Issue 6 - September / October 2013
Editor-In-Chief
Abdallah El Demery Assistant Editor
Omnia Mohi Eldin Designed and Sponsored by
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xcellence.. How good are we when it comes to Excellence? Is it something we keep in our minds while working, exercising, parenting, or while any other activity we do? As Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said “God loves when someone does something, he does it with excellence”.
Qualities such as perfection and devotion lead to excellence. When you start something, do it till the end and do it right. If you’re going to stop, you better have a good reason based on logic, not an excuse based on laziness, fear, or hesitation. Embracing such qualities not only makes us add value, but also gives a good example to the people around us and a whole generation to come. This is what we need now; laying a good ground for the coming generation to make this country better. This issue of The Marketing Magazine is embracing new exciting topics worth reading. Interesting local and international guest writers are enriching the content. Finally, new creative designers are featured. Keep coming back for more. Your feedback is highly appreciated, for any tips or ideas, please email me: abdallah@marnomics.com
Entrepreneurship
Table of Content
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Happiness Is Thinking Outside the Checkbox
The issue isn’t that big companies can’t work with highly creative or visionary types, it’s that the best path to big company employment for people with these qualities is probably not a system that rigidly dictates and automatically enforces the form and content of their applications.
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The Good, Bad and Ugly – A Snapshot of the Egyptian Media
The Biggest marketing in Start recent Stop Dreamingcampaign of Success EgyptianUsing history it to Your Advantage
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Are you using “success” as a powerful marketing tool? If not, you could be wasting an incredible resource. Smart marketers save money and make money by leveraging their resources - especially the resources ignored by the competition.
IS A SYSTEM NOT AN 20,21 MARKETING EVENT
You don’t have to be an industry expert to know that the nightly television talk shows and, to a somewhat lesser extent, select daily newspapers, have an exceptional amount of influence on Egyptian public opinion. Now typically, and this is true in almost every society worldwide, people tend to gravitate toward media outlets that share their same views
Without the same budget, resources and in-house expertise of larger companies, small businesses are at a disadvantage when it comes to marketing. By default, responsibility for marketing often falls to the business owner, who usually isn’t a marketing expert and is already strapped for time. As a result, usually one of two things happens:
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marketing includes way 22,23 Your too much you
Psychology on Ways on Improving Our Sales Pitch
Social psychology is the study of group behavior and how people interact with each other. Marketing and sales professionals have been using the findings of this growing field for decades in their advertising campaigns and sales pitches.
One of the most common mistakes marketers make is that they think their customers and prospects care about them, what they sell and how it works. The human truth is consumers really do think, feel and ask “what’s in it for me?”
IDEAS FOR THE FUTURE OF 10,11 5ADVERTISING
24,25 Strategizing For Entrepreneurs
As we think about the future of advertising in this new world, here are five ideas for how the ad world will look in the future, and how we can build a long term sustainable advertising ecosystem.
Most see the do-it-yourself entrepreneurial business as fairly lucrative because they are the sole beneficiary of revenue although most don’t see the work that goes into it. Common mistakes continue to repeat itself in this business which plagues entrepreneurs each year. The key is to seek guidance as well as to follow the standards that work.
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How to Maximize ROI from your Marketing Efforts?
What do consumers want from brands
The debate of which is better offline or online marketing efforts have different response and schools of thought. On the one hand, “old school” marketers firmly believe in the offline efforts minimizing the impact of online. On the other, “new school” marketers are the complete opposite; yet each one of those two groups is right in their own way.
What today’s consumers want most today is security and contentment. No doubt these wants are being shared by people’s economic outlook and circumstance, which most categorized as uneasy.
to Choose a Marketing 14,15 How Agency
Most Paradoxical Reasons 28,29 12 Why Creative Limitations Are Not
Finding an agency that understands your target customer base is critical. Your agency needs to have expertise in your industry because it needs to understand your company’s place in your market. The more experience that an agency has in your industry, the better the chances that it can develop a specific strategy for your particular need.
We all think we would enjoy being able to do as we please — especially when it comes to creativity. Imagine being able to create without any obstacles or boundaries. An unlimited budget would be great too! Or at least we think so.
Creation In The 16,17 Value Post-Marketing World
30-34 creative showcase
After the re-set in the global economy, people everywhere are re-evaluating and sorting out what is valuable in their lives and what is not. What the world needs now is to have more value added to it. And that’s what brands must do — add value to the world — if they want to lead the market in the post-marketing world.
Ahmed Ebrahim- Political Corruption Jacob Fayek- Cleaning is a must Mohamed Hammad- Egyptian Revolution 3 Wafaa Samir- The Answer
Limiting
Happiness Is Thinking Outside the Checkbox
C
oncerns about the way large companies hire their employees have been a controversial topic. The traditional system strips applicants of their individuality by making them check boxes, to which we said that “unless you’re a checkbox you shouldn’t work for large employers. The issue isn’t that big companies can’t work with highly creative or visionary types, it’s that the best path to big company employment for people with these qualities is probably not a system that rigidly dictates and automatically enforces the form and content of their applications. If you’re genuinely creative or visionary then you’re better served by either finding another way in that allows you to show your skills, or by breaking or manipulating the ineffective process to show why they need what you bring to the table. Your goal shouldn’t be to do the best you can within the system, but to prove that the system is set up to solve the wrong problem or deliver the wrong result.
If you’re good, the considerable effort and insight this approach requires will be nothing compared to the pain and frustration you’ll avoid by having a job that encourages you to think, say, and do exactly as you wish rather than forcing you to be someone you hate to see in the mirror every Monday through Friday, holidays excepted. If you’re not quite good enough or the organization doesn’t appreciate your obvious talents? That’s a conversation for another day, I think. Tate Linden
Checkboxes seem best suited to addressing a presupposed problem for which the right answer is at least intuited, if not outright known. And that’s why big companies use them. They believe that they know what they’re looking for and how to find it. If you don’t have a better way to see things, or a different problem identified, then checkboxes are probably not doing you a disservice. But if you do see a different problem that needs solving than the company does, each box you check will make your unique value less visible. If you want (or have) to work for a big checkboxy organization and aren’t a checkboxy type you can, of course, just suck it up, check the boxes and hope for a job and role you can’t stand so you can change things from within before you have the life sapped from you. Or you can show them from the start that the problem that needs solving and the person they need aren’t a part of their checkbox system.
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PR Perspective
PR Perspective: The Good, Bad and Ugly –A Snapshot of the Egyptian Media I
t’s no secret that there have been seismic shifts in Egypt’s media landscape recently. Starting with their new-found freedom immediately following Mubarak’s ouster, closely followed by the rampant rumor-mongering that took place the months after, to the well-documented shuffling and stifling of the press corps during Morsi’s tenure, to the latest restructuring of key positions within key publications. Despite these monumental and rapid changes, there remain a few constants: Media has extraordinary influence on public opinion; media always have an agenda; media only tell a part of the story; media are an extremely important source of information; the media are crucial to a free and open society.
Influence You don’t have to be an industry expert to know that the nightly television talk shows and, to a somewhat lesser extent, select daily newspapers, have an exceptional amount of influence on Egyptian public opinion. Now typically, and this is true in almost every society worldwide, people tend to gravitate toward media outlets that share their same views, i.e., a very conservative Egyptian would be far more likely to watch Al Jazeera every night than the more liberal leaning OnTV. As such, the influence of these media outlets is even more significant because the viewer/reader already believes in the core ideologies the media outlet is driving with its messages. It’s sort of like that old saying “You’re preaching to the choir;” meaning that you’re talking to an audience that shares your beliefs, making the impact of the messages far more significant and ingrained than they might otherwise be.
Agenda I’ll come right out and say it: There’s no such thing as unbiased media in Egypt or anywhere else in the world. That statement applies to both journalists and media outlets equally. There may be a fair number of relatively unbiased journalists out there, or at least those that do their best to present all sides of the story in a manner that is
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fair and equally represented. However, whether consciously or not, journalists’ ideologies influence the perspective from which they write their stories: whether it’s as seemingly innocuous as choosing to use a particular word over another, to the means and channels through which they secure their sources, to, as blatant as, overlooking an entire story angle. The fact is that even when consciously trying to be unbiased, their perspectives lead them to make choices that are driven by their biases. To be sure, this is through no fault of their own and not specific to media: it’s really just human nature. As for media outlets, compounding the fact that most media outlets hire journalists that share similar views or that will at least tow the same editorial line, the owners, financiers, advisory boards and various “powers-that-be” within the media outlet all have a vested interest in driving specific messages that resonate with the target audience, that is, the viewers and readers. For reasons alluded to in the preceding section, media outlets have an obligation to give their audience (and more importantly, their investors) what they want – the media is a service industry after all and if you don’t give your customers what they want they’ll go elsewhere. A bigger audience means they can charge a higher advertising rate which means more revenue and profits. In addition, and as we know all too well in Egypt, media outlets often play a major role in driving political agendas which are also based on the policies dictated by those in charge. Political influence is seen by some as more valuable than increased profit margins so the rationale for pushing a specific policy or party is based, once again, on the perspectives of those at the helm.
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Part of the story
Free and open society
Drawing lessons from the aforementioned points regarding influence and agenda, it’s never a wise idea to consume just one type of media regardless of how seemingly well-balanced and inclusive it claims to be. While it’s tempting to gravitate toward the media outlets whose opinions resonate most closely with our own, it’s important to note that there is always, always another side to the story. We may not want to hear it, it may be difficult to accept or directly conflict with our own perspectives, but that other side of the story is crucial to the development of a freely functioning media industry or at least as free and functioning as the industry can ever really be.
Whether you agree or disagree with the content published in the media, the fact that they are able to publish at all is a cornerstone of a free and open society. Certainly there are varying degrees of freedom and openness within the various press corps around the world. In fact, in Egypt we’ve seen the pendulum swing dramatically from one end to the other and back again in a manner that’s simultaneously entertaining, worrying, disheartening, exciting and exasperating. While we still have a long way to go when it comes to defining the pillars of our own free and open society in Egypt, the media – good, bad or ugly – will continue to play a key role in helping us get there.
During a recent meeting with a client from the region, he mentioned how surprised he was that the security situation in Cairo wasn’t nearly as bad as he’d been reading in his Egyptian-based online news source. I asked him to consider the factors behind the articles he’d been reading: what type of publication was it (pro-government or opposition), who are the decision-makers of the publication’s editorial policies and the rationale behind them and who are the journalists’ writing the articles he was reading. All of these factors, and then some, each play their own role in shaping what is published. I encouraged him to consume other media outlets as well because, while neither side may tell the entire story, the core of the issue often resides somewhere in the middle.
Important source of information
What are your views on the Egyptian media? I’d love your feedback! Please contact me at sarah. broberg@traccs.net Sarah Broberg Deputy Managing Director
That said, the importance of the media for the dissemination of information to the public cannot be underestimated. Whether that information is entirely accurate is an issue of much debate, and for good reason, but nonetheless, media are fundamentally integral to the flow of information in a society. With the advent of social media, that fact has never been more apparent and although TV is still king in Egypt, the population is well versed in the fine art of word-of-mouth, having relied on vast social networks for information long before it became synonymous with ubiquitous social media platforms.
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Featured Writer
10 Lessons from Psychology on Ways on Improving Our Sales Pitch
S
ocial psychology is the study of group behavior and how people interact with each other. Marketing and sales professionals have been using the findings of this growing field for decades in their advertising campaigns and sales pitches. Here are 10 of the most effective lessons in improving your sales pitch to enhance your sales outcomes.
1. Rephrase your opening pitch and core benefit in form of a question: One of the psychological principles of persuasion is commitment and consistency. This principle is based on the fact that we strive to remain consistent with what we have done or said in the past. According to a research published in 1992 by three psychologists, Fazio, R. H., Blascovich, J., & Driscoll, D. states that once we make a choice or take a stand, we will encounter personal and interpersonal pressures to behave consistently with that commitment. This psychological principle can be applied in how we open our sales pitch. To do so, develop an opening question that mentions the core benefit of your product or service and grabs the complete attention of your prospect. The opening question should not include the product or the service itself. For example, instead of saying: “I would like to talk to you about our new product xyz that can reduce costs by 20%-30% per year”, start with: “I was wondering if you would be interested in a proven method that could reduce costs by 20%-30% per year?”. Once you here a confirmation, you can then begin with your standard sales pitch. This technique has also been successfully used by a restaurant owner who wanted to reduce the number of no-shows for table reservations which was at 30%. The no-shows were reduced to 10% after changing the request on phone: “Please call if you have to cancel” to “Will you please call if you have to cancel?”
love that you are trying to provoke from your users. There he gave an example of a mountain bike, where he says: “It’s not about the thing..... it’s about the experience of the thing”. Based on this method, when communicating your product or service features and benefits, explain it to them in terms of the positive experiences that they will gain if they apply the benefits of your product/service. This technique can be further reinforced by three commonly used sales techniques: 1. The three-step pitch, 2.Appealng to self-interest, and 3. The power of suggestion and talking past the sale.
3. Loss aversion: People are motivated to buy to either gain something or the fear of losing something. Yet, research has shown that people are more motivated to avoid losses than they are to acquire gains. This was further supported by a notion documented by psychologist and Economics Noble prize laureate Daniel Kahneman called ‘loss aversion’. To apply this principle, your sales pitch should focus on what the audience would lose rather than gain from using the product or service. For example, change your pitch from “If you buy this product, you could save 50 thousand pounds per year” to “If you wish not to adapt this product, you could risk losing 50 thousand pounds every year”. To demonstrate this, researchers at the University of California posed as representatives from a local utility company to two groups of homeowners. In one group, 2. The user experience: they told homeowners that they could save 50 cents a day by carrying out energy efficiency improvements in “Framing a sale in experiential terms is more likely to lead to satisfied their home. The second group was told that they would customers and repeat business” – Dan Pink, To Sell is Human continue to lose 50 cents a day if they did nothing. It Social psychologists categorize what we purchase depending upon our intentions. Our intentions could be material purchases or experiential pur- turns out that the second group was 300% more likely chases. A material purchase is the intention of acquiring and possessing to carry out the improvements compared to the first an object. An experiential purchase is the intention of acquiring an event group. or a series of events that one lives through. However, studies have shown 4. The rejection-then-retreat method: that people gain much greater satisfaction from purchasing experiences than they do from purchasing goods. “We often understand something better when we see Bill Buxton, principle researcher at Microsoft gave a talk about return on it in comparison with something else than we see it in experience at Microsoft’s MIX09 conference. There he mentioned that: isolation” - Dr. Robert Cialdini Industrial designers very often talk about the things but when it’s actually The rejection-then-retreat method also known as doorin-the-face technique, works by offering a large request the experience that is induced by this thing that is the true product of and when rejected, you offer the smaller request. you. It’s not the screen, it’s not the graphics – it’s what they prompt…. Any product, service, online thing or object you make – you have to When doing so the success rate for the smaller request know what is the nature of the grin, or the adrenalin or the smile or the increases dramatically. This is because the smaller
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request appears to be a good offer once the large request has been rejected. An example of how this technique has been successfully applied has been documented in the Robert Cialdini’s book, Influence: Science and Practice. A salesperson had a 40% success rate when he used to directly offer a regular warranty plan to his prospects. But when he started to offer the most expensive warranty plan first, and when rejected he offered the regular plan, the success rate for regular plan increased to 70%.
emails where the subject line is phrased in a way such that: 1. It directly affected their work. 2. It was specific and straight to the point Example: instead of a subject line as: “Improve your golf swing”, change it to “4 tips to improve your golf swing this afternoon”
5. I Hope I’m Not Disturbing You, Am I? When prospecting for new customers, it is important to ask about their availability and time before making your request. In 2011, researchers published a study in the Journal of Applied Psychology in which they reported: “The results showed that compliance rates were higher when the requester inquired about respondents’ availability and waited for a response than when he pursued his set speech without waiting and inquiring about respondents’ availability.” So next time when calling potential customers, introduce yourself and say something such as: “I need about 2 minutes of your time. Is this a good time to talk?”. It is of no surprise that many telemarketers today are using this technique before introducing their products and services.
9. Negotiating over email versus faceto-face: It is of no doubt that negotiation outcomes are far better when performed face-to-face compared to negotiating over email. Among the main reasons that researchers have found to explain the lower success rate in email negotiations is that it lacked rapport, personalization and exchange of personal information. To improve negotiation outcomes over email, psychologist Michael Morris suggests that the negotiator should spend a little time getting to know each by exchanging personal information prior to negotiation. To demonstrate this, Michael Morris set up two groups 6. Limit the number of choices: of negotiators. The first group was given simple In a paper published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology instructions to negotiate. The second group was told titled: “When choice is demotivating”, a display was set up at a superto spend some time to know each other by providing market so that passersby would sample a variety of jams. They displayed a photograph and a brief biography. As a result, only 29% from the first group agreed on a deal, while the at one time 24 varieties and at another time 6 varieties. Only 3% of who approached the display with 24 varieties bought a jam. In comparison, for second group 94% agreed on exactly the same negotithe 6 variety display, 30% of approached actually bought the jam. That is ation. a tenfold increase in sales! The problem with too many choices, people enter into a state of analysis 10. The luncheon technique: paralysis, a phenomenon described as: A study made in the late 1930s by the distinguished psychologist Gregory Razran on the effect of dining on A decision can be treated as over-complicated, with too many detailed options, so that a choice is never made, rather than try something and a person’s opinion. Using what he termed the “lunchange if a major problem arises. A person might be seeking the optimal cheon technique,” he found that his subjects become or “perfect” solution upfront, and fear making any decision which could fonder of the people and things they experienced lead to erroneous results, when on the way to a better solution. - Wikipe- while they were eating. He also found that in a typical dia fund-raising dinner the speeches and the appeals for Another problem with many choices is that it decreases customer satfurther contributions and heightened effort never come isfaction with the choices they made. It increases their expectations of before the meal is served, only during or after. the results. They expect it to be perfect, and when it does not, they get His research findings goes contrary to what many disappointed. For this reason, research has shown that customers who businesses do today at product launches, and marare shown limited number of choices reported greater satisfaction. keting-based seminars, shows and events, etc. where meals are served at the end. For maximum impact the talks should be done during or after the meals are 7. Think twice before giving away products that are served. sold separately for free: The luncheon techniques can also be used to improve Often we are tempted to offer bonus gifts as incentives to customers in order win a contract or increase loyalty. These offerings do indeed pronegotiation outcomes during the closing phase with duce results, but when giving away a product for free that is sold sepaa potential prospect by inviting him to discuss your rately has its negative consequences. Consumers will perceive that these product over breakfast. It is during breakfast, that products when sold stand-alone as junk or obsolete. They may even think prospects are less likely to be busy. that the supply has exceeded demand or the company wants to purge excess inventory. As a result, people would no longer perceive the product as valuable after the offer is over. Abdul-Rahman Elshafei is a freelance business skills Social psychologists have found that in order to maintain the value of instructor and course developer. He delivers your product and to ensure that the prospect truly appreciates your offer , customized high-impact workshops where he introducyou will need to restate the value of the bonus/free product in your sales es techniques applying the latest research and pitch. Instead of saying: “Receive a free security program”, say “Receive trends in the field of presentation, management and a $250 security program at no cost to you” sales training that adds value to every participants work experience. His clients include Banque Misr and 8. The email pitch: Raya Corporation. In 2011, 3 Carnegie Mellon university professors conducted a series of studies examining why some subject line are more effective than others. To learn about more than 20 different psychological The study is to find what prompts people to read, reply, forward, delete methods in communicating your sales pitch, contact: emails based on subject line of the email from among a large list of Email: aelshafei@live.com unread emails. The study has found that people were quite likely to open Tel: +2 01099341314
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Featured Writer
How to Maximize ROI from your Marketing Efforts?
T
he debate of which is better offline or online marketing efforts have different response and schools of thought. On the one hand, “old school” marketers firmly believe in the offline efforts minimizing the impact of online. On the other, “new school” marketers are the complete opposite; yet each one of those two groups is right in their own way. Offline & online marketing are both unique in their way, both provide positive ROI in their respective weight; yet combined it is a lethal combination, if done right. No one can deny the impact an offline (TV, Radio, OOH, Print…etc) campaign might have on footfall for an electronics retailer, inquires for a real estate developer, number of sold units of an FMCG, for example. (Unless in some instances when they get it completely wrong – remember the cheese brand a couple of years ago that won advertising awards for the creative message, and lost its entire market share?). Building on that example of an electronics retailer, let’s say they are promoting a specific LED TV; if you have seen the ad, you would be tempted to check it out online (reviews, features…etc.) – that is if you are living in the 21st century – imagine not finding the info (directions, contact numbers, features, availability…etc.; & website) you want online for that specific retailer or product they are promoting. The next logical thing to do is to look at competition, i.e. potential lost business. This is where integrating both efforts can lead to a greater affect, thus maximizing your ROI from your marketing efforts. Here is how, but first let’s remind ourselves with the basics: Website: Your digital presence is live 24/7 unlike your place of business. Promote your website or digital presence on any kind of marketing material: Email signatures, leaflets, brochures, posters, business cards, outdoors, press and even on TV. This will provide the potential customers with another touch point to explore and know
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more about your product/service at their own free time. Besides, how much information can you really squeeze in 30 sec commercial? Consistency: Another important and vital element of the basics. Your message look & feel must be consistent. Why do we feel “comfortable” with a brand that we know and trust? Imagine going to a fast food restaurant and they don’t have a consistent identity. Every store has a theme; every theme has a different look and feel to it. One is promoting value, the other is promoting healthy. It becomes a mess. Online presence too has to be consistent with over all look and feel. It seems trivial, but you would be shocked at how this is not catered to. Format: One size does not fit all. Press ads will not look pretty on an outdoor sign because of the amount of text and details, It would also not look good in the online world because landing on your website means you will give me more information than the tool you used to bring me here (site/ store…etc). Also, in the 21st century we have three types of screens. The BIG, which is referred to as TV; The medium which is also known as computer/laptop, and the small sized tablets and smart phones. What might look impressive on the big screen will not look the same on a small screen. Each vehicle has to be addressed with the suitable format, yet with the same consistency of message, look & feel. After checking that the basics are right, let’s look at some other hints and tips to maximize your marketing investment.
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1. QR Code: Much debate is happening about the importance and effectiveness of placing a QR Code on your marketing material – If you are not familiar with QR Codes, please see visit (http://en.w ikipedia.org/wiki/ Qr_code) for more details – the question becomes: what have you got to lose? Try it, reserve a place for it on your print ad or poster and test the effectiveness. Just recently, a car brand started using QR codes, actually their entire offline marketing effort is pushing potential customers online, and have been using QR code as one of the vehicles to direct traffic to their website… Try it out, we did and it worked.
2. Visibility: Make sure that the product/service you are promoting is placed above the fold on the desired landing page, with all features & available images. There is no point directing traffic to the site, only to notfinding what you are promoting, or its hidden somewhere on the inner pages. Providing an incentive to “buy now” always pays dividends. Be creative with your offering/incentive.
3. Paid Search: Always use your offline keywords (selling line, product name … etc.) as part of your paid search strategy, making sure that you are delivering a consistent message across platforms. Allocate more funds for keywords of product/service you are promoting to ensure top placement as well as providing your audience with an additional touch point for interaction.
4. Social Media: “Social” by definition (according to dictonary.com) is: “seeking or enjoying the companionship of others; friendly; sociable; gregarious.” This is exactly what brands need to be doing to engage with their audience. Brands should not be saying how great or unique they are; but rather provide content that is relevant to both the product
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and the customer. This is very difficult to achieve, but not with the right partner. Finally, add a link to your post in order to track. One of the many advantages of Digital Marketing is tracking and ROI calculation… more on that in future articles. It’s never too late to start implementing, or even tweak the current implementation. What’s important is the Will. The Will to try things in a different manner, explore new possibilities and learn from mistakes. The example given above about the cheese brand is a typical case study of the “Will” to try something different & learn from mistakes. Although the effects of their first efforts were a disaster, nevertheless, they had the will to try something new. They have done it again last summer (or the one before); but this time it was done right. They tried something different, by having a fully integrated campaign, with TV & Digital as the spearheads. They have learned from their mistakes, and tried something new in the form of Digital Marketing as the spearhead to their marketing efforts. The Epic success came across all KPI’s: market share, sales, distribution, revenue, TOM brand Awareness, brand affinity, engagement ...etc. and a complete change of perception towards the brand – From Zero to Hero in 6 weeks. Do you believe they have maximized their Marketing ROI? I believe so, they got MUCH more than their initial investment. Mohamed ElEzaby mohamed@digitalmatters-eg.com
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Marketing Strategy
How to Choose a Marketing Agency C
hoosing a marketing agency can be difficult but if you base your decision on basic marketing principles then you can find the right company for your brand.
Finding an agency that understands your target customer base is critical. Your agency needs to have expertise in your industry because it needs to understand your company’s place in your market. The more experience that an agency has in your industry, the better the chances that it can develop a specific strategy for your particular need. Besides a portfolio of relevant clients, here are some other important criteria to consider.
Planning a Strategy Strategic planning is needed so that your company is headed in the right direction. Assess the experience of the agency and see if they have constructed similar strategic plans. Evaluate their execution of the strategic plans as well, such as which methods of marketing did they use whether it is digital marketing, social media, or other alternative methods. The marketing plan must be effective and executed according to the client’s needs. If the client’s target audience is the older crowd then the type of marketing should rely on more traditional methods rather than a digital strategy that involves an immersion into social media.
Develop a Target Audience Do they have a team that can define a specific target audience and create a plan to attract a steady following of that crowd. The marketing must cater to the type of people your company wants to attract and create content in the most effect format to get the target audience to actively engage and steadily. If your company is a young, innovative technologically based company then your target audience may be the younger crowd that is the largest buyers of smartphones.
Agencies should be well versed on many different mediums other than online tactics or print advertisements. They should have an arsenal of approaches to ensure they deliver the message to the right people in an effective manner. Most agencies incorporate a three prong approach which are online (web or mobile), print, and a direct contact method.
Technology Integration In this day and age the technological advances have made marketing reach more surfaces than ever before. It is essential that you find a company that utilizes all of those methods and platforms. Do they have technology resources that they can use to expand your customer base? Does the agency use social media, project management software, and customer relationship management to ensure success of your company? A good marketing agency knows how to integrate technology into their planning as well as other effective methods, a good balance is ideal.
Understanding Your Backstory Your chosen agency should understand the culture behind your company so they know what is going to work and what type of perception your brand is looking to portray. Your company and the agency you partner with will be working together so it is best they know the direction you would like to head in and where you are coming from. Damian Davila
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Value Creation
Value Creation In The Post-Marketing World Economics is about deciding what’s valuable. After the re-set in the global economy, people everywhere are re-evaluating and sorting out what is valuable in their lives and what is not. What the world needs now is to have more value added to it. And that’s what brands must do — add value to the world — if they want to lead the market in the post-marketing world. Creating new value is fundamental to the healthy functioning of our free-market economy. Like the natural law of gravity, creating new value is the natural law of increase. People are always seeking an increase to their lives — wanting to be a higher and more fuller expression of themselves. As brand marketers, when we have the opportunity to serve people well, we find greater meaning and satisfaction in our own life experience. The marketplace is a slush pile of clutter. Your biggest competitor in the marketplace is clutter. Attention spans are shrinking, people are fatigued by marketing messages coming at them from everywhere and on every device… attention spans are shorter, media channels are ever changing. One could argue now that people don’t care about brands, and they really don’t want a relationship with a brand — unless they get a discount. If your company/product/brand no longer existed would any one care? Does your brand represent an ideal (beyond your product/service function and money-making) that customers highly value? Does your organization focus on innovation that provides your best customers just what they’re asking for, or do you focus on providing future customers what they’re dreaming of and waiting for? We live in the post branding/marketing world everything is branded and everything is good. In a world of me-too products, resonance and relevance is an increasingly difficult challenge for brand marketers in every business category. If your value proposition looks, smells and tastes like marketing, people are more inclined to ignore you. How brand marketers can be more successful. Increasing your value to people requires insight to be out ahead of the customer’s stated needs and connecting with their unspoken aspirations and dreams. This is what people really care about. The products
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/ brands that best represent these higher ideals are usually the ones that reshape categories, change people’s behavior and lead markets. If you’re discounting your prices, you’re not leading any thing: Only market leaders command premium pricing. There can only be one leader. Everyone else sells on functions and price. And in an over-crowded marketplace, where there is abundant choice, any price is too high. You can’t grow your value discounting your prices. Nor can you increase your prices without providing the equivalent or greater “use value” people are dreaming of and waiting for. Moving up the value chain implies more than a fair exchange: It’s no longer enough to meet customer quality expectations. Today, everything is good. Good = the same! To thrive, enlightened business leaders will focus less on urgent transactions and more on creating scintillating, dramatic, unique, relevant and transformative experiences. Experiences people love. This will always involve innovating new crazy ideas that provide far more “use value” than customers pay in cash value. This is the over-looked source code to customer advocacy. Two choices: the creative plan or the competitive plan If your brand is to thrive in the new economy driven by creating new value, you’ll have to choose between operating from the creative plane or the competitive plane. When your organization operates on the competitive plane: It can only win when somebody else loses. You will only bring products to market that are based in incremental user needs and abundantly available from other sources. You’ll be forced to compete at the lowest price. Crazy ideas that are without form and are unproven will be discounted
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in favor of the status quo. Your enterprise will be managed based on control, competition and survival. When your organization creates value on the creative plane: There will be no shortage in supply of opportunity. You’ll innovate and design products that redefine the category, delighting customers with the unexpected, making competition irrelevant. Your customers will experience more use value than they pay in cash value–making price irrelevant. Your organization will be focused on turning possibilities into realities. Your organization will not count transactions but create experiences people love and build trust advertising money can’t buy. What marketers need to do?
Embrace Crazy ideas
Everything that ever was, is now, and ever will be is at first a formless thought seed in the imagination of a creative mind. Many of the products we can’t live without today started out as crazy ideas– automobiles, airplanes, personal computing, digital music an entertainment, smartphones, the social web – stuff nobody needed or was asking for, but once realized was just the thing they we’re waiting for. All the stuff that has changed how we live in the world begins as a formless crazy idea. Crazy ideas are always more richly embedded with game changing opportunity than safe ideas. A safe idea is the one you can “prove will work” before it takes form in the world. Few if any great innovations were proven in advance.
Innovate around a higher meaning
Creating new value always involves proposing new or unexpected meanings. What matters most to people is not the function or performance of a given product, but their emotional, psychological and cultural connection to what the product means to them. New value is in the “meaning” not in the physical thing. People don’t just buy product, they buy into a higher meaning. This unexpected idea, unsolicited by user needs, once discovered, turns out to be the
very thing people were waiting for, just not asking for. Nobody was asking for an iPod, Facebook, baked potato chips, the Swiffer, or any other product innovation that has redefined or reinvented a category.
Forget user-centered innovation
With so many such examples in every industry to benchmark from, I am surprised most marketers don’t seem to “get it”. Most are heavily invested in traditional market innovation – finding a consumer need and filling it. Many marketers are focused on how their new product / service innovation has more buttons and is easier to use, has more features and is cheaper than the leading brand. A radical innovation of meaning rarely, if ever, comes from incremental improvements or user-centered approaches. Most companies continue to improve incremental performance within existing market concepts they know well– leaving only a few visionary companies to gain competitive advantage (market leadership) by proposing new and different meanings. The message of hope. Value creator brands are guided by a higher purpose beyond money-making… they earn and deserve the advocacy of high value customers because they represent an “increase to life” itself. In our post-marketing-social-media world, consumers create communities based on shared values. Brands can’t add values to the world unless they have them. Thomson Dawson
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Marketing Tactics
Stop Dreaming of Success Start Using it to Your Advantage
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re you using “success” as a powerful marketing tool? If not, you could be wasting an incredible resource. Smart marketers save money and make money by leveraging their resources - especially the resources ignored by the competition.
Perhaps you only considered success as a goal - or that state of euphoria upon reaching the goal. There are many experts who will tell you how to achieve success. This article will show you how to use success - how to leverage your own success, use other people’s success and create more success. Think about ways that you might use success as a marketing tool. Remember that the purpose of your marketing is to help you sell more. Effective marketing should: 1. Grab Attention, 2. Demonstrate value and/or 3. Build Relationships. Success stories could help you in all three ways. Some fundamentals about success: Many of us are constantly chasing success. Most of us have achieved various degrees of success. Most of us like to be around successful people. Most of us like to hear or read stories of success. Success is relative - you might be disappointed with results that I feel were successful. Success does not necessarily mean winning the race - just ask any marathon runner.
Leverage Your Success Stories
Let’s start with your most important success stories - the testimonials from your customers. Those success stories are the most powerful tools to persuade others to buy from you because they demonstrate value better than any other form of marketing. If you have been in business for any length of time you must have satisfied customers and raving fans. If you don’t have both - then you have a bigger problem. You must have a system in place to encourage, collect and publish your testimonials. Celebrate your milestones - because major success is always the result of a series of triumphs. Announce your 100th or 1,000th customer. Celebrate your first, fifth or 10th year in business. Herald the opening of a new location, a new product launch, a significant contract or a new partnership. All of these are success stories. When you win awards or receive special recognition - tell everyone.
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Tell everyone about the awards for which you were nominated but didn’t place first (remember the marathon runner).
Use Other People’s Success
A smart investor will tell you that the best money to invest with is other people’s money. A savvy entrepreneur will learn from other peoples’ mistakes. And an enterprising marketer will use other peoples’ success. Start again with your customers. Discover their success stories. Brag about your customers’ successes. Sponsor notices that congratulate your customers on their successes. Imagine how excited your future customers will be about doing business with you when they see how you honor your customers. Share in the success of others, especially prospects and clients, by sending a note or gift of congratulations on their achievements. Or invite them for coffee or lunch - then ask them to talk about their success. Successful people love to talk about how they did it. This is a powerful relationship building technique for you. Successful people associate with successful people. You can enhance your success image by associating with successful people. That might be the professional or trade associations to which you belong. That could be the charity or community that causes your support. But be sure to avoid whiners and losers - because you are who you associate with. Why do successful sports stars make more money from product endorsements than from playing the sport? Because big companies are hoping that some of the “magical success dust” will rub off on their product. You can tap into this “success dust” at no cost. An almost infinite resource is the public domain of
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success stories. These are success stories that you can easily leverage. For example: hold a special promotion to celebrate the win of your local sports team, or even connect your anniversary date to a famous entertainer etc. Another way to use other peoples’ success is to agree with them - or show how they agree with you. That’s why many public speakers like to quote famous people. It allows the speaker to leverage the credibility of the famous person. For example if you quote Einstein then because you agree with his ideas that would suggest that Einstein “agrees” with you. Tap the power of written success by forwarding copies to those you want to build relationships with. For example, if you enjoy articles from this magazine send a copy to your prospects of that article along with a short note. Of course it would be even better if you bought them a gift subscription. That way you could follow up with your prospect after every issue just to discuss the latest articles. It’s a classy inexpensive gift.
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You can leverage the success of a famous author by giving prospects the gift of a book. When you give a book as a gift always include a short note and your signature inside. Imagine how your image is built when you give the gift of a “Seven Habits of Highly Successful People”.
Create More Success
There is a synergy to success. If you start doing more of the above, you will be more successful. If you focus on success instead of the obstacles you will enjoy more success. If you are thinking about, talking about and broadcasting success - others will perceive you to be more successful. And we would rather do business with successful people. So stop dreaming of success and start using it to your advantage. Enjoy your success! George Torok
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Marketing Strategy
MARKETING IS A SYSTEM NOT AN EVENT
tools, strategies and tactics they need to activate their plan, along with processes to grow and sustain marketing momentum. Here are the core elements of a marketing system – you can see that the plan is just the first step:
Plan your marketing using a strategy-first approach to identify your ideal customer and define your core difference. Build the right marketing foundation, such as a website, social media pages and marketing kit. Activate the marketing plan with the right lead generation and awareness tactics. Sustain marketing over the long term by putting the right marketing processes in place. Here are the top five reasons why a marketing system can be the right choice for small businesses:
A marketing system is familiar, just like other business processes Most business owners have no trouble thinking in terms of business systems when it comes to things like paying the bills, setting up services, or hiring employees. But for some reason marketing is more often viewed as a mysterious creative art. In reality, marketing is a business system, and by treating it as such, any mystery around it simply disappears.
A consistent and predictable stream of leads and referrals Small businesses don’t need a flash-in-the-pan big-budget marketing campaign with short term results. They need an ongoing and steady stream of incoming leads to fill the sales funnel and create predictable revenue over the long term.
Why Marketing Is Your Most Important System?
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ithout the same budget, resources and in-house expertise of larger companies, small businesses are at a disadvantage when it comes to marketing. By default, responsibility for marketing often falls to the business owner, who usually isn’t a marketing expert and is already strapped for time. As a result, usually one of two things happens: The owner tries various marketing tactics, but without a strategy in place, these tactics often fail, wasting valuable budget dollars.
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The owner does the right thing and hires a consultant or marketing firm to create a marketing plan, but without the time or expertise on staff to execute the plan, it just sits on the shelf gathering dust. Why don’t these options work for small businesses? Because what they really need is a marketing system. A marketing system goes beyond the marketing plan to give small businesses the foundational
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More qualified leads that take less sales time to convert It takes a lot of sales time and effort to try and convert prospects who either know little about the company, or were never really qualified leads in the first place. With the right marketing system, small businesses can put processes in place to more effectively move prospects through the sales cycle without a salesperson ever having to pick up the phone. The result is that your prospects get to know, like, trust, and try your company’s services or products through your marketing content, and often end up contacting you when they’re ready to buy.
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Automated marketing systems One of the main reasons small business marketing efforts fail is because they simply take up too much time. With a marketing system, small businesses can put a series of tools and processes in place to automate many of their marketing functions.
No more guesswork, no more wasted marketing dollars Many small businesses spend their time trying the latest marketing tactic of the week and hoping something will stick. The result is a lot of wasted marketing dollars, and no clear idea on why a tactic didn’t work. By focusing on strategy first, marketing tactics simply become the range of tools and vehicles small businesses can choose from to reach the right audience with the right message. And with the right processes in place, owners have a clear picture of what they need to do each month. When it comes to your marketing system – don’t take a cookie cutter approach: While a marketing system should adhere to some core principles and follow logical business-building logical steps, it should not be confused with a “cookie cutter” solution. Each step in a marketing system should be customized to the organization, from identifying the right target market and defining a core difference, to selecting the right tactics and strategies that will best reach the target audience. Even the types of marketing processes should be customized to each company’s internal resources, capabilities and budget. In the end, an effective system should take the guesswork out of marketing, bring clarity to business owners, and become a manageable business process, just like every other small business system.
Nicole Croizier
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Marketing Tips
Your marketing includes way too much you O
ne of the most common mistakes marketers make is that they think their customers and prospects care about them, what they sell and how it works. The human truth is consumers really do think, feel and ask “what’s in it for me?”
They have something they want to accomplish – from getting a cereal that their kids will eat to finding the right de-greaser for their airplane engines. They know the result they’re after and their buying decision is going to be based on satisfying that need.
It might be speed, expense, reliability, safety etc. that is tied back to that emotional tug. It’s all about the end result, though. Contrast that “cut to the chase” hunger for a solution with the marketing or sales’ teams attempts to sell. We often build elaborate cases for how and why our product/service is the absolutely right solution. We list benefits (with bullet points and visuals) that dig into the nuances of every aspect of how we get something accomplished. See the disconnect?
When it comes to buying decisions, those decisions are always: Based on emotion (positive or negative ones) Based on meeting our needs and wants (even implicit) And the truth of it is, consumers usually don’t care about understanding the nitty gritty of how those needs and wants are met. I’m not suggesting someone would turn a blind eye to dangers, laws or morals. But think of your own buying behaviors. Typically, we don’t care how something works, we just care that it does. Or we care about some very specific aspect of how it works that is tied to us getting the result that we want.
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Worried that your marketing might be putting the spotlight on the wrong part of the equation? Here are some common trouble spots. Headlines: Most headlines are feature headlines. They are about us, not the consumer. “From 0-60 in 5 seconds” is talking about an attribute of our product. “You’ll never be late for another soccer game” is about the buyer’s desires. Try this instead: Make sure your headline is
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making a promise or pointing out the consequence of them not using your product. Use the buyer’s emotions to connect them to how your wares can solve their problem.
– you can give them some information about your company, working with you, etc. The final ½ should be re-focused on the prospect and solving their problem.
Tradeshow booths: Because space is at a premium in trades show signage, booth graphics and materials – we tend to use bullet If you start looking at all of your marketing matepoints galore. We want to pack in the facts. Which means we’re telling rials with this new perspective, you’ll quickly be our story, not the one the buyer wants to hear. able to spot which ones need to have their focus re-adjusted to be more about the customer and less Try this instead: Think about what your prospects ask most. about you. Use your booth to answer those frequently asked questions about end results, rather than talk features. Sales presentations: If you pull out some old sales presentations, take this simple test. Grade each PowerPoint slide – about us or about them. In most cases, your slides are going to be 75% about you and about 25% about what the customer wants. Try this instead: Use this recipe for putting together your next presentation. The first 2/3 of the slides should be about the client, client’s business, their challenge and what you can do it fix it. Then, take that final 1/3 of your slides and divide them into 2. The first half
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Drew McLellan
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Entrepreneurship
Strategizing For Entrepreneurs
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ost see the do-it-yourself entrepreneurial business as fairly lucrative because they are the sole beneficiary of revenue although most don’t see the work that goes into it. Common mistakes continue to repeat itself in this business which plagues entrepreneurs each year. The key is to seek guidance as well as to follow the standards that work. Entrepreneurship is the definition of hands on learning in a fast paced environment. People tend to choose this lane because they can work under their own terms, on their own time. They are capable of choosing their own team to work with and working in a field they truly love rather than a job that may just pay the bills. But what is required of the business is an internal drive because in the beginning everything relies on you, you are the business. Major attention to all costs is also a large part of the self-starter job because there isn’t any room for financial mistakes. Seek outside advice from credible sources and relations so that you are prepared for what is to come.
Start a Business Strategy
The hardest things to come by in the entrepreneurial business are the most essential resources, time and money. With a limit on time and money, entrepreneurs have to make the most of opportunities but they have to explore those that are worth it because time can be wasted chasing dead ends. Learn from this list of 7 Lessons From Aspiring Entrepreneurs by Forbes and prioritize to take small steps to reach big goals. A strong strategy in place can focus the work so that the output of the business is in places that can maximize the benefits of the business’ work.
An in-depth strategy also analyzes the competition. One of the top Self Marketing Tips is that you need to learn how to develop and write a market feasibility study such as as the Knowing who you are up against in your field is important because you need to set yourself apart from those in the same business. Entrepreneurs know where to differentiate themselves from their competition because they have an understanding of the surrounding businesses. This includes the competitors’ target audience, general approach, and unique service or product.
An Entrepreneur Needs to Become a Self-Marketer
Marketing is a large part of a business’ success and doing it yourself can be tough at times. Attracting a customer population comes from marketing your product and catering it to their needs. Advertising is a major part of a marketing campaign that requires a detailed planned to really work effectively. Plans that introduce your business to the public may bite into your costs so as an entrepreneur you must find the most cost effect way to market your brand.
A thorough strategy does this through a number of methods. Identifying a particular audience that will be the main customer base is important because your product or service should cater to that population. When you identify an audience you will begin to gain a steady stream of customers from that base. For example, if one was to begin a business making custom t-shirts and they produced colorful, cartoon graphics then their target audience is most likely the younger crowd. The t-shirts they produce now fit the desire of the young, creative audience and from there they build a steady stream of clientele. Damian Davila
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Branding
What do consumers want from
brands
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hat today’s consumers want most today is security and contentment. No doubt these wants are being shared by people’s economic outlook and circumstance, which most categorized as uneasy.
Interestingly, here are some other key needs that our consumers expect brands to help them fulfill. If you can help make one or more of these needs a reality – you will earn their business and their loyalty.
Security: Food, shelter, keep my house, increase my savings, bolster my retirement plan, a corporate job, being part of a movement but not a sole anarchist. Control: Frugality, effective money management, black and white answers that come from scientific pursuits, own business/entrepreneurship, self reliance (especially younger Millennials). Consistency: Stable employment, stay at college, complete
college.
Proving self-worth: Value through charity work, striving to get promoted, finding a way to leave a legacy (Baby Boomers), training/learning something new rather than leisure time, constant resume buffering (especially Millennials), aggressive pursuit of success. Honoring my needs first: Protecting my health, making healthier friendship and relationship choices, spending more time with people who have my genuine interests at heart, valuing private information more (Millennials). Respect for others (but only if they show respect for me first): Rejection of greed and self-serving society as demonstrated by governments and corporations, helping others through volunteer pursuits.
take control of my investments (Baby Boomers), not oppressed/restricted by others schedules or technology.
Progress: Pursuit of scientific invention and learning, further education, choice of foundations, supportive of organizations who take society forward in some way. Both Millennials and Baby Boomers believe leadership brands that are sincere and transparent have the ability to encourage them to bring out the best of themselves and progress society. In the absence of strong government and other institutional leaders, people anticipate, and may even demand, that brands step in and play the role of cultural reformers. Here’s my take on this. Our marketplace is asking us to be much more than a seller of stuff. They’re expecting us to step up and inspire our internal team and our customers to work together to take charge of the problems facing our world. Think of it as corporate social responsibility – but on steroids. It’s not enough to write a check anymore – we have to also be willing to give our ideas, our passion and our sweat equity. Think about how this might change the way you communicate about your company and the work you do. Think about how you could build a community of raving fans who don’t just talk about what you sell but more important – talk about what you believe. Interesting times ahead.
Liberty: Personal independence, time for me (Baby Boomers),
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Drew McLellan
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Marketing Management
12 Most Paradoxical
Reasons Why Creative Limitations Are Not Limiting
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e all think we would enjoy being able to do as we please — especially when it comes to creativity. Imagine being able to create without any obstacles or boundaries. An unlimited budget would be great too! Or at least we think so. We tend to think that the ideal creative situation would be that which has open-ended parameters where our options are wide open with no limitations. Right? In actuality, this scenario would stifle most creative people. Here’s why… 1. Too many options cause paralysis Limits tell us where to start, when to stop, and perhaps most importantly, what to ignore. An overabundance of options is not always a good thing — without constraints, the possibilities are endless so how can one know where to begin and where to go? 2. A roadmap provides the clues that lead to solutions Defined parameters act as guideposts that help channel creativity in a focused way as we journey towards an effective creative solution. Just as in sports, rules tell us how to play and give us the ground rules that establish where we play. With the right mindset — that space will allow plenty of great creative ideas to flourish. 3. Give a creative person a box and they will find a way out of it Not sure how that happens exactly, but it does, every time. Even when the situation seems dire at the beginning — unreasonable demands and ridiculous deadlines — once the whining subsides and the work begins, it is simply amazing how often it transforms into a pleasurable, stimulating adventure in otherwise unchartered waters. Don’t make the sharks any bigger than they have to be — get moving because failure is not an option. 4. Challenges drive us to push and succeed All sports and games are based on this simple premise — embrace the challenge and figure out how to be better than anyone else playing under the same rules and circumstances. See how much can still be done within those harsh restrictions. Victory awaits!
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5. Forces us to think harder Creative people can fall into a pattern of repeating themselves. Sometimes, this is what establishes one’s own unique style but other times, it is redundant and we risk becoming a cheap knockoff of ourselves. It can be a fine line sometimes. 6. Leads to less obvious solutions Outside limitations force you outside of your comfort zone. You are literally pushed to discover new approaches you would never have found otherwise, and make connections you may have not thought of otherwise. As the saying goes, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” 7. Lets us discover new creative outlets Finding new solutions often requires a different approach that leads to different tools and techniques — perhaps also requiring us to learn new skills. Who knows where all that could lead? 8. Creates a wealth of new ideas Ideas spawn other ideas — now those ideas will be sparked from a different place so they can’t help but end up somewhere else. 9. We may be forced to use a new medium Being forced to work in clay when all you’ve ever done is paint in oils; or writing a short story when all you’ve done are novels can unleash a creative cataclysm we may not have thought possible. This can also help overcome creative blocks. 10. Exposes us to new audiences Different work will be appreciated by different people, potentially opening up new horizons and markets we may have never pursued before. The door is opened to serendipity.
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11. New kinds of projects will be attainable A different project in our repertoire could stimulate more work in that area. People will see another side to our work that will get their own ideas flowing… streaming right back to us and feeding more new work. 12. Stimulates our souls Being forced to do something different from how we might have done it otherwise can be energizing and reinvigorating. I know the idea that limitations can produce more limitless, creative results seems paradoxical — but it’s true and studies prove it. And let’s face it, when do
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we really have the “perfect” environment without constraints anyway? So — better to accept it and embrace those shackles that the world so often likes to bestow on us. You will be happier for it and may just surprise yourself by creating something… ground-breakingly awesome. Have you found that constraints and boundaries have helped you in your creative endeavors? Do you still think being able to do and create what you feel like works better?
Paul Biedermann
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Ahmed EbrahimPolitical Corruption Mahmoud Hassan http://bit.ly/16qJlWv www.behance.net/mahmoudcave
CREATIVE SHOWCASE 31
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Jacob Fayek- Cleaning is a must
Mohamed Hammad- Egyptian Revolution 3
http://bit.ly/16jKxxG
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http://bit.ly/13Nh1NA
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God
Wafaa Samir- The Answer http://bit.ly/LOCAKd
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Bless Egypt
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