BRIAN WEBB BLOG

Why do people buy what they buy? Many marketers assume that buying decisions are made fairly logically. A prospect for a service adds up the cost, and benefits of one service, compares it to another’s, and chooses the service with the better score… right?

But seemingly sophisticated prospects for even sophisticated services do not behave this way, as the strange case of Visa versus
American Express clearly suggests. Consider the evidence.

Visa cards are accepted in almost 3 times more locations than American Express cards. You can pay back Visa immediately, or over time. You must pay on an American Express card at the end of each month or suffer substantial penalties. You pay $20 for a basic Visa card, and $55 for one from American Express.

Now… what “truly rational” people want from a credit card is utility relative to price. “Truly rational” people want to pay as little as possible for credit card benefits. A “truly rational” person; in other words, chooses a Visa card. Perhaps all of Earth’s rational people do choose Visa… but that leaves 25 million Americans who use American Express cards. Why?

Because of prestige, apparently. This is to say… American Express emphasizes that “Membership has it’s rewards.”

“What’s the point,” you might ask?

Appeal only to a prospect’s reason, and you may have no appeal at all.

This is an excerpt from one of my favorite books, Selling The Invisible, by Harry Beckwith. I highly, highly, highly recommend that you buy it, read it, re-read it, then read it again.

I’ve recently completed the book… The Four Obsessions Of An Extraordinary Executive, by Patrick Lencioni. I’d give this book 3 out of 4 stars, and I recommend it to you. As always, Patrick makes his point in the form of a fable. This time, the fable is about 2 competing consulting firms that headquarter in the same town.

For the sake of brevity, I thought I’d summarize what Lencioni advocates as the 4 obsessions.

OBSESSION #1: BUILD AND MAINTAIN A COHESIVE LEADERSHIP TEAM
It’s always about the team, right? Lencioni points out that without obsession 1, the rest doesn’t really matter. It’s crucial to cultivate an environment of trust throughout your team… real trust. He advocates vulnerability, and a loyalty to the company and each other, no matter what.

OBSESSION #2: CREATE ORGANIZATIONAL CLARITY
Without clarity, confusion and hesitation invade any organization. What are the mission, values and priorities of your organization? Why does the organization exist? What difference does it make in the world? It’s important to avoid the temptation to “market” these items like a slick campaign. It’s a lifestyle from the top… down.

OBSESSION #3: OVER-COMMUNICATE THE IDENTITY AND DIRECTION
You can’t say it enough! Andy Stanley once said that “Vision is like a bucket with holes… they both leak.” It’s imperative to discuss, promote and demonstrate the identity and direction of your organization, in what might seem like excessive doses to your team. Create a strong sense of common purpose and direction that supersedes any departmental or ideological allegiances that your team may have. It’s as simple as 1, 2, 3… 1. Repetition, 2. Simple Messages & 3. Multiple Mediums.

OBSESSION #4: REINFORCE ORGANIZATIONAL CLARITY THROUGH HUMAN SYSTEMS
Communication alone will not reinforce clarity. There are 4 primary human systems that serve to institutionalize an organization’s sense of clarity.

1. HIRING PROFILES: Look for candidates that will fit within the organizational culture. Ask the right questions, and avoid making costly hiring mistakes that sometimes take months and years to correct.

2. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT: Help your employees to identify opportunities for growth and development. This system should be customized to provoke meaningful discussions between managers and employees about relevant issues they’re dealing with on a daily basis.

3. REWARDS & RECOGNITION: Reward and recognize your team as they consistently and successfully exhibit behaviors and actions that support and align with the direction, values and success of the organization. These not only provide incentives for your employees to exhibit the right behaviors, but they also serve as a high-profile means of promoting the values themselves.

4. DISMISSAL: It’s crucial to only have those on the team that are truly on the team. You don’t want the right person on the wrong bus. Don’t allow one apple to spoil the rest. Act fairly, but quickly.

Your brand is more than a symbol. In the public’s eye, your brand is a warranty. It is a promise that your service will live up to its name, and perform. Your brand is even MORE important than a warranty. No warranty does enough, because no warranty compensates the warranty holder for the lost time, suffering, frustration and inconvenience.

Your brand is more important because it is the closest thing to a guarantee… that the customer will not need the warranty, and have to endure the claims process. Brands are even more important to service customers because few services have warranties, in part because most services are difficult to impossible to warrant.

How does one warrant that their legal advice will be certainly good… that a waiter’s service will be good… that a tax accountant will find every permissable deduction? Clearly, in most cases, one can’t.

Left without a warranty, the client has only your brand on which to depend. And depending on brands is just what service clients do. A service is a promise, and building your brand, builds your promise.

I am currently going through the book, The Tipping Point, by Malcom Gladwell. In this book, he shares the following…

Mark Granovetter; an American sociologist, once performed a 1974 study that became a classic… “Getting A Job.” He studied hundreds of professional and technical workers that lived in a Boston suburb. He discovered that 56% of people in this community who found jobs, found them through a personal connection. 18.8% found their jobs through formal means… newspaper classifieds, advertisements, headhunters, etc. Another 20% roughly applied for their jobs directly.

This is not surprising. The best way to get in the door is always through a personal connection. Granovetter found that of these personal connections, the majority were weak ties. Of those that used a contact to find a job… only 16% saw that contact often. 55.6% saw their contact only occasionally, and 28% saw their contact rarely. People weren’t getting their jobs through their closest and dearest friends… they were getting them through their acquaintances. What’s the point?

When it comes to getting information, leads, ideas, and business connections, weak ties are always better than strong ties. Afterall, your friends occupy the same world that you do. They might work with you, or live near you… and go to the same churches, schools and parties. How much then would they know that you don’t already know? On the other hand, your acquaintances occupy a very different world than you. They’re much more likely to know something or someone that you don’t.

To capture this apparent paradox… Granovetter coined the phrase, “The Strength In Weak Ties.” The more acquaintances you have, the more powerful you become, especially in your business position. Understand the importance of familiarity, and ties to other connectors. Don’t underestimate the power of relationships, even the seemingly insignificant ones.

Our society has clearly become overwhelmed with advertisers clamoring for our attention. The New York based firm;
Media Dynamics, now estimates that the average American is now exposed to 254 different commercial messages in a single day. There are billions of websites vying for your browsing time. Cable systems routinely carry hundreds of channels of programming. A glance inside the magazine section of any Barnes & Noble bookstore will reveal the thousands of magazines and periodicals that come out each month.

In the advertising world, this is called the “Clutter Problem.” Clutter makes it increasingly more and more difficult to get any single marketing message to “stick.” Much of what we see and hear, we simply don’t remember.

How “sticky” is your marketing collateral? Is your website original, relevant, fresh and inviting? Does your print collateral blend in with the mediocrity of junk mail that crowds your mailbox? What does your email marketing look like? How about your television and radio ads?

And I am not just talking about design. Looking your best is certainly crucial, but your message… your content is equally, if not more, important.

The name of our company is LOUD! Creative Group. We exist to empower our clients to be heard… to be seen, and to rise above the clamoring clutter of their competition.

Evaluate your marketing collateral, and your message. How much does it stand apart from the rest? How memorable is it? How sticky is it? How worthy is your message of being passed on by others?

For you loyal readers, thanks for your patience over the past several days. Illness had taken over my household, but we’re working through it. On my first day back in a while, I thought I’d share with you a few words of inspiration. I know it seems like a long read, and your time is short… but I really believe you’ll be inspired if you’ll take the time. Enjoy.

THE RACE, D.H. Groberg

Whenever I start to hang my head in front of failure’s face,
My downward fall is broken by the memory of a race.
A children’s race, young boys, young men; how I remember well,
Excitement sure, but also fear, it wasn’t hard to tell.

They all lined up so full of hope, each thought to win that race,
Or tie for first, or if not that, at least take second place.
Their parents watched from off the side, each cheering for their son,
And each boy hoped to show his folks that he would be the one.

The whistle blew and off they flew, like chariots of fire,
To win, to be the hero there, was each young boy’s desire.
One boy in particular, whose dad was in the crowd,
Was running in the lead and thought “My dad will be so proud.”

But as he speeded down the field and crossed a shallow dip,
The little boy who thought he’d win, lost his step and slipped.
Trying hard to catch himself, his arms flew everyplace,
And midst the laughter of the crowd he fell flat on his face.

As he fell, his hope fell too; he couldn’t win it now,
Humiliated, he just wished to disappear somehow.
But as he fell his dad stood up and showed his anxious face,
Which to the boy so clearly said, “Get up and win that race!”

He quickly rose, no damage done, behind a bit that’s all,
And ran with all his mind and might to make up for his fall.
So anxious to restore himself, to catch up and to win,
His mind went faster than his legs. He slipped and fell again.

He wished that he had quit before with only one disgrace.
“I’m hopeless as a runner now, I shouldn’t try to race.”
But through the laughing crowd he searched and found his father’s face,
With a steady look that said again, “Get up and win that race!”

So he jumped up to try again, ten yards behind the last.
“If I’m to gain those yards,” he thought, “I’ve got to run real fast!”
Exceeding everything he had, he regained eight, then ten…
But trying hard to catch the lead, he slipped and fell again.

Defeat! He lay there silently. A tear dropped from his eye.
“There’s no sense running anymore! Three strikes I’m out! Why try?
I’ve lost, so what’s the use?” he thought. “I’ll live with my disgrace.”
But then he thought about his dad, who soon he’d have to face.

“Get up,” an echo sounded low, “You haven’t lost at all.”
For all you have to do to win is rise each time you fall.
“Get up!” the echo urged him on, “Get up and take your place!”
“You were not meant for failure here! Get up and win that race!”

So, up he rose to run once more, refusing to forfeit,
And he resolved that win or lose, at least he wouldn’t quit.
So far behind the others now, the most he’d ever been,
Still he gave it all he had and ran like he could win.

Three times he’d fallen stumbling, three times he rose again.
Too far behind to hope to win, he still ran to the end.
They cheered another boy who crossed the line and won first place,
Head high and proud and happy — no falling, no disgrace.

But, when the fallen youngster crossed the line, in last place,
The crowd gave him a greater cheer for finishing the race.
And even though he came in last with head bowed low, unproud,
You would have thought he’d won the race, to listen to the crowd.

And to his dad he sadly said, “I didn’t do so well.”
“To me, you won,” his father said! You rose each time you fell.”
And now when things seem dark and bleak and difficult to face,
The memory of that little boy helps me in my own race.

For all of life is like that race, with ups and downs and all,
And all you have to do to win is rise each time you fall.
And when depression and despair shout loudly in my face,
Another voice within me says, “Get up and win that race!”

This post is for you beginner to intermediate Photoshop designers out there. Some of you have asked… “How do you create that “softened-text-look” for your images?” Well, it’s so simple, anybody can do it… and I mean “anybody.”

Almost always, there’s more than one method to approach tricks and effects, but the 8 steps listed below is the technique I most commonly use to soften my text for web, email and print designs.

STEP 1: CREATE A NEW LAYER FOR TEXT
In your Photoshop document, create a New Layer, and type some text of your choice onto that New Layer.

STEP 2: CREATE A 2ND NEW LAYER FOR A TEXTURED IMAGE
Create a 2nd New Layer (below the first text Layer), and add some kind of subtle texture image (or you could just use a solid fill color on this layer). Whichever your choose… it’s important that the background image has adequate contrast to the color of your text, and that the background image isn’t too busy.

STEP 3: SELECT YOUR TEXT LAYER
Make sure your new layer of text is the “selected” layer in your Layers Palette, by single clicking on that layer.

STEP 4: SELECT OUTER GLOW LAYER EFFECT
Click on the “Layer Effect” button on the bottom of your Layers Palette, and select the “Outer Glow” option.

STEP 5: ADJUST OUTER GLOW SETTINGS
Set the Blend Mode to “Normal”, set the opacity somewhere from 80% to 100% (I typically use 100%), and set the Noise to 0.

STEP 6: OPEN COLOR PICKER FOR OUTER GLOW EFFECT
Now, single click in the color box for this effect, which will bring up the Color Picker, that will allow you to select the color of your glow.

STEP 7: CHOOSE COLOR FROM BACKGROUND
With the Color Picker open, move your cursor (which is now an Eyedropper Tool for selecting colors out of your image) — and click your Eyedropper Tool somewhere close to your text (usually within 3 to 5 pixels from your text.)

STEP 8: DARKEN COLOR CHOICE FOR OUTER GLOW
Now that you’ve selected the color of your background near your text, drag the selection circle inside of the Color Picker down a few pixels, so that the color that was pulled from your background will be darkened, but just a little. Click OK on the Color Picker, and then click okay on the Layer Styles Palette, and voila… you’re done.

SUMMARY WRAP-UP
Basically, soft text is just the result of a very subtle glow effect, that’s just a little darker than the color of the background behind your text… allowing your text to blend into the page better. You can also play around with the Outer Glow FX settings… by perhaps setting your Blending Mode from Normal to Multiply… or perhaps you’ll want to adjust the Opacity for your Outer Glow FX.

Softened text can be especially beneficial when using pixel fonts for web based design.

I hope this helps. Enjoy.

“A business that doesn’t advertise is like an old man rocking his chair in a dark room. “He” knows what he’s doing, but nobody else does.”

JAMES D. WEBB