced after the advertiser had already become a household word.

Tom Heflin was a railroad conductor. His wife had a sister. That sister had two little boys. One day she took those boys on a train to Winslow, Arizona to spend a few days with them. Tom took those boys out into the desert to collect rocks. One of the little boys grew up to be a pediatrician. The other just kept pickin’ up rocks. I’ve never been able to explain what got into me that day …but it’s never left me. It has something to do with how the beauty of nature is made permanent, and becomes transferable, only in natural gemstones. Blood-red rubies. Piercing blue sapphires. Emeralds greener than the greenest grass. And diamonds …rocks that are perfectly colorless, clear and pure. Rocks! Call me crazy. Call me naïve. But I don’t think gemstones are here by accident. I think God put them here. And he made them beautiful, and he made them rare, and he made them hard to find, so that you and I might give them as symbolic gifts to those rare and hard to find people who are beautiful in our own lives. You know who I am. And that’s all I’ve got to say today.

The power of your origin story doesn’t depend on your category of business.

I was a ten year-old boy holding a flashlight for my Dad while he worked on an air conditioner for a customer. His name was Duncan Goodrich. He didn’t talk much. But there’s a certain kind of magic that happens when a son holds a flashlight for his father. I held it steady and quiet and Dad talked to me while he worked. He said, “When a person needs help, you respond right away. Not when it’s convenient for you.” He said, “Always do the right thing. Always do what’s right.” And he said, “The Goettl Iron Horse is a magnificent machine. Nothing else even comes close.” That was the first night I held a flashlight for my Dad but it wouldn’t be the last. A few months later at Dad’s funeral, I realized that every time he handed me that flashlight, he was passing the torch. And my Dad believed in Goettl air conditioners. So I bought the company. Goettl. Gee Oh Ee, T-T-L. It’ll keep you cool, but it’s hard to spell. You can count on us to respond right away and do the right thing… Always. Gee Oh Ee, T-T-L.

Search your heart and mind. Find your story of origin. Make yourself vulnerable.

Richard Kessler told us that he was once so poor that $700 made a huge difference in his life. The late Woody Justice told us that he believed in God and he believed gemstones are here for a reason. Ken Goodrich told us the memory of his father drives his actions to this day.

What’s the story of how you got to where you are now… from where you were?

You really need to share that story.

Book a call with Ryan Chute of Wizard of Ads®, and let's create those mind-blowing ads.  

Business Personality Disorder (BPD) is characterized by at least two distinct identities or dissociated personality states that show up in a company’s behavior.

BPD emerges when unrelated teams work independently in the areas of (1.) Advertising (2.) Web Presence (3.) Sales Training.

If a person encounters your ads, then visits your website, then comes to your place of business, will they feel they have encountered a single personality three times, or three personalities once?

Advertising rarely makes the sale. It merely engages the customer in the early stages of a conversation. If the reader/listener/viewer of your ad has purchased from you in the past and had a good experience, it’s possible the ad will cause him or her to make immediate contact with your business.

But customers who are less familiar with you will hope to extend the conversation and learn more about you by visiting your website. And they will expect to encounter the same personality they met in your ads.

Will that happen?

Or will they encounter an entirely different personality crafted by your website team?

Does your website continue the conversation begun by your advertising, or does it stand alone, as though that conversation never took place?

To what degree is your website disconnected from your advertising? That will be the degree of disconnection experienced by your customer.

If by some miracle, the personality, tone and style of your website agrees with the personality, tone and style of your advertising, your biggest problem remains. Will your people continue the conversation that was begun in your ads and continued on your website? Or will they introduce an entirely different company than the one your customer was hoping to meet?

Relational Marketing depends on Integrated Messaging.

Integrated Messaging begins with

We Believe

(Statements that capture the Personality and Promises, Processes and Benefits of your company.)
Personality makes the customer feel they know you.
Promises make the customer feel secure.
Processes give credibility to your Promises.
Benefits are what the customer is hoping to experience.

Brandable Chunks

(memorable identifiers and phrases extracted from your We Believe statements.)

Deliverables

(Advertising, web copy, content marketing, and signature phrases used by your people, all built from the same list of Brandable Chunks) These deliverables include 5, 10, 15, 30 and 60-second radio ads, billboard copy, email subject lines and body copy, digital marketing text, memorable identifiers for truck and van wraps, store signage, etc.)

Book a call with Ryan Chute of Wizard of Ads®, and let's create those mind-blowing ads.  

Ask a businessperson or a marketing professional, “What is branding?”

Go ahead. Go do it. I’ll wait…

Did they mention the importance of a having a logo? Did they talk about the consistent use of a chosen group of “brand” colors and a particular font and layout and look and feel? Have you done what they told you? Congratulations! You now have a visual style guide.

And so does every other business on earth.

The reason I avoid using the word “branding” is because most people think they’re already doing it.

Here’s a far more important question: What are you doing to create an emotional bond with customers you’ve not yet met? This is the real goal of branding. But since too many people think they’re “branding” when all they’re doing is following a visual style guide, let’s you and I call this process “customer bonding,” okay?

If your visual style guide is successful, people will recognize you when they see you.

If your customer bonding program is successful, people will think of you and feel good about you when they finally need what you sell.

Now let’s take this discussion to the street:

1. You sell a product or service that people buy less often than once a year.
2. There’s no way to know exactly who is going to need you, or when.
3. This is why you’re investing in Search Engine Optimization and all those keywords. Am I right?

So far, so good: now when the prospective customer finally needs what you sell, you’re going to show up…

along with everyone else in your category.

Let’s see what happens next:

Your customer is scanning the results of their search.

Do you want to know which company is going to get the click, the call and the sale?

Surprise! It’s the company that’s been bonding with customers through mass media.

One of the first signs your customer bonding program is working is that your online cost for lead generation will sharply decline and your conversion rate will rise.

The SEO weasels will try to take credit for this, of course, by claiming they made some refinements to your keywords or found some efficient new way to target or blah, blah, blah. This is one of my favorite moments.

Because I told the business owner this would happen.

So when it does, they always laugh.

I want you to laugh, too.

It’s never too late to start bonding.

Lower costs, higher conversion rates, and laughter.

These are just the byproducts and side effects.

Book a call with Ryan Chute of Wizard of Ads® today.  

I’m in a strange mood. I hope you’ll forgive me.

I’ve been contemplating things unsaid. Deeds undone. Symphonies unfinished.

The reality of mortality has shown up as a hole in the light, a silhouette on the horizon. And its whispering voice has led me to compile a list of unfiltered thoughts that seem to me, remarkable. Thoughts that should not be lost.

Perhaps I overreact. I get this way when I’ve been traveling too much, speaking too much, alone too little.

I think of all the things I’ve learned that deserve to be remembered. These are the first five that pop into my misty mind as I sit on this airplane in the sky.

Don’t follow your passion. Let your passion follow you.

Passion does not produce commitment.
Commitment produces passion.
Passion does not lead to success.
Commitment leads to success.

Recreation is not a vocation.

Rest, Shabbat, is necessary. So set aside your labor – often – and inhale the stuff of life. But recreation is not your goal; it is your fuel. The perpetual pursuit of pleasure leaves a person hollow inside. A life filled with money and no work is a fantasy for fools. Do you see the boredom that hides behind the smiles of the idle rich? Look beneath that boredom and you will see the walking dead.

Everyone needs the same three things: Identity, Purpose, and Adventure.

1. Identity: Who am I? Where is my tribe? Who are my people? Abraham Maslow said the greatest unmet need of 65% of us was our need to belong. I’ve never doubted it for a moment.
2. Purpose: What should I do with the rest of my life? What should I stand for? What should I stand against? How can I make a difference, leave a mark, be remembered?
3. Adventure: How will I overcome the obstacles that will stand in my way, the challenges that will confront me, the enemies that will make themselves known?

When it’s time to make something from nothing, you must first decide:

1. How to End: begin with the end in mind.
2. Where to begin: approach from an unusual angle.
3. What to leave out: shorter hits harder.

And the most important thing to remember is this:

Marry your best friend. Your mate will be your partner in every aspect of your life. Don’t marry beauty. Don’t marry wealth. Marry the person who will guard your back in the darkness when dragons are about and things get tricky wicked.

Marry your best friend.

Book a call with Ryan Chute of Wizard of Ads® today.  

There are three key revenue stages for engagement with the Wizard of Ads® for Services.

1. Under $2.4 million in revenue
2. Between $2.5 and $20 million in revenue
3. Over $20 million in revenue

Under $2.4 million in revenue, think of Wizards as an investment in your brand. This will serve you well in establishing your brand story early on and help you with your name, logo, and truck wrap design. It's easier to create pictures from a story than it is to make a story based on pre-drawn pictures. You'll be glad you did. Everyone on a fast path to growth is.

Most clients start with Wizard of Ads® for Services between $2.5 and $20 million in revenue. They have often seen a natural ceiling with their leads for demand service and are looking for ways to push past the ceiling. This can only be done with a properly executed brand strategy, specifically in mass media with a sticky story.

Over $20 million in revenue is actually the lowest cost point of entry as a percentage of revenue, but not the cheapest time to start with the Wizard of Ads® for Services. 

Leveraging all economies of scale aside, we have been left out of the upside along the way, so engaging when over $20 million in revenue means we have to mend a lot of fences damaged along the way. This is also where clients see significant savings in their media buys and production costs.

There are also three market sizes to consider.

• Primary Markets are the top 50 cities in America.
• Secondary Markets are the smaller cities in America.
• Tertiary Markets are the more rural trade areas in America.

When considering an engagement with The Wizard of Ads® for Services, consider what size market you are in. For example, a $2 million company in a Primary Market will struggle to get the necessary reach needed to make a splash. 

You either have to be more patient than a larger company by spending your marketing budget carefully, or spend more money to accelerate your reach. We have different strategies for each of these scenarios. 

Alternatively, a $5 million company in a Secondary Market will look like a pretty darn big fish in a medium-sized pond.

A $20 Million company in a Primary Market will feel like a $50 million company using our strategies to potential customers.

The key to remember is that the earlier you start with the Wizard of Ads® for Services, the lower the investment to get started. As they say, the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today.

If you’re ready to capture more market share by elevating your brand to the next level, give Ryan Chute a call today.

Michael Jordan wasn’t a perfectionist; he was an improvisationist. That’s why he was hard to stop.

A perfectionist knows exactly what he’s going to do. He plans his work and works his plan. The only problem is that because he knows, the defender knows, too.

It’s easy to anticipate what a perfectionist is going to do. He’s predictable.

But no one knew what Michael was going to do, because he didn’t know himself.

Does it surprise you that nearly all the superstar basketball players and top-scoring running backs test as improvisationists?

So do all the best ad writers.

Predictability is the curse of the perfectionist, and the silent assassin of advertising.

When you say what people expect you to say, no matter how perfectly you say it, you bore them.

Improvisation puts the bubbles in champagne.
Improvisation puts a wiggle in your walk.
Improvisation puts money in your bank account, bread in your basket, glitter on your cheek, and a smile on your face.

Unexpected is interesting.
Unpredictable is enlightening.
Improvised is exciting.

Random Entry is a technique that guarantees improvisation in advertising.

The magic of random entry begins when the ad writer doesn’t choose the opening line of the ad. Rather, it is chosen for him by someone who has no idea what they are doing.

Want to try it? Ask a stranger to think of a colorful sentence. Tell them to make it “vivid, unexpected, larger than life.” Tell them, “The sentence doesn’t have to be about anything in particular; it just has to cause people to be curious about where this story is headed.”

The best way to create Random Entry without the help of an unwitting accomplice is to flip open a book and place your finger on a page with your eyes closed. The sentence on which your finger lands will be the opening line of your ad.

“Wiggins was Harvey’s pet hamster.”

That’s your opening line for the 30-second radio ad you’re about to write for the company that provides your primary income. If your ad makes sense, elevates attention, and successfully sells a product or service, congratulations! You are an improvisationist.

Unless you work with seasoned marketers with rich experience writing irresistible advertising, like Ryan Chute’s teams at Wizard of Ads®. Book a call.