While the cat is asleep...

While the cat is asleep...
Scott Dennison
05-19-08


...the mice have more time to play, eat and create havoc. Normally the expression begins with "while the cat's away", but today its more appropriate to state that the cat is not away, but ASLEEP.

Which cat? Who are the mice? What are you talking about Scott?

The roaring lion (the cat) of our economy is very sleepy if not outright sound asleep. At least there is a belief that this is true. After the past many years of largely uninterrupted growth, everywhere you turn is talk of recession. Some go so far as to say "depression".

I say nonsense.

Even when the topic of conversation is recession, its clear that Americans are being lulled to sleep by all of the news about it - even though the current "slow down" does not remotely meet the requirements of recession (2 consecutive quarters of negative growth).

This is a time for you and I to be mice. Play, eat and grow your business like you never have before, while your competition is asleep. Since the cat is asleep, you can work uninterrupted without fear of being eaten alive.

This as good news, don't you think?

There is a small group of marketers at the top who are thriving like never before. One of our clients, Yanik Silver just had a session with his Maverick Business Adventures group, where they met up to strategize, then play over the past weekend.

Doing a day of zero-g flight, then flying in helicopters and fighter planes is not cheap - but you know what? Yanik was not afraid to sell it and he found nearly two dozen individuals who were ready, willing and able to buy it.

But wait, what about the recession?!?

Bunk! There's a perception that things are bad, and if you let it, that perception becomes your reality. As you believe, so it will be for you.

So while the masses of companies and business people are stuck in a mental downturn, you can and should shake off that belief and pursue your dream. No matter what they are reporting on the news, people are still buying what they want as well as what they need. If you offer something that people want or need, you can do well. You just have to believe you can.

When everyone who believes in the recession wakes up, you may already have reached that big goal and be living your dream.

~Scott
KeyThing Marketing Technologies

Nothing New Under the Sun?

Nothing New Under the Sun?
Scott Dennison
05-05-08


Before I begin, let me wish you a happy "Cinco de Mayo!"

Perhaps you did not know that this Mexican holiday celebrates the beginning of the end of the war against foreign occupation and was first observed on the 5th of May in 1862. The holiday has been celebrated for over 145 years, so there's nothing new about it.

Interestingly enough, I don't recall ever hearing about it until Corona Beer became popular and Cinco de Mayo became a marketing event built around beer.

Sort of like St Patrick's Day. Now, any sober adult knows that there is historical significance to St Patrick's Day, (St Patrick being the patron Saint of Ireland and one of Christianity's most widely known figures) but here, in the US, it is being used more and more as a marketing event and an excuse to have a party.

Nothing new about that. When times are tough, none of us needs much of a reason to party.

What's any of this got to do with marketing? Besides the idea that just about any holiday is a great reason for you to communicate to your customers, you've no doubt heard the expression that "what's old becomes new again, if you live long enough", right? You understand this well if you have teenagers who begin wearing similar styles of clothing to what you wore in high school.

Well in marketing, it's much the same way. The challenges we all face in email marketing have lead to a resurgence in direct mail. Direct mail has been around for generations and is responsible for many a fortune being made in business, but when email marketing became popular, direct mail sort of fell out of vogue. Now its back in a big way. In fact, I'm in the research and planning stages of selling our services through direct mail.

Another example is that just last week a well known marketer built a product launch around concepts he is promoting known as self-liquidating offers. Yet, self liquidating offers have been around for ages. This is a sure fire way of getting leads where the cost of the marketing is paid for by the prospect, thus resulting in "free" leads. The costs of the campaign becomes self-liquidating.

There is nothing new about this except for the fact that someone well known has revised the marketing campaign and is promoting it as a "new idea".

As NBC once said about re-runs, "if you haven't seen it, it's new for you." The fact is, it's still a re-run.

Another example is taken from our own business. Online video is hot. There are many creative marketers looking for ways to promote it and profit from it. Underneath it all is the basic truth that online video helps people who buy online to like and trust the business owner a little bit more.

This is the major point I want to make, there is nothing new to the idea that people do business with people that they like and trust. But if you're not using online video in ways that make sense for your business, then giving it a try will be new for you... so celebrate!


~Scott
KeyThing Marketing Technologies