Most advertising is totally useless.

It happens when companies robotically ‘check the boxes’ with uninspired words and images. Here’s the problem: a thousand other businesses are saying the same ‘ol laundry list of things:

We’re family-owned! We have great customer service! We’re the best!

Snooze-ville.

It’s no surprise that return on investment stinks.

Hence the love/hate relationship some people have with marketing. But it’s not marketing’s fault, it’s the marketer’s fault.

•Stop looking at advertising like a SLOT MACHINE (random results).

•Start looking at advertising like a VENDING MACHINE (predictable results).

Predictable results don’t come from a fairy’s pixie dust or the luck of a leprechaun.

It’s the result of creative discipline.

Marketing isn’t an elite country club for only brilliant artists or data-driven scientists. It’s a wide playing field; it’s for anyone willing to think things through, for those willing to connect the dots no one else is connecting.

Creative discipline begins by asking yourself:

1) What do I want this ad to achieve?

2) What action do I want my potential customer to take?

Start there and you’ll be way ahead of the copycats.