Wizard of Ads Partners

"I make more mistakes than anyone else I know, and sooner or later, I patent most of them." - Thomas Edison

"The willingness to make a big mistake is often the birth of big success." - Roy H. Williams

Sir Richard Branson of Virgin fame has had many more failures than successes. He says, "If there's one thing above all from which I've learnt how to survive in business, it's been from making mistakes - and the more mistakes you make the more you learn."

"The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything." - Edward John Phelps, American Lawyer and diplomat. 

My recollection of the of the quote from the movie, 'The Life of Brian'... "You started with nothing, and go back to nothing, so what have you got to lose? Nothing!"

And of course... Wise men and women learn from other people's mistakes. 

So make mistakes. Study the mistakes of others. Document. Learn. And try again.

It’s not the size of the idea that counts…

By Anna Gerard, Wizard of Ads Associate

While big business spends millions pondering the next “Big” idea, over in the real world where budgets are leaner it’s the small ideas making the big difference.

If you’re struggling to stand out in a heavily competitive category, tilt your head, change your perspective and do just one small thing different to your competitors.

Need to be inspired?  Get out there in your own market, I bet there are a stack of businesses already making small changes in order to stand out, for the better.

Here’s one example of a business that does it different in my market… It’s a seafood shop that brings “freshness” to the people in a very unique way.

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"The first step to change is to recognise the barriers holding us back and work through them." David Connell

By Clay Campbell
Wizard Partner & Author "Get Big Results From Your Small Ad Budget"

The marketing person at our local state park told me her ad budget had been severely cut; almost in half. Another business owner told me he was going to cancel all ads because he needed to re-evaluate everything.

The economy is a topic of discussion just about every day with every business owner I talk to.  I hear and read things like, “My Business is slow, so I have to cut back my advertising.”

It seems that some small business owners are in a difficult situation this year with the uncertain economy. However if business is slow, and you cut the ad budget, does that make much sense? You might say,  "What would you do?" Well several things come my mind.

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Part One. Reconciling the Challenge Pattern to the Guide Pattern
By Roy H. Williams

Hear Memo... 

Half your brain sees a hierarchy.
Deductive reasoning is a product of this.
Vertical. Sequential. Objective. Scientific. Hard facts. Details.
"Be for what is."

The other half sees connectedness.
Intuition is a direct result.
Horizontal. Chaotic. Subjective. Relevant. Relationships. Big picture.
"Recognize the pattern."

Intuition is a form of pattern recognition. Wordlessly it whispers, “I’ve seen this behavior before. I know what happens next.”

We call these whispers “hunches,” “gut feelings”, “premonitions.”

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is what happens when these whispers get too loud.

We are pleased when a mystery is solved.
Another way of saying this is, “We are pleased when the Challenge pattern resolves into the Guide pattern.”

That’s when things come together and “make sense.”

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This is where gambling and advertising are dangerously similar.

By Craig Arthur

"Pumpkin ads answer these questions:
Who you are... Where you are... What you have to offer"

Image by Shelley KeithWhen governments have a problem what do they normally do? They simply throw money at the problem and hope like hell it will go away.

When businesses have a problem with gross sales what do they do? They too simply throw money at the problem and hope like hell things will improve. They call it advertising.

There is an old saying in professional gambling circles, “Off with the head and on with the pumpkin.” The saying refers to the seemingly sane, intelligent, successful people who walk onto a racetrack or into a casino and instantly turn stupid and brainless. Just because you are brilliant in one field of business does not give you instant access to the smarts needed for other fields.

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