From an article posted in the Costco Connection by Andrew Lock on "Don't Give UP".

The Beatles

Decca Records turned down a recording contract with the Beatles with this fascination evaluation: "We don't like their sound. Guitar groups are on their way out."

From an article posted in the Costco Connection by Andrew Lock on "Don't Give UP".

Fred Astaire

After his first screen test, the memo from the testing director of MGM, dated 1933, read, "Can't sing. Slightly balk. Can dance a little." Astaire kept that memo over the fireplace in his Beverly Hills home.

Why we struggle in our public schools…

I am reading a very inspirational book by Malcolm Gladwell called "Outliers".

Gladwell's interview sounds like a conversation that I have had with many people about being a creative artist…

"We sometimes think of being good at mathematics as an innate ability. YOu either have 'it' or you don't. But to Schoenfeld, it's not so much ability as ATTITUDE."

Gladwell quotes this math professor, Alan Schoenfeld, from Berkeley, "Success is a function of persistence and doggedness and the willingness to work hard for twenty-two minutes to make sense of something that most people would give up on after thirty seconds." 

Just got turned onto this new book by a friend of mine about how to design web sites that keep viewers engaged.

Neuro Web Design

I have nearly underlined every piece of copy in the book. Great stuff!

Here is a teaser:

"Most behavior and decision-making isn't conscious. That means that they will have to engage the mid brain and the old brain, in addition to the new brain. We want to think that we are making logical decisions, even though we aren't. The mose effective Web sites are Web sites that talk to all three brains. When the Web site engages all three brains, then we click."

If you do anything on the web, I would strongly recommend this book.

© 2011 Michael Johnson - Inkspot Graphics. All rights reserved

Martin Lindstrom author of Brand Sense

He gives some great samples of marketing toward our other senses. He posts a statistic on the chapter "Maybe I'm doing it Right". . .

"It is estimated that 40 percent of the world's Fortune 500 brands will include a sensory branding strategy in their marketing plan by the end of the decade." I don't know what decade that he is referring to but I am guessing when it was written he is talking about 2020.

When you think about it . . . we fast forward through all the commercials with our television remote controls, daily.

That is why I am a great proponent of the "old" letterpress.

© 2010 Michael Johnson - Inkspot Graphics. All rights reserved.

Tip #1 - People buy Solutions.

In his book, 99.3 Random Acts of Marketing, Drew McLellan tells us this story:

"There is a great story about a marketing professor who brought a shovel into class. He held it up and asked his class how they'd sell it. The students pointed out the sturdiness of the handle and the sharpness of the shovel's point. The professor stopped them and said, 'People do not buy shovels. They buy holes.'"

People need solutions to THEIR problems. "Tell them about the holes."

I love that story. . . .

© 2010 Michael Johnson - Inkspot Graphics. All rights reserved.

No, this doesn't have anything to do with Sarah Palin, even though she has used this in her campaign speech.

But I do love psychology! Remember that when you want to emblazon an image with someone…it maybe your company name, web site, or your brand.

© 2010 Michael Johnson - Inkspot Graphics. All rights reserved.

I just watched this great TED presentation by Sir Ken Robinson. I have never heard him before but found out about him through Mitch Joel (another great inspirational marketing guy). If anything else, please watch the video for our children's sake!

Sir Ken quotes Picasso of saying, "Children are all born as Artists!" Our educational system focuses more on the three "R's" than it does on the arts. Our culture does not endorse being an artist as a career. It is when the child paints a purple cow, that the teacher or parent says, "Johnny, cows are not purple, lets look at some real cows". Some kids will notice the painting of the purple cow and laugh. Unfortunately, they have set a trigger in Johnny's head and the seed will remain planted.

When teaching in various institutions I have heard the same comment, "I can't draw, I am not an artist." I always went out of my way to explain we all have the creative talents it has just been suppressed. To get good at anything in life, you need to practice every day! I can't think of any athlete that took a year off and could at the top of his/her game when they returned to competition.

In my own business, I talk to people that have grand visions or dreams and I have to find subtle ways to get these to fruition. Trying to reverse the process of negative reinforcement takes twice as much work. So you have to work in baby steps to see small successes.

In marketing, the big keyword is ROI (return on investment) that businesses have learned. If I spend $5000.00 on the postcard campaign promoting our Winter Special can I make that $5000.00 back in 1 or 2 months. As I am learning now, is that with Social Media and branding your company (blogging, networking, etc) it may be a slow process but it is what our new generation of kids will understand. You can't fight the process, take a chance.

© 2010 Michael Johnson - Inkspot Graphics. All rights reserved.