Practical Creativity Checklist for Insider's Circle
There are a number of methods for rearranging the existing and old into the different and new that actually account for most innovations in the world. There may not be anything new under the sun. For instance, in a future Successful Marketing Strategy, I'll talk about Walt Disney. Disney is often called the 'Inventor of the Theme Park', but he actually changed the amusement park. Now here are some of the things that belong on this practical creativity list.
#1) Can we plus the product, service or business? "Plussing" is addition, adding to. A while ago a company rolled out a new product, peanut butter and jelly swirled together in the same jar. Depending on how you want to look at it, they "plussed" the peanut butter with jelly or vice versa. The product didn't do well, but it's a good example of the idea.
#2) Can we can minus the product, service or business? A convertible is a car without a hardtop.
#3) Can we do it with size? The entire instant printing industry is a result of a size change. Once upon a time printing companies were large and relatively inaccessible and intimidating to the general public and the small entrepreneur. Printshops were located in cheap rent and industrial sections of town. They had no customer service people. The instant print shop, the small print shop, changed the industry dramatically by mixing modern, retailing methods with an old industrial service.
#4) Can we change it through usage? Railroad ties are decorative items for landscaping.
#5) Can we change it with color? A few years ago a hot product in the compute industry were monitors available in a variety of brightly colored plastic boxes, hot pink, purple, yellow and fire engine red.
#6) Can we change its market? The perfect example of this is again, the computer industry. All the original thinking behind this industry saw the computer as a business product, like the copy machine. But at some point the PC was born. The innovation here really wasn't a different product, it was a change in thinking about the market for the product.
#7) Can we make a price change? Installment purchasing was a price change innovation. The classic two for one sale was a price change marketing strategy. In the restaurant business the dinner for two is a price change marketing strategy.
#8) Can we resurrect the old? Remember that convertible automobiles were a dead issue in the industry until Iacocca brought them back to life. Utilizing this type of 'creative thinking" grouped on a checklist helps you look at a given product, service or business from many different perspectives.
Kennedy's Marketing Strategies Summarized
It's all about results. Not opinions. A governing principle is that your friends', peers', competitors', trade associations', employees', spouse's, mother-in-law's opinions, even your own opinions, do NOT count. The only votes that count are accompanied by money.
There are three fundamentals to ALL successful marketing, of equal importance to one another. One: MESSAGE; what you say about yourself, your products, services, offers, guarantees, company, features, benefits, customers, etc. that is compelling and magnetic to a particular audience. Two: MARKET; who you choose to craft the message for, and deliver it to. Three: MEDIA; how you get the message to the market in a way that is effective, efficient and affordable.
Assumptions verboten. Do not assume your mail will be opened, your ads read. Do not assume your customers remember your story or believe your promises. Instead, think and act as if they do not.
Direct-response ONLY. Brand-building, if it occurs, is happy by-product, not purpose. Image is sacrificed for impact. Nothing that cannot be accurately, ruthlessly tracked, measured and held accountable ever done.
Long copy. "Experts" and the ignorant (often the same people) keep insisting that long copy is dead', .that "our clientele" is too dumb/too busy/etc. to read long copy, ..that times have changed and short copy is in, etc., etc. ad nauseum. They said this in 1940. 1950. 1960. 1970. 1980. 1990. 2000. 2007. Wrong before, wrong now. EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE PROVES VIRTUALLY WITHOUT EXCEPTION that long copy sells more. Bring me any actual control' using brief, short copy, let's make a $50,000.00 wager, I'll replace it with long copy, re-test, loser pays.
Ugly, clunky, odd outperforms pretty, elegant, normal. Same
control' wager is available.
One-step, one-hit marketing is stupid. If you are going to mail one flyer and stop, stop before you mail the one flyer. Repetition - but not dumb ad agency, image, brand repetition - is absolutely REQUIRED to get maximum response, usually just to get satisfactory response. ALL marketing message deliveries should be done in message-linked, strategically timed SEQUENCES, usually multi-media. (Example: 3 letters, each 15 days apart; FAXes and e-mails in between; voice broadcast before and after 3rd mailing.)
No media is different. Whether the Yellow Pages, Val-Pak, a flyer stuffed under a windshield wiper, a web site, etc., what works, works; what doesn't, doesn't. Copy that sells is copy that sells.
No business is different. You think yours is. Such thinking severely limits, restricts, strangles you.
No market is different. People are moved to respond and to buy by exactly the same collection of E-FACTORS (see: Midas Touch Selling), emotions, benefits and arguments, whether they are Fortune 500 CEO's or factory workers, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, young or old, etc.
Discrimination. The antiquated but still popular sales axiom is: it is easier to sell to those who are not interested than it is to find those who are interested. My marketing does the opposite: protects and preserves your resources and time, to sell only to those who are highly interested. And to, as quickly and cheaply as possible, repel those who aren't. There's no bonus given at the bank for degree of difficulty; the easy sale pays the same commission as the hard one.
The (Secret) 'Rule' Of The Wealthy
Wealthy people make a practice of getting paid BEFORE they do work. Poor people get paid after they've done work.
As a result, poor people are trying to pay yesterday's bills with tomorrow's paycheck, and as further result, incur debt rather than accumulate savings. Poor people must buy things in the most disadvantageous ways, at the highest costs, usually under the pressure of immediate need. Wealthy people can buy things in the most advantageous ways, and often buy at the lowest prices.
For example, the aforementioned single mom never had enough cash at one time to go to Costco or Sam's Club and stock up on large sizes of commodities at bargain prices, instead buying groceries and household commodities every few days, in small, uneconomical sizes. When I was in my teens, and my family was broke, we lived in a semi-rural area, and the house required heating oil. My parents could never come up with enough money to get a truck's delivery of a full tank of heating oil, which was the economical way to buy it, instead buying it every few days, a few gallons at a time, at nearly 3-times the cost.
Anyway, to return to the Rule, it is to get paid before work, not afterward.
Why? If for no other reason than to be sure and do the opposite of what poor people do!
But for many other reasons.
In business, it eliminates collection problems. It makes it easier to extract cash from your business, to save or invest, and easier to live free of debt. A business can be self-financing.
There are profound psychological reasons too. A very important and meaningful kind of confidence is derived from being free of debt and obligation. Another surge of confidence comes from the very fact of being paid in advance. This kind of confidence is magnetically attractive to other people and to money itself. In short, the less you need or feel the need to get money, the more easily money flows to you.
As an example, consider my own situations. In copywriting work, a project often extends over weeks, and it's not that unusual for it to extend over months. Because I am paid between 33% and 50% before I even start work, that money has moved through my checking account, in most cases, into productive, wealth-building investments before I'm even halfway done with the work. As I face the tabletop of documents and the computer screen, I know that this work has already provided a good investment in a piece of real estate or interest-bearing note, corporate bonds, something of that ilk, or even a racehorse I will feed a carrot to, watch race or possibly drive in a race that night. Imagine how much better I feel, how much better my energy about that work is than if I were having to do it all before seeing a dollar! As a speaker, I've always, from day one, gotten half the fee the day I reserved the date, even if months in advance, the other half on arrival, on site. I've joked "I give a better speech with a check in my pocket", but actually, truth in the jest.
Poor people go through life at extreme psychological and emotional disadvantage due to incessant focus on
lack' and the urgent need of the next pay they are to receive for the work they have already invested themselves in completing. They are fatigued and distracted by their ever-present sense of need and the feeling of chasing but never quite catching up to their need. They are blocked from creative thought, from recognizing and exploiting their talents, by this overwhelming fatigue.
A common expression of this you will hear poor people affirm is: "A day late, a dollar short." And they are. All the time. And whether it is the dollar for the poor person or $100,000.00 for the beleaguered business owner juggling three balls - debt, work in progress for which there can be no money until it is completed, and late payments owed to him - the psychological wear-n-tear is identical.
People paid in advance go through life with a constant sense of accomplishment and abundance. Their relationship with 'money' and with 'work' is different because of this; a closed loop to different, better results.
It is important to take a close look at how your business is structured, and if you are getting paid post-work rather than pre-work, to ask yourself how that might be switched around. And do not be the fool who instantly trots out the "can't be done in MY business - MY business is different" excuse book. Do not let yourself belong to that club. The membership standards are very low; just about any boob is welcome. But the benefits are few!
Dan is giving away $613.91 of his BEST Money-Making & Marketing Information for FREE…but only to a LIMTED NUMBER of people so I urge you to ACT QUICKLY before it’s too late.
42 Proven and Tested Secret Triggers to Achieving More in the Next 12 Months (The Phenomenon)
- You can't let your past control your future.
- You trigger The Phenomenon™ by not waiting until you're ready or qualified or have all the resources you need. You start.
- Ignore whatever you lack and focus on using what you've got.
- No business is different. The same success principles apply.
- What seems to be the worst thing ever to happen to you can be the best thing!
"In every adversity lies the seed of equal or greater opportunity and achievement." – Napoleon Hill
"You create your own reality." – LeeMilteer
- Failure is NOT permanent.
- You PREPARE for The Phenomenon™ through the acquisition of relevant knowledge.
- The most important business knowledge is 'marketing.'
- You trigger The Phenomenon™ by ACTING on your ideas.
- It doesn't matter how long you've been 'plodding along" – you can go from slow to fast...you can change everything in 12 months....because....
- Most businesses and careers contain hidden or overlooked opportunities
- A business owner remains limited by his own narrow definitions and only tries to grow his income – an entrepreneur expands his income by connecting many opportunities
- Most businesspeople incorrectly think success is most closely linked to having the best products or services or unique products or quality or service or – worst of all – to hard work. They do not understand that the critical element is truly understanding direct marketing
- You trigger The Phenomenon™ with a marketing SYSTEM
- You trigger The Phenomenon™ by being open to new opportunities
- You trigger The Phenomenon™ with bold action
- Having a great marketing system for your business isn't just about making money. It's about LIBERATING YOURSELF.
- You set the parameters for your own Phenomenon. It's not just about making money. It's about how you make your money.
- A powerful trigger for The Phenomenon™ is finding the great opportunities you may be overlooking, that wait right where you are, in your present business, your hobby, your talents...instead of looking afar for resources you feel you lack.
- Before you can experience The Phenomenon™, you have to DECIDE what you want to be different.
- When you change the way you think about your own possibilities, you can then change your circumstances
- You have to "set things in motion"...
- The Phenomenon™ requires ASSOCIATION with other entrepreneurs, mentors, coaches and expert advisors who provide relevant information, 'blueprint', guidance andencouragement...you need a 'support system'
- You have to be willing NOT to wait to have all your ducks in a row or all your questions answered, even to create chaos. You trigger The Phenomenon™ when you start before I'm ready.
- You can trigger The Phenomenon™ at any time, under any circumstances, with your own DECISIONS.
- Avoid UNDER-VALUEING yourself, your knowledge, your service. (Most entrepreneurs are fearful and timid about 'price' and underestimate both the value of what they can provide and the price others will gladly pay)
- "No Waiting". Do NOT wait for 'the right time.' MAKE this the right time. Act on your ideas and intentions.
- Changes in 'Transaction Size' can trigger The Phenomenon™. You can get where you want to go faster by taking bigger steps.
- Why not create an extraordinary business instead of an ordinary one? Doing so allows you to successfully sell at prices or fees and profit margins substantially higher than your industry norms or competitors.
- 'Qualifications' are far less important than 'value delivered.' The Phenomenon™ is triggered by bringing great value to others.
- Don't wait for permission from some authority to do what you want to do, to act on your ideas. Give yourself all the permission you need to act – not wait for anybody else.
- When you find opportunity, refuse to let it get away!
- Finding and associating with the right people is a critically important trigger of The Phenomenon™.
- The Phenomenon™ can be triggered by giving yourself permission to find an entirely new and different way to deliver what you know or do, in a way that is more pleasing to you.
- You may be only one courageous decision away from The Phenomenon™
- You are most likely to experience The Phenomenon™ by personal COMMITMENT to speed. Most people settle for 'slow' too easily!
- ANY inspiration-to-action can trigger The Phenomenon™!
- Most people already possess the 'raw material' they need to create the life they really want.
- There is more than one way to operate every business, deliver every service, market every product or capitalize on every talent, ability and knowledge. If the 'model' you're using now isn't getting you where you want to go, find a different 'model'
- ASSOCIATION with others who have a broader, more creative perspective on business and who are achieving the kinds of success, speed and lifestyle that you aspire to can trigger The Phenomenon™.
- It is not what others think that matters most. It is what YOU DO that triggers The Phenomenon™.
- Many types of action serve to trigger The Phenomenon™. AGGRESSIVE action is certainly one of them.
AGGRESSIVE pursuit of and acting on information specifically related to your goals, from valid sources...from people who've accomplished what you'd like to achieve...can trigger The Phenomenon™ in your life!
‘10’ Million Dollar Marketing Secrets
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Secret #8: How your business should currently have either (black marker with handwritten Secret #8 or (black marker with handwritten Secret #8 but if you want to become a truly Extraordinary business you need to know how to have and balance BOTH!
Secret #9: The secret to acquiring and keeping a customer depends significantly on your willingness to (black marker with handwritten Secret #9).
Secret #10: How if you do nothing more than change your personal (black marker with handwritten Secret #10) you can start doing business like the extraordinarily successful entrepreneurs, marketers and business leaders do...earning you HUGE Paydays!
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