Books that are making a difference for me

For me the end of any year usually is a time for reflecting on the successes of the past twelve months. This year is no different. Like all businesses, we have struggled with the economy and the challenges our client's have faced because of the changing business climate. Like all things in life, the events of the past year have precipitated the need to look inside ourselves to find the inner strength to move forward.

One of the ways I personally have found to help improve my outlook and more importantly my actions, was to revisit and recommit to my our personal development. To that end, I thought I would share a few of the titles which have become very useful to me over the past few months.

1 - Keith Ferrazi's - "Who's got your back"

It's a great read on how to find a tight group of people who have your best interest at heart and are not scared to hold you accountable for any action you take.

2 - Jack Canfield's - "The Success Principles - How to get from where you are to where you want to be"

This book is the gamplan to a more successful life. A step by step instruction manual on how to take control of all you do and want. It all starts with taking Responsibilty of ALL of your actions.

3 - Timothy Ferris' - "The 4 Hour Work Week"

Even if you only take (and impliment) one or two ideas from this book your life will be forever changed.

4 - Alan Frew's - "The Action Sandwich"

Frew is the former lead singer of one of Canada's leading rock bands. His book gives you the kick in the pants to ensure you realize that the key to success is taking action!

So, what does it all mean? Ready Fire Aim. Do it Now. Just DO it. TAKE ACTION!

You'll never reach your dreams or aspirations sitting on youre butt!

As someone once said...

Successful people do the uncomfortable and face facts squarely. What can you do today that you have been avoiding!

5 Ways to Waste Your Money on Promotional Products

Over the past 30 years, we have seen many clients come to us with promotional products which just don't work. Frankly, these client's have wasted their money! Promotional products are the most measurable form of advertising out there. So, if you are going to advertise, why not start with the result in mind?

Here is a list of things to avoid when considering the purchase of promotional products.

1 - The item does not have value. This is where the term "trinkets and trash" comes from. Purchasing cheap promotional items for the sake of just giving something away is a real waste of money. Ask yourself if the item will have a long term use.

2 - People not willing to hand out these business promotional products. These marketing business items do no good in a closet. They are advertising! Get the maximum exposure of your logo.

3 - Information overload on the item. If your goal is to get your name out there, than do that (always with some contact info like a phone number or web address) this overload of information makes the item less likely to be used and in many cases, becomes illegible.

4 - Don't clearly explain your message. Be consistent with your message through all your graphic communications. All your print, multi-media and promo items should be consistent with your brand.

5 - No Plan! If you do not have a goal in mind for the product how can you tell if it is working for you. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail!

In summation, look for items which professionally promote your brand and your corporate message. Plan for success by buying the correct item for your target audience. Most of all have a plan and measure the results.

A Basic Explanation of Ink on Paper (101)

Mike Vitamvas of Wall Printing Company recently sent this great explaination of ink colours and how they reproduce onto paper. Hopefully you will find it useful information.

"I want to give you a brief education about ink and how paper effects it. I find I get a lot of questions about this subject so I decided to write this short piece explaining it.

There are two basic ways to make a colour. Most colour standards are set by using the Pantone Matching System (PMS). It covers spot colours as well as colours made by four colour process. If you've ever had the same job printed a couple of times, either at the same place or at two different printing facilities you probably experienced the challenges of the PMS system.

Offset ink is partially transparent, which means that the color you get is going to be partly determined by the color of stock you pick. The same job will look different if it is printed on a cast coated (high gloss coated stock) gloss stock or uncoated stock. That is because ink is absorbed by each of the stocks differently, which affects the colour. This is true if you are using spot or process colours. Pantone books use a standard coated and uncoated cover when they have the books printed. (If you put two pantone books down side by side you will probably get two different colours).

In theory you can make most spot colours out of process, although they will not look exactly the same. Process to spot colours will vary from one printing facility to another. The reason is that there are different technologies for making the dot pattern and different types of printing equipment. Generally the finer the line screen the closer process comes to matching a pantone colour. Another factor that affects the colour is whether the press is running a conventional or waterless system.

So with all the factors, how do you insure that your job looks the way you want it to? I want to tell you it is getting better. Ten years ago almost everyone was using film to make their plates and provide proofs. They were very consistent at least within each printing facility. Then direct to plate started to become popular. It gave advantages such as faster make ready and better plate consistency. However proofs when from anolog to digital and the consistency went down. Today digital proofs can be calibrated to match a particular press and many automatically recalibrate to make sure the colour stays consistent.

There are a number of challenges still to overcome. Toner based machines are getting better but getting them to match the color of offset continues to be a challenge. Also proofing on colours other than white stock is a issue that still needs to be addressed.I hope this information will help you in your understanding of how ink is put down on paper."

What we are seeing - the trends for 2009

As the internet becomes the media of choice for most companies with any kind of ad budget at all, most of our clients ad dollars have been moving away from traditional media over the past few years as well.

Those same dollars are migrating to online media, promotional products and other non-traditional media. So far, companies have been able to gradually boost their spending online and on promotions without abandoning traditional media entirely, but we feel 2009 will be different.

With so many companies strapped for cash, budgets will be slashed and there will be some big losers, probably TV, radio and print, while more cost effective, flexible and targeted outlets, like search marketing and guerrilla marketing will receive a bigger share of the (smaller) pie than ever.

As for what products will be in demand, we see a combination of two obvious trends. First, low cost promos will be popular as companies and organizations try to make the most with limited budgets. Second, eco-friendly promos are going to be desirable...if people can afford them.

Which brings us to our prediction: recycled products are going to do very well, particularly items like non-woven bags which are actually less expensive than nylon or cotton. Other winners will be recycled paper products and recycled plastic products, which are more eco-friendly than promos made from virgin materials, but can be priced competitively. Other eco-friendly options like organic cottons may be a tougher sell. However, if some of the recent demand for organic cotton dies down, that may also lower prices there a bit, too.

Golf Ball Hunting Yields Creative Insights

Golf-Ball Hunting Yields Powerful Creative Insight

Whenever my friends go on vacation, they scope out the local golf courses to see how many golf balls they can find. It’s neat because at 10 and 12, their children can look beyond the green and quickly decide the likelihood that golf balls lie there. If it’s flat and relatively tree or bush free … no balls. However, if beyond the green lies a steep drop-off or thick underbrush with lots of prickers — golf ball gold mine.

Recently while on vacation, their son helped my friend discover a very powerful creative problem-solving insight. They were walking up a fairway about 3 feet into the wooded rough when they stopped to watch a golfer tee off. He gave it a good smack then drove down in his cart looking for his ball.

He drove around in circles for a couple of minutes with no luck. Finally, he dropped another ball, whacked it and took off, shooting my friend and his son a dirty look over his shoulder. My friend shrugged and said to his son, “He thinks we stole his ball.”

They did not. In fact, as they made their way back down the fairway they found the guy’s ball. It was less than 3 feet from the cart’s tire tracks.

“Dad,” my friend's son asked.“Yeah”, he replied.“How come we can find 50 golf balls without hardly trying and that guy couldn’t find one ball that he just hit?”

“Well”, my friend replied with a chuckle, “That guy is looking for A golf ball where he thinks it should be. We’re simply looking for golf balls … wherever they might be.”

And that’s when it hit: “If you limit your search for an idea or solution to where you think it should be, you narrow your entire spectrum of possibility .. and likely your success.”

In the case of golfers, their perception of exactly where the ball lies is often skewed by such things as alcohol, distance, pitch, terrain similarities or being blinded by the sun. In marketing and business, the perception of exactly where the idea or solution lies may be skewed by budget, time, misinformation, misunderstood information, alcohol or blind ambition.

Have a problem in shipping? Look for a solution from the people who work in shipping … not the managers who are probably so deep in paperwork they don’t have a clue about what’s really going on down there anyway.

Let’s pretend! Management of a zoo is all upset over the amount of trash generated each year by patrons throwing away the map of the zoo at day’s end.

The first solution would be to get all “tight-fisted” with the number of maps that are handed out by instituting a “one per family” policy and charging for additionals. No one wants to pay for a piece of paper.

However, if you expanded your idea search, you might find another answer such as, print the map on something people won’t throw away — like a bandanna. Give one to each group, charge for additionals. People will pay a buck for a souvenir bandana that tells them where the important stuff such as the restrooms are. If they turn it in at the end of the day they get their $1 back. The maps can be washed if need be, and reused. Or, underwrite the cost of the bandanna by selling space to a local restaurant or other area attraction that allows the bandanna to be used as a coupon at their establishment. This approach opens the creative door to development of cross-promotion of other owned properties or even reciprocal partnerships.

The point is, you’re looking for ideas outside of, “If we give out less maps … less maps will get thrown away.” Now you’re looking for golf balls … not A golf ball. When you look for “ideas” or “solutions” as opposed to “a specific idea” or “a specific solution”, you expand your horizons. And when you look for ideas and solutions outside of where you think the answer or solution lies, you expand your horizons even more.

The trick with golf ball hunting is to look where others don’t or won’t. The same is true for idea hunting. You must allow your mind to go where others fear to tread. How a golf ball ends up on the backside of a tree away from the direction the ball was shot is beyond me. It doesn’t make sense. But you know what? When you find what you’re looking for … where you find it doesn’t have to make sense.