Well, in a discussion with a friend about the future of marketing, they said to me “Tradional media (as it it used in marketing) is not dead (like television and print) . . . and has the numbers on their side (as opposed to internet marketing) and, for now, it looks like it’s as strong as ever” . . . This got me bothered, becuase I’m not sure what numbers they are referring to?
I mean, I don’t use either for my company, and we’re growing every quarter . . . also, I know several other business who are seeing great growth without using “tradional media” as well.
Maybe it’s just the phrase “Traditionalmedia is not dead” . . . I wouldn’t say it is or is not dead . . . I think that it’s going through a great evolution wight now.
I think marketing itself is going through an evolution not a fight.
If you think marketing is all about how many people see you, I think you are missing the point of marketing effectively.
Numbers alone mean little here.
If you look at Neilson ratings and take companies like Ford and Coca-Cola who advertise on shows like American Idol, for example . . . Yes, you can say: “See, tradition marketing is still going strong.”
But it’s really not . . .
You need to ask first “who is marketing here?” with “traditional media.”
Ok, sure, Coca-Cola and Ford.
But these are huge corporations . . . but what about smaller companies?
Remember the Super-Bowl dilemma this year?
Even large companies are second guessing using “traditional media”.
Nielson ratings tell us only a small part of information . . . and numbers of people who see an ad means little.
Effective marketers know this . . . it’s the people who sell the ad space that care about numbers, not the companies buying it.
Good marketing is not like pigeon hunt with a shotgun . . . it’s a sniper shoot.
This applies for all media.
With evolution, yes — some things die — but the casualties here will not be the types of media but the “traditional media” companies that do not effectively integrate themselves into using the internet and evolving with it.
This is what good companies do though . . . they see a change happening and they adapt.
What you should be paying attention to, more that the colossal corporations, is small and medium sized businesses and how they are trending in their use of traditional media.
With the development of social media, the internet itself is evolving and even traditional internet based companies that thrived on promoting commerce, like eBay, are facing great problems and rapidly declining traffic.
The internet is entering into a new stage of community development, where it’s more like a small town in its feel . . . this essentially is what social media is doing.
In short, the companies that are the early adopters of this new media and who can effectively use it, will thrive.
Ironically, it’s more traditional small town values that we’re trying to incorporate into the world wide web.
The days of faceless and emotionless corporate colossuses are numbered.
I’ve been running on online auto dealership for over 6 years now and someone recently asked me on some of the wisdom I’ve picked up on over the years and what I’ve done to keep my customers happy and prevent issues from arising.
Here are my thoughts:
Well, the biggest potential issue comes from people not getting what they expect . . . this is why it’s important to handle a special juggling act where you want to earn their trust by being very open and having great customer reviews, but still keeping them open to the idea that mistakes can and will happen in these transactions and that they are dealing with a human and that someone is here to help them if they need a hand.
Also, it’s critical to be upfront in providing as much information as possible in a very structured and easy to filter method, but at the same time giving them a little element of doubt at first.
The main goal is to get them to call and build a relationship with me and see that I really do give a damn. . . . and I do.
The next rule of thumb is to refuse a sale to someone who you feel will give you issues . . . one bad customer can ruin your business, so, in my line, I do refuse to sell to people I have a bad feeling about. This doesn’t mean I will never work with them. I just wont pressure them and I will stay distant . . . sometimes people have to just come to you because they have trust issues that they are trying to overcome and this happens on their own pace and through being transparent . . . you can lead a horse to watter, but you can’t make it drink, so to say.
There is also a balance in being sort of a dictator in these transaction and having the client realize that you will be flexible, but when it comes to closing the sale, you are strict and by the book. . . this is for every-one’s best interest.
So that this doesn’t come as a surprise, framing is very important.
In any complex transaction it is very important to do what’s called “framing” as soon as possible . . . this means you outline the whole transaction upfront and tell the customers what they can expect. . . this really does help put the customer at ease, because they now know that there is a process and order to something that is very new to them.
The ability to frame properly comes with experience. . .
Above all else, the most important rule is to never lie and also realize that all people have value . . . and this does not come by telling them they are valued, but my trusting them first. . . . actually.
Of course, this isn’t too far off from real life either.
In this business, just like life, all we have is our integrity and without it, we have nothing. . .
One big problem many sellers, like many people on the street, have this the fear of disappointing others so they tell people what they think they want to hear rather than remaining confident and consistent. . .
It’s just better to be upfront and let your cards show.
If you’re operating a legitimate business, there is just nothing to hide.
In the end, the goal is to build a sort of partnership with the client where they feel they have a vested interest in your success and failure because your relationship is mutually beneficial.
Too many businesses fail to see the long term value in this, but in times like these, it’s these clients that will carry a business though and one reason why, while many car dealerships are struggling, we’re actually doing just fine . . .
Greed makes big profits in the beginning, but they drop quickly and the effort and money needed to keep finding new clients will increase overtime, making long-term gains very low and the risk of failure in the end very high.
There’s a saying that I like to keep in mind when making deals . . . “You can shave a sheep many times over the course of it’s life and it will love you for it . . . you can skin it only once.” Always, make it a point to be fair . . . people will ultimately find out when they have been taken advantage of and regaining their trust will be nearly impossible.
Anyhow, the best rule of thumb to avoid issues when dealing with customers online, is to always address what’s difficult upfront . . . this is good for both life and business. . . as I’m getting older and wiser, I’d have to say, there is little difference.
Because, in the end, with life and with business, it’s all about relationships and people helping each other.
What we do finds us . . . so that’s what I’ve been told.
So, starting off, I’m into using the internet for promotion like crazy, but mainly for my own interests. I don’t care to hock Viagra or sell other people’s stuff.
I’ve been toying with putting together a marketing company focusing on SEO and Design to some degree . . . but my main interest is photography and cars . . .
I’ve been into cars since high school and it’s been a passion since . . . and it’s also how I pay the bills.
I started selling cars when I first moved to Austin because my student loans did not go through for law school . . . apparently, although broke as anything, I came from a family that was too wealthy to get approved.
Since I needed cash right away, I found an add for getting a guaranteed $3000 for selling cars at Maxwell Dodge for four weeks . . . so I hopped on that opportunity right away.
I hated working there more than anything . . .
Side fact: I was an odd child so my school once had me tested . . . . Apparently, my IQ is nearly as high as Albert Einstein’s or Plato’s (which totally sucks, because now look where the bar is?).
Anyhow, I think this makes my tolerance for stupid short and there was lots of stupid everywhere.
I was up to my eyeballs in stupid . . . I learned quickly on how NOT to run a company there and I left rejoice fully after 3 months.
So since I could not get financial aid for Law School, I decided to enroll into the Air Force and become an officer . . . the process was long though so I had to find work again.
So I started selling Toyotas . . . they drew a better client base, but they were miserable people. . . Seemed mainly people concerned with money and the saving of it.
These are the same people who have missionary sex once a week at best and use calculators during foreplay . . . passionless and vapid at best.
I realized that each brand seemed to draw a certain type of personality with it (in general) . . .
So far Dodges brought idiots and Toyotas drew CPAs . . .
I stored that gem of knowledge for later . . .
I tired quickly of selling cars and walked away from my Toyota gig to find something else . . .
A week later I was at Dell.
I learned a shitload from Dell . . . mainly; time IS money and saving time makes money.
I also learned how to narrow down options for customers and how to lock down deals quickly and cleanly without issue . . . because it’s always easier to tie up all of the loose ends while the bull is still in the shoot
The last thing I learned is that people need guidance because they are clueless in the end and a confident and caring voice will almost always win their favor.
I was Dells #1 sales rep . . . so one year after I was hired; I was rewarded by getting fired . . .
I accidentally gave an old lady free shipping . . .
A year later the guy who fired me was fired (go figure).
Three days later I was selling Toyotas (and hating it!) . . . The next month I got a job working with the Austin Chamber of Commerce pushing add space for a directory for commercial real estate . . .
I got to hobnob with some bigger players, but I just used it as a way to get in with the heads of other companies so I could bypass the standard hiring procedures . . . via this route, I set up an “appointment” to meet the owner of “BMW of Austin” and a month later I was hired.
In the first two weeks I was their top sales person ( I used all of my contacts from my commercial real estate gig) and the following year I led the store in profit, sales, customer satisfaction, and I started a whole new department just for eBay . . .
By my second year I had my own department with my own staff and my own building dedicated to eBay and in my second year I started selling exotic cars — starting with a whopper $30,000.00 profit on a Porsche Turbo that was traded in.
Normally, our store just wholesaled these cars out to their respective dealers, but with my eBay department we had a way of finding buyers who would not typically come to our store.
Cars are sold all of the time now on eBay, but I actually was one of the first and in 2004 my eBay store was the second highest grossing store next to The Sharper Image.
Anyhow, cutting to where I am now…. I’m starting all over again.
There were some issues within my company involving egos and people who were jealous of me and what I was doing and the amount of freedom and power I was trusted with over anyone else there.
In the end, the only authority who had any bearing over me was the owner.
I saw what was happening and instead of letting this growing animosity tear away at the owner (who is my friend); I offered to buy out the eBay department and move it off site.
The owner agreed and sold me the rights and all of the equipment for pennies on the dollar.
I decided to completely redo how an auto dealership works and as I was doing this, I was chosen to be eBay and Google’s government liaison for auto dealers on the internet and I helped write a bill that legitimized auto sales via the internet solely (before, customers HAD to sign at a building, but with this law passed, it freed up that requirement and the last road block to my store was out of the way).
I started Motorphilia 6 weeks later.
In this business plan I decided to do away with all of the over head of maintaining an inventory and lot space and decided to use the internet to allow me to turn cars quickly and distribute them worldwide.
There is a second phase in place for my company, but as of right now we’ve hit some growing pains . . . one, my accounting sucks; and two, this financial crisis hit the same time we were renewing our credit lines for buying inventory . . . this made buying new inventory difficult for about 6 weeks (and right now we are feeling the fallout of this and it hurts).
The outlook is good and the business model is solid . . . I’m still learning a lot, but in the end, I do love it and believe it is the future of how cars will be bought and sold.
Anyhow, this is a long answer . . . . So this is how I got involved with cars.
(And indirectly became a professional studio photographer and a pretty skilled web sleuth.)
“Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very
clean. It’s perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes
we’ve learned something from yesterday.”
“Women have the right to work wherever they want, as long as they have the
dinner ready when you get home”
“Life is tough, but it’s tougher when you’re stupid.”
“If you’ve got them by the balls their hearts and minds will follow.”
“A man ought to do what he thinks is right”
“If everything isn’t black and white, I say, “Why the hell not?””
“Talk low, talk slow and don’t say too much.”
“A horse is a horse,it ain´t make a difference what color it is.”
“Healthy, lusty sex is wonderful”
“Never say sorry - it’s a sign of weakness”
“I’m the stuff men are made of”
“I stick to simple themes. Love. Hate. No nuances. I stay away from
psychoanalyst’s couch scenes. Couches are good for one thing.”
“I’ve had three wives, six children and six grandchildren and I still don’t
understand women”
“Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday.”
Ever think about how we might affect each person that we meet?
I think we forget we’re not invisible until we want to be cared for – our ethics are based more on our convenience rather that what is good for others.
Ok, I can only speak for myself . . . seems I find myself doing this quite a bit and I know it’s less than ideal. . . In the end, though, it is the ideals that we hold that help guide us to a better life.
What then is the ideal for us?
It’s a big question . . . but it’s my belief that Jesus simplified this and it’s religion that has lost this message in the end.
At his last supper with his disciples he prayed a prayer for all who would believe in him: “that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me.” (John 17:21)
I think one critical error with many people’s view of religion is that it’s counter intuitive to Jesus’s actual vision . . . Jesus’s last prayer was about unity and us becoming a community, to care not just forourselves
We desire having an “US”and we want a “THEM”. This is a terrible illusion we crave to believe.
We want an “US” so we can justify treating and seeing others as them – the people who are not “US.”
It provides a false solace.
In the end we are just “US.”
We want definitions, it’s what we do. We feel if we can define something, we have some power over it. We want to have control.
We want to set up line items to define who is good and who is evil and who we let in and who we keep out.
To talk about who is going to heaven or hell is totally pointless and it divides us, working against Jesus’s vision for who we are to be . . . .
There is only “US”. We are one. The one’s who do not see this may be lost, but they are still with us regardless.
We are to be there for the lost and here to help each other.
Our one commandment is to Love above all else.
And Love does not live in a building . . .
Love is real and it’s there when we choose to put our egos and false sense of plans aside and see the need of others and choose to serve
We are conditioned to ask, “What’s in it for me?”
The truth is: Everything.
What sort of world do you really want to live in?
We have the choice to make it so.
If you ask, who is God?
It’s simple, God is Love.
Love is a choice and it’s up to us to choose to love or not love.
To Love sounds simple, but we are all scared to love first.
This is where it takes faith . . .
It’s not a feeling.
Jesus’s message was simple and if we really want a better world, we are to Love.
We are all somebody and we are all together.
It begins with us.
It begins with the choices and actions we make every day.
This was the old house that me, Guy, and Ruben lived in back in our Baylor days from 1999 to 2000. There were a lot of memories made here. Lindsay, Bill, and I stopped by here on our way up to Dallas to pick up some cars from an auction that we won the week prior. I wanted them to see this ugly and memorable place from my past and I was suprised to find that it was left open for us to explore. I can’t believe how small our rooms were — but, dang, the yard was huge — hey guys, do you remember when we cut that big tree in the back and the fire we had?
“Give a man to fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him to fish and he will eat for life.”
This is my plan for handling the homeless in this country; I would like your serious thoughts and consideration.
This is an idea I am trying to turn into a reality.
It will happen . . .
As for now it’s still in its conceptual development phase.
This is an active work in progress, here’s the current working plan:
(3 year program)
Provide
free education in a series of levels to the homeless:
1. Ethics and life decision skills - non religious
2. Provided spiritual education (optional)
3. Provide education in basics skills:
(phase 1) -reading, writing, math, basic science
(phase 2) -art appreciation, music, philosophy
4. Provide testing to develop functional skill set
5. Technical education and development.
Financial and housing incentives provided in return for development scale . . . Or grades.
All residents of this program must stay in mandatory dormitories in program.
Program provided by a first come first serve basis, with an allowance made for 1 formal entry a month.
Freedom limited in accordance with progress in courses.
Those in dorms required to provide state base work from 6AM to 2PM . . .
Rewards of freedom for outstanding progress.
If citizens do not progress, they will be assigned under the direct care of a mentor
(a resident of the program) who will receive additional freedom for his student’s progress . . . Brothers helping brothers and sisters helping sisters.
There will be an assignment of levels given; with each level more freedom is allowed.
These mini communities will be set throughout the city and be a refuge to only those who agree to it’s tenants.
Healthcare is given, food is provided, but at a cost paid by labor and progress in classes and in community involvement.
Exercise and personal care will be taught and promoted with freedom. . . Cleanliness, grooming, and body fat will be measured and graded.
These centers will be run by a series of prominent community members and companies, who are offered substantial tax relief in exchange and with each center’s progress graded they will receive additional tax and financial incentives.
The highest performing center will be awarded a 100% tax waiver to its sponsor.
University professors, teachers, business professionals, religious leaders, and community leaders will be offered tax incentives in exchange for their services and awarded additional financial rewards for each student’s progress.
For hiring graduates of this program, businesses will be given additional tax incentives.
Graduates may continue education in ethics, religion, math, philosophy and receive additional financial rewards for monthly testing progress.
How do you feel how this program will affect the economy and local communities?
What drawbacks will be encountered?
How can this program be improved?
Please provide your feedback . ..together we can make a difference today.
KID WARNING! THERE’S A SWEAR WORD AT THE END.
Christopher Walken tells the tale of Romeo and Juliet, and how cupid (John Madden) was actually responsible for the tragedy that befell them. Starring Nicholas Cage as Romeo and Natalie Portman as Juliet.From BlameSociety.net
Look for new Celebrity Bric-a-brac Theatre episodes on atomfilms.com, starting in April/May.
This is one of my favorite passages from C.S.Lewis from his book The Four Loves:
There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket — safe, dark, motionless, airless — it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.I believe that the most lawless and inordinate loves are less contrary to God’s will than a self-invited and self-protective lovelessness…We shall draw nearer to God, not by trying to avoid the sufferings inherent in all loves, but by accepting them and offering them to Him; throwing away all defensive armour. If our hearts need to be broken, and if He chooses this as a way in which they should break, so be it.
What I know about love and believe about love and giving ones heart began in this.
In short, to love is to risk and we will feel pain when we love . . . but the alternate of not letting go and feeling free to love is a worse place to be.
In the end, above all else, feel free to love and love without question.
Only then, will we experience true love . . . swing for the fences kiddos, we’ve got a lot of life left ahead of us!
I decided to make this graphic to share with a friend, then I decided to share it with all of you.
(just click on the image below to enlarge and feel free to save this, it’s my gift to all of you)
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