A Step Back

Hello everyone! Well, it's been awhile since I've last posted, but I wanted to say that I'm taking time to learn as much as I can. I've been looking into books that I need to get a hold of to learn more about marketing. So far, I'm going start with Dr. Robert Cialdini, who's actually a professor at my alma mater (and a sociologist, not a marketer). Dr. Cialdini has done a lot of work on how social groups respond to different things, and his work has huge implications for business, sales, and marketing. Exciting stuff. I'm also going to pick up a few books by Malcolm Gladwell, who does a lot of analysis in a lot of different areas of life. So as soon as I can get some cheap copies, I'll start a different stage of the research process.

In the meantime, I'd like to take a step back from my last post, which was more than a little ambitious. I mean, I certainly understand that a guy with no experience doesn't really belong critiquing national ad campaigns. I haven't studied the target demographics, I haven't seen any focus group reports, and I definitely do NOT have experience in marketing. That being said, I'm going to try and explore some areas of marketing that I maybe didn't even know existed until I started networking with professional marketers.

I recognize the difference between the creative side (ad photography, ad layout, etc.) and copywriting, for example. I actually think I could do both, but I know me rather well and no one else does, so until I show someone I've got what it takes, I doubt anyone would believe me. I call this the "put up or shut up" method of pursuing a job and I'm going to start taking it very seriously. There's a wonderful blog post by Ian Lurie about how to write copy, and I intend to take his advice. I'll try to get a better education about what makes good copy writing as well, but I think that nothing prepares you for a career besides diving right in, learning as you go. So my next post will be about a couple different items that I wish to practice writing copy for and see how I do!

Getting started on my own

Well, it has been only a few short days since I have embarked on this grand adventure. But I thought I might take a small break from showcasing my experiences that will contribute to becoming a great marketer, and try to give my two cents on a couple ads to say what I like or don't like about them. In doing so, I'm hoping that I might be able to show a small amount of marketing acumen, so here goes:

The first ad I would like to comment on is for Doritos:

There is a lot I like about this ad. I like to think that the most successful products, the ones that get really big, are the ones that either fulfill a niche (not the case here), or that have the image of being part of your every day life (Coke will forever be associated with Christmas and polar bears for me). I think this Doritos ad does that. It shows an Every-Day-Joe (like me, presumably) enjoying his Doritos. And, also like me, he doesn't want to share. Someone off-shot, cleverly representing every person you can think of that isn't you, tries to grab some, but it's protected by a badger. Obviously an over-the-top response to get people away from your food, this humorous portrayal of just how good your Doritos are is a nice touch. Large, bold print and the uniqueness of using a badger (as opposed to a snake, a big cat, or a ferocious dog), make the ad a bit more memorable. All in all, this is a very appealing ad.

My only criticism, because nothing is perfect, is that the scene should not be a guy in gym close in a locker room. To me, Doritos have always been part of regular life, and I don't really think of locker rooms as part of every day life, even when I do work out regularly (which isn't often haha). But I do think of time spent at home as a significant part of life, and it seems that a guy on a couch would serve the Doritos brand much better. Now, it could be that this ad was meant to run in sports magazines or on sports web sites, but I feel the same link could be accomplished by having a guy on a couch watching football. It could even be shot from behind, slightly or completely obscuring the main subject so that the viewers are meant to place themselves in the Doritos Guy's position.

The second ad is a type that I see a lot of and that I wish would just go away- it's for insurance.

The problem- I have a different provider for each type of insurance and I'm confused!! The solution- Nationwide covers ALL THE INSURANCES... just like every company out there. And I can guarantee that every single insurance agent you've ever spoken with has let you know that. Why? Because they make more money by servicing more types of insurance. The only reason people ever have multiple insurance companies is if one has one type cheaper, and another has the other type, and bundling won't save you money. More importantly, it's only confusing if you have terrible agents incapable of explaining to you how everything works. What is this woman confused about? Pricing? Who to call for what? How to submit payment? Literally none of these woman's problems will be solved by Nationwide until she gains the slightest inkling of how things work in the real world.

Now that may seem harsh, but I just don't know to whom these ads are targeted. Are there really people that don't have a basic grasp of acquiring insurance? Surely from age 18, people have started to seek out and learn about insurance? I mean, car insurance is legally mandated. If you haven't, it seems like you would never need to because someone else is doing it for you... So the only thing I can think of when I see an ad that promotes a company doing the same thing every other company in their field has been doing for decades is that they think I'm an idiot, and insulting me will never get me to buy your product or service. But then again, the people in this ad can't solve a 400 piece puzzle either, so I guess you're identifying your market right there.

I take the same issue with the "drivers who switched saved $XX.XX!" Oh, no one switched to your company because their rates with you were more expensive? How odd! I suppose this is a problem with an industry as common as insurance. Because they all do the same thing, and because they need you to contact them for their best chance of signing you up, they simply promote the same unchanging aspects of their business over and over.

Well, there is something you can do to promote yourselves that isn't insulting- you can talk about your payouts. Yeah, the fact that you actually took care of your customer when they were trying to file a claim while other companies don't do that would highlight some positive aspect of your company without disrespecting potential consumers. There are companies that do these things. Those are the ones that make me think they're first rate. State Farm's ads where they whistle and get stuff were humorous while still driving home the point that they will take care of you in time of crisis-  just like a good neighbor would do!

To sum up, I believe a successful marketer should be able to create pleasing, memorable, positive ads that relate to people where they are. That's something I can do. If I want to feel comfortable with a product and want to know it can seamlessly fit into my life, I'll bet that others do too. And I have a lot of ideas about how to do just that. If I want respect from ads directed at me, then you can bet the farm that my ads will treat consumers with respect as well. And if your company or product is part of a relatively unchanging market, then I will work hard to make sure I can get that point across as well without disrespecting your customers.

Student Council Confessions

Despite the misleading and salacious title, I don't actually have any confessions of wrong-doing, shenanigans, or naughty behavior. But you're reading this, aren't you? Haha. Well, I do want to talk about my experiences in Student Council during High School. As with Speech and Debate, Student Council would turn out to be rather formative for me. Because whether I knew it or not, a lot of the activities Student Council was responsible for would promote positive skills I would find useful later in life.

Another Letter!

For starters, Student Council is all about finding ways to work constructively with others. As I'm sure is true of other schools' councils, mine was full of assertive, intelligent, and over-achieving types of people, and having your voice heard was sometimes a challenge. But that was kind of the point. If you wanted to contribute, you had to work to make your ideas heard, and defend your choices when you were discussing options. Themes for dances were decided in Student Council, as were the type and number of decorations, the song choices, everything was up for grabs, and fighting for your choices was par for the course!

Now I'm not going to lie and say that I ever dominated any activity. But I did have my voice heard, I did learn how to argue with others respectfully, and how to be assertive when it was appropriate. Being part of an organization with a high level of give-and-take really molded me to be a person that pursues what he wants and hold fast to my ideas. Now as I pursue marketing, it seems that the my experience expressing my ideas in the face of competition becomes so much more important. The next time I have to come up with a snappy t-shirt, or build the entertainment list for a marketing venture, I know I'll do very well. Thanks for reading!

I'm a fantastic public speaker

Lettered after just my freshman year!

One thing about me that many people do now know is that I am a veteran of the National Forensic League! No, this is not an organization dealing with the science of crime scene investigation, although that would have been cool to do as well if it existed- no, this is the organization for high school speech and debate. For those that have never been part of S&D, you really missed out. There were so many different and interesting activities to be a part of.

There were three activities that I loved the most: my main activity, and the reason I joined debate, was Lincoln-Douglas Debate. Named for the famed presidential debates between Abe Lincoln and Stephen Douglas when they were battling for votes from throughout Illinois. The format was such that a relevant statement about global affairs, morality, justice, or some other such high-minded topic would be chosen for all the high schools to use for a given tournament.

All participants were required to write out position arguments both in favor and in rejection of the original statement. During a tournament, you would have matches that switched back and forth between either side and pitted against a member of a different school. The debates were great fun. Even though there often only judges as witnesses (in the early rounds, at least), debating was a great test of keeping calm under pressure, and public speaking. Just knowing every word you spoke was literally being judged made the matches seethe with excitement. The match consisted of the pro-position speaking first to present their argument, questioning by the opponent then a rebuttal response and counter-position, a questioning of the negative-position and rebuttal of the counter-position, and a last summation by each debater. Man, those debates were a lot of fun. The rhetorical jabs, the lightning fast thinking, the tension of the nerves, all contributed to great excitement.

Student congress was another of my favorite events. Students would stump to play the role of speaker, who would call out the order of speeches/questions, and a vote would select two persons to share that role in a morning and afternoon session. Students were arranged as if they were representatives in government, and bills were debated as if they would actually come to impact the nation. Pro-positions, neg-positions, questions, discussions, it was everything a high school kid interested in politics could want! My favorite part was definitely making speeches to try and influence the passage or rejection of bills. Sure, we could look at the bills a couple days before hand and do a bit of research on them, but having to fill a whole speech (usually about 2 minutes, if I recall), not only with your own ideas, but also countering your opposition made the entire experience seem fast-paced, thrilling, and gave you a somewhat measurable outcome of just how good you were at public speaking. And perhaps that's why I found it so appealing. I was contending with the best speakers in my state, regardless of grade level, and sometimes speaking circles around the competition!

Perhaps just as satisfying, was extemporaneous speaking. In extemp, you chose a single topic out of 3-5 possibilities, took maybe 3 minutes, and then gave a 5-minute speech about it. And it was so varied! I can remember speaking about Pokemon to a group of Rotarians when they hosted a tournament in Phoenix. Can you imagine talking to a group of much older men about a children's cartoon they may not even have been aware of? The challenge of keeping strangers entertained for 5 whole minutes with minimal preparation and while still having some actual point to your speech made me so much sharper! Developing my wit, keeping my audience in mind, having to know a little something about basically everything, was simply the most profitable experience of my formative years.

I carry those experiences from my time in Speech & Debate with me today. I think quickly, act decisively, listen closely, and speak persuasively. I have often been told that I speak like a person who has authority, and that's no accident. Being tested in the fires of rhetorical combat certainly left me battle ready for a life dedicated to persuading others. As a person that is now pursuing marketing, I already know that I have the skills it takes to successfully pitch products and ideas to other people, strangers or not. This is how I know I was made for marketing.

Statement of Mission

Hello, and welcome to my new blog! I'm starting this blog with a single-minded mission in mind. I want to be a marketer. I want to be a marketer so bad, that I'm not willing to wait until I'm hired on as a marketer, I want to start by marketing my most important product- myself! With that in mind, I'd like to say a little something-something about myself so you can all get to know me better.

First, I've lived in Arizona my whole life. I went to Thew Elementary, Connolly AND McKemy Middle Schools, and attended McClintock High School. Growing up, the one thing I felt was missing in my life was direction. I started going to Mesa Community College right after high school, but I didn't really know what I wanted to do from there. All my life I've been told that a degree is a degree, and as long as you have one, you'll be able to get a great job, so when I declared my major, I went with what I found most personally appealing rather than what would guarantee a high paying job. I now know that's not true, but what a difference a few years in the job market will make.

That desire for direction was finally changed when I went to Mississippi to do relief work after Hurricane Katrina, an experience that has had a profound impact on my life. I dropped all my classes at MCC, and headed to the South. After coming home from Mississippi, I had two goals in mind:

• To learn a little about how houses were made because after any sort of disaster, rebuilding peoples' homes will be the absolute MOST helpful thing you can do to relieve the stress, anxiety, and hardship that people are experiencing. Plus, I figured knowing how to work on my own home would save me a lot of money over time.
• To learn about people. At the most basic level, I wanted to know how peoples' experiences impacted them? What made people tick? Why do some people make decisions one way, and others a different way?

 So, when I got back, I had a sense of the direction I wanted to go in life. I started working with my father, who was a house painter, cabinet/furniture refinisher, and all around remodeler. It was a great experience. I learned a lot about how homes are built, and how to properly repair, texture, and paint walls. We did a full remodel in his home, taking the walls down to the frame, moving some walls, adding flooring and a whole new kitchen! It was great experience, and allowed me to seek out my own opportunities for a time (until the financial collapse in 2008 largely dried up work). So my first goal was pretty well realized. There was a lot I didn't know, but I was confident that I would be able to do my part in any other sort of post-natural disaster relief effort.

As for the second goal, I went right back to school. I finished at MCC without wasting any more time and enrolled at ASU (Go Devils!) to get started on my BA in Psychology. And I got almost exactly what I wanted out of that- I learned a great deal about people, and my relationships with friends, family, and especially my wife are so much more fulfilling because I learned how to relate to and communicate with other people so much more effectively. Not to mention that I better understand how to solve interpersonal problems.

When I graduated school, having felt that I accomplished most of what I wanted, I was left again to wonder what the future held for me. I took the first job I found that was better than my current job, and I would come to find that was a mistake. Rather than think about what I wanted to get out of life, I took the easy road and started working 3rd shift maintenance for a local hospital.

 That job wore on me, with little opportunity to advance, little direction from management, and the weight of constantly shrinking hospital budgets leaving myself and others to only guess about whether or not we would have a job from day to day, week to week, or month to month. But the worst part about working that job, is that I was not pursuing my own future. Departing from there was perhaps the best opportunity I'll ever have to set that right.

I've spent a great deal of time thinking about my future as I pursue a new job. In that time I've realized that my skills, talents, desires, and indeed my very nature, point to an obvious career. I should be in marketing. No, I need to be in marketing. It's a career I will be good at. It's a career I will love. It's a career that will make the full use of my experiences, of my skills, and of my life. So here I am, pursuing that career with everything I've got. I'll keep you posted on how it goes!