We eat food every day and we drive cars every day. But food purchases happen on a short purchase cycle and car purchases happen on a longer one.

How often does the average citizen purchase the product or service you sell?

The purchase cycle of your product determines how quickly your ads will start working.

Amateur ad writers assume everyone makes decisions based upon the same criteria they use. This causes them to unconsciously frame their messages to reach people exactly like themselves.

Professional ad writers frame their messages to speak to the felt needs of a specific consumer.

People are multi-dimensional. We make decisions to purchase based on a variety of criteria, but two of the big ones are Time and Money.

The advice I give to others, I rarely take myself.

I admonish persons who possess detailed knowledge to “dumb it down” so the rest of us can understand because, frankly, we are rarely interested in the mystery and wonder of the unabbreviated truth.

I tell them, “Say it so plainly that you worry you have stripped it of all its truth and beauty.”

“The deer have killed the oak tree! The deer have killed the oak tree!”

Forty-year-old Todd – we’ll call him Todd – came running into my office with his second crisis of the day. I expected there would be at least one more.

Todd felt it was his job to bring every problem to my attention so that I could tell him how to solve it. Todd was an idiot. His only value was that he gave me a sparkling example of what it means to be an identifier of problems rather than a creator of solutions.

Her only hope of survival is an audience that believes in fairies and demonstrates that belief through enthusiastic applause. Tinkerbell’s light has been growing brighter since 1904, when she first appeared in J.M. Barrie’s play, Peter Pan.

Everyone believes in fairies enough to clap enthusiastically.

The Tinkerbell Effect describes things that exist only because enough of us believe they exist, and behave as though they do.

When a business is struggling financially, cost-cutting looks like a brilliant move.

But can you shrink your way to success?

From what I’ve seen, it’s easier – and healthier – to increase revenues than it is to cut costs.

Cost-cutting comes at a very high cost.

I know what happens when men retire.

I do not know what happens when women retire. Perhaps they are plagued by the same maladjustments, discomforts and discontentment as men, but I doubt it. As Michele Miller points out in her audiobook, The Natural Advantages of Women, females of our species are gifted with different neurological wiring that helps them be less obsessive, more able to adapt.

I ate too much and it made me heavy and slow.

Using too many words is like eating too much.
It makes communication heavy and slow.

Short sentences hit harder.

Nouns and verbs are fists that deliver punches.
Adjectives and adverbs are gloves that soften the blows.

There is, to my knowledge, only one way to profitably put the power of the internet to work for you.

It’s simple; just give people what they want.

But first you have to know what they want.

Let me help you with that.
(1.) They want answers, and
(2.) they want entertainment.

Ad writers hear it every day, whistling toward them like a bullet: “We need more traffic, that’s what we need; more sales opportunities!”

I spent the early part of my radio career stepping up to the plate and knocking that fastball out of the park. If your back was against the wall, I was the man to call.

I was like Coca-Cola, baby, I was everywhere.

Throughout my career as an ad writer, I’ve noticed that the easiest companies to skyrocket are those with a healthy and happy corporate culture.

You know it’s a great company when everyone wants to get a job there and no one wants to leave.

Let’s talk about culture.

Definition One:

Real experts in online marketing rarely use the phrase “going viral,” because it has no agreed-upon definition. Instead, they talk about “Discovery Content” and “Community Content.”

To understand Discovery Content, just look at anything posted by BuzzFeed or any of the other organizations whose principal income is generated by the companies who sponsor their clickbait.1

But not all Discovery Content is shallow and vacuous.

The door to immediate action is easily kicked open by the steel-toed boot of urgency.

If you want people to take immediate action, you’re going to need a credible shortage.
A shortage of product. “Only 11 remain!”
A shortage of time. “Sale ends Saturday at 6PM!”
A shortage of capacity. “Only 128 seats are available!”
Some kind of shortage.

When you’re trying to transfer a thought or a feeling to someone else, the impact of your communication will be determined by the following equation:

1. How big is the thought in your mind, or the feeling in your heart?
2. How quickly can you transfer it?

I always look forward to my lunches with Ray Bard because he teaches me valuable things. He doesn’t intend to teach me things; it just happens.

Our short lunches last 3 hours. Our record is 6 ½.

Ray is my publisher.

Every successful person has a blind spot.

Here’s what often happens:

1. You have a unique approach, a particular process, or a special emphasis.
2. It separates you from your competitors.
3. Your commitment to it makes you successful.

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.

On the day he died, long ago, a man said, “In this world you will have trouble.”

I’ve never had reason to doubt him.

Money trouble
Work trouble
Relationship trouble

Our nation is changing, of course.

Things aren’t like they used to be.

Famous clothing brands are at historic lows and major retailers are closing hundreds of stores. In 2016, 2,056 stores closed their doors. The worst year on record is 2008, when 6,163 stores shut down.

Brokerage firm Credit Suisse says in a just-released research report,

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.