OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: Information Overload Controversy and Antidote

Optimizing Your Impact with Jeff Schomay

A few months ago I posted an article about eliminating clutter in the presentation of your material. This article received many responses discussing the nature of what is too much, or if there are any exceptions.

On a similar vein, I recently saw a news segment about a new form of branding and advertising: companies turn your personal car into a driving advertisement. Those for the idea argue that this is an effective way to increase your brand awareness and inspire word of mouth advertising, especially since the driver of said car is matched to a company that they commend. On the other side of the argument, people claim that this type of advertising is too close to home, too intrusive, and being so, gives the brand a negative connotation.

So is branding every car on your block going to lead to too much clutter and be ineffective, or is it a great marketing and branding idea? Obviously, this kind of advertising can lead to an overload very quickly and backfire as some people point out. But this is not the core issue to consider.

Even on the roads today, as we are surrounded by too many advertisements, we ignore many of the ads, but we notice specific ones. What is it that makes us notice one over the other? If it is all just clutter, one would think we would filter it all out, but that is not the case. Something about an individual ad can make it jump out through the clutter. What is it?

I maintain that the necessary ingredient for being noticed is and has always been the design of the marketing material itself, with note of its intended format. As I’ve written about before, humans are hard-wired to resonate with certain principles of presentation, and capturing these will make the difference. Whether TV ads, print media, or cars on the freeway, getting your message in front of eyeballs is not enough. It’s the creative content that makes it through to your target audiences’ consciousness. It’s not the format that is the question here, it’s how the material is designed to match the format and human psychology, and a properly designed ad can always be effective, even in the middle of an advertising traffic jam.

For more information, please visit Jeff's TNNW Bio.





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OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: Information Overload Controversy and Antidote

OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: An Interactive Experiement

Optimizing Your Impact with Jeff Schomay

This month I'm trying something different. For almost a year I have been sharing insights on making an impact on your market and with the Holidays coming up I wanted to try an interactive experiment for some real results in the real world.

As I've said in the past, taking something neutral, mundane, or even boring, and finding a clever way to turn it into something fun, unique and interesting is at the core of making a strong impact. Some of the tips I've shared include: "Give 'em what they want, but not in the way they expect it," and "Facts tell, stories sell," and "Connect with something that resonates."

For this experiment we're going to combine two clichéd situations, but give it a twist to end up with something that makes a new kind of impact. Consider the following:

If you're a man, do you wear a tie often? Do you wear your tie when doing business? Has anyone ever said "Nice tie" to you? If you're like many businessmen you already see the cliché. If you are a woman who doesn't wear ties, have you even bought a tie as a gift for... your husband? Your son? Your dad? Your friend? Again, ties have become the biggest cliché gift out there. Guys have way to many ties and new ties don't bring any new reactions besides empty "Nice tie" comments.

Now it's time for the challenge: Can you take the boring old neck tie and change it into something that that is unique, fun, and interesting? Could you use this new tie to get different results and make a stronger impact? Could such a tie be an ice-breaker at a networking event that actually lead to a meaningful relationship? Could such a tie make you more memorable in the minds of people making a decision with who to go with? Could such a tie capture people to pay more attention to you? What do you think?

Here's the interactive part. Part one: I challenge you, the reader, to answer these questions in your mind. Predict the response you could get with such a tie. Part two: Imagine what would turn a tie into something that would turn heads and catch people's attention while still being tasteful. Part three (the most important part): Try it in real life and see what results you get! To help you out with this step, I have used the free online service called Zazzle to quickly upload unique designs for very unique neckties. Check them out at http://www.zazzle.com/jschomay to see theses examples, and note your own response to these designs. I'll bet you will respond stronger to these tie designs than you have to all the ones you have hanging in your closet. You can build from these examples and create your own personalized designs, or you can just order a design you like directly from the site and you'll get a good quality tie with the unique design sent to you in a week (for yourself or as a gift). Remember the challenge now - wear one of these ties to your normal interactions in life and business and see what reaction you get and if you do indeed make a stronger impact, and how that affects your goals. And the final part of the interactive experiment is to report your experience in the comments section below! I'll include a tally and analysis of the results in next month's column.

Good luck, happy holidays, and have fun with this experiment!

For more information, please visit Jeff's TNNW Bio.

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OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: An Interactive Experiement

OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: Movies and Rollercoasters

Optimizing Your Impact with Jeff Schomay

Hollywood lost it. They used to have it, but they lost it. What did they lose? Impact. Where did it go? First lets define what it is. “Impact” is the opposite of “forgettable.” Impact causes you to be unable to forget the experience because it leaves an almost tangible impression in your heart and mind. It leaves a lasting effect. It changes the way you think and feel. So where did Hollywood go wrong?

Do you like rollercoasters? Have you felt the thrill of each twist, turn, and drop, the exhilaration of 0-60 miles per hour in three seconds? Have you gotten off the ride with your heart pounding and your legs shaking? And then did you go back for more? Some people live for that. Thrill seekers can’t get enough of it. But would you call it impactful?

For the last few years Hollywood has been building rollercoasters, not movies. There is a difference between “thrill” and “impact,” but in this age of “anything is possible with CG,” Hollywood has forgotten that. What’s the last movie you saw? Did it blow you away and keep you up at night thinking about it? Or did you walk out of the theater, heart pounding and maybe legs shaking, but for the most part leaving the movie behind? Thrill is the easy way out. Impact is tough.

So what makes a strong impact? In the movies, as with life, it’s all about a human story. It’s about the journey, what the characters went though, the active – not passive – decisions they made and how different things were at the end of the journey from the beginning for their choices.

When you walk out of a movie, after the adrenalin subsides, what are you left with? In most cases these days, you feel empty, because there really was no story, no journey, no true changes that mean anything. Thrill is just one tool used to tell a story. Story is everything. Rollercoasters can’t offer story. Hollywood can. And people will love the movies more when they get back to it.

So in your own interactions with your own audiences, remember that your market will love you and your products the most when there’s more than just a “thrill” to get their attention, but a story that they can resonate with, a value that means something to them.

There’s always a story behind everything. Find yours.


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Jeff Schomay
Screenwriter, Marketing/Branding ExpertWant to tell your story best? Let’s talk.

jeff@inspire-your-buyer.com

http://jeff-schomays-portfolio.com/Branding-and-Marketing.html

For more information, please visit Jeff's TNNW Bio.

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OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: Movies and Rollercoasters

OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: Eliminate Clutter; Increase Response

Optimizing Your Impact with Jeff Schomay

Clutter = Attention killer.

Look around. It’s the information overload age. We have more clutter in our lives than ever, attacking us from without and within. Like water or lightening, we humans will tend to follow the simplest and most direct path. Will that path lead to you… or away from you?

Just because you have lots of information to get across doesn’t mean you should put it all out there in front of your audience. The more there is to look at, the less the viewer sees. A simple, well organized presentation of your core information can catch, hold, and build attention better, and lead the viewer to a stronger, better directed response.

Everything can use some de-cluttering. How about the space around this article - is it cluttered? How does that affect you? How about your own newsletters, websites, blogs, advertisements, elevator pitches, package design, etc, etc? I bet you can cut half the clutter there and still get across all your important points. And I bet you get a stronger response too.

It sounds simple, but the impact is significant. Now go de-clutter!


-------------------------------
Jeff Schomay
Want to make a better impact on your audience? Let’s talk.
jeff@inspire-your-buyer.com


For more information, please visit Jeff's TNNW Bio.

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OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: Eliminate Clutter; Increase Response

OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: Where Marketing and Screenwriting Overlap

Optimizing Your Impact with Jeff Schomay

“Yes, I sell people things they don’t need. I can’t, however, sell them something they don’t want.” - John O’Toole, A true advertising master

Great salespeople know to sell the idea, not the product. Commuters don’t buy Jeeps because they intend to drive them over rugged mountain tops, but they like the idea of feeling like they could if they wanted to (“It’s a Jeep thing… you wouldn’t understand.”). McDonalds is the largest hamburger shop in the world, but their slogan has almost nothing to do with burgers, and everything to do with how people (allegedly) feel (certainly would like to feel) while eating a Big Mac – “I’m lovin’ it.” In general, people don’t buy products or services; they buy results, feelings, and ideas, and they make their buying decisions based on emotional responses.

And therein lies the problem – you can’t photograph an idea! You can’t give away free samples of a result. A description of a feeling is NOT the same as the feeling. So, how do you market and advertise these intangible things in portable mediums? How do you transpire specific emotional responses on command?

Welcome to the world of a screenwriter. The screenwriter is called upon to convey and evoke raw emotional responses and literally make people forget they are sitting in a dark room for two hours with only one tool: a description of things you can see and things you can hear.

How do they do it? First, some background on “how humans work.” Humans experience life on three main levels: physical, intellectual, and emotional. Body, Mind, and Heart. Physical is the part you can interact with directly. Intellectual interaction can happen if you have their physical attention. Emotional interaction can only happen if you can connect directly to their personal life. The portable mediums of advertising and a completed film are only experienced on the physical level, which means in order to reach the intellectual and emotional levels you need to encode the proper messages in the proper ways for your interaction to become an intellectual and emotional experience. Hence, the art and craft of screenwriting masters.

In order to sell ideas, feelings, and results, you’ll need to incorporate some of the craft and techniques of screenwriting. These can be studied and experimented with further, but for now the main idea to take away is this:

STOP thinking of your advertising strategies as primarily descriptions of features, and START thinking of them as mini screenplays designed to get an emotional response that can hold a price tag.


----------------------------------------

Jeff Schomay is a screenwriter and director of film/entertainer/entrepreneur, with keen insights into making a stronger response on your market.
To apply his unique background and perspective to your own branding and marketing efforts for better responses, contact Jeff at:
303-800-5854
jeff@inspire-your-buyer.com.
http://www.jeff-schomays-portfolio.com/Branding-and-Marketing.html

For more information, please visit Jeff's TNNW Bio.

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OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: Where Marketing and Screenwriting Overlap

OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: Only Say What Needs to be Said and Nothing More

Optimizing Your Impact with Jeff Schomay

You have a great, clever, intricate, and well-devised business/ invention/ product/ story/ message/ etc. and naturally you want to tell the world all about it. You try hard to figure out how to explain to people so they will understand it, and also take interest. Unfortunately, most people in this situation just end up shooting themselves in the foot by saying too much!

Only say what you have to say. But how do you know what you have to say and what you don’t? Obviously you need to give enough information so that people understand what “it” is and how they would interact with “it.” And most importantly, what they have to get “it.” But how much is too much? How much is enough?

The biggest key here when talking about what you do is to understand the role and goal of your current communication, whether it’s a carefully developed advertisement, a presentation, or just a face-to-face conversation. Think of each instance of communication as a tool you are using for a certain task. In the end, all the tasks will build up into a full goal (likely making the sale), but you have to take it step by step, based on where your audience is at. What is the objective of each specific task? To get people to visit your website? To get someone to ask questions and become more interested? To take out their wallet? For each objective, focus your communication on just what’s need to accomplish it, and don’t get into anything else. Then repeat with the next step.

Here are some tips that will help:

Sell the idea, not the thing:
All great salesmen know this, they are not selling a thing, they are selling an idea about the thing. “I’ll look and feel really cool in that new convertible” rather than “What a unique mechanical engineering solution to improving airflow during transportation.” Or, “ I’m a reliable guy, I need a reliable watch” rather than “This watch is precision made with a special kind of quartz crystal and tons of little tiny gears to make it keep time well.”

Talk in emotional response terms:
All decisions are ultimately emotional based, so work on that level. Either tap into emotions that are there already, or plant an emotion that resonates. “Don’t you hate wasting time waiting for the bus? Sure, a personal driver is more expensive, but isn’t your time more valuable than money?”

Give them something to picture:
A picture is worth a thousand words. Conserve words, use pictures. Either show or give them something physical to see, or paint a picture in their mind. They’ll understand much better and much quicker. “Picture yourself laying under a palm tree in the warm sun on the beach, hearing the surf and the gulls. Tickets to Florida are now only $299.”

Talk in terms of what benefits they experience:
People understand things more naturally when they are put into their own perspective. They might not know anything about 3G networks, but they know very well how helpful it is to be able to check their emails from their phone on the go.


Having this strategy in play will increase the effectiveness of your communications and generating interest. And there’s nothing more to be said about that.

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Written by Jeff Schomay
Inspire Your Buyer - Branding and Marketing
Optimize Your Impact. Get Better Results.
www.Inspire-Your-Buyer.com
(c) 2009
Jeff Schomay is an expert brander and marketer and a professional film writer and director.

For more information, please visit Jeff's TNNW Bio.

Published by THE NATIONAL NETWORKER Newsletter. All rights reserved. Subscribe Free - Click HERE.

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OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: Only Say What Needs to be Said and Nothing More

OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: The Most Important Question to Answer to Impact Your Market

Optimizing Your Impact with Jeff Schomay

You have a project, vision, message, endeavor, idea, or business that is incredibly important to you, but it can’t go anywhere unless you can get others interested and engaged. Whether you realize it or not, on any given level, there is a single job that you must constantly and continually do successfully: design your interactions to cause people to want to “engage further” instead of “pass.” But how do you do that? It all comes down to one question: “Who Cares?”

I know it sounds over-simplified, but truly, you ability to fully answer that question will directly affect the impact you make on your market. Let’s look at it closer.

“WHO cares?” The first half of the question is all about your target market, and as with any kind of presentation, if you want a positive response, you must know your audience! Note that “who” does not focus on who you are or what you do. “You” don’t even come into the picture. It’s all about “them” and understanding their perspective. Beyond a profile of demographics gathered from your market research, you’ll want to really get a feeling of what it’s like to be them, so that you’ll be able to speak their language. Here are some points to consider:

• What is their situation?
• What are their passions, desires, needs, fears, frustrations?
• How do they communicate, how do they learn?
• What do they surround themselves with? Where do they hang out?

“Who CARES?” The second half of the question looks at why they would be interested and how they would engage you. It’s all about getting in their shoes! Your material is only worth the extent to which it resonates with “them.” What is your presentation sounding like from their perspective? Here are some more considerations:

• How does this benefit them?
• What resonates and why?
• What is on their mind on in their life right now?
• Do they have similar interests?

Once you really understand who you are speaking to and how to present to their perspective, you will not only be able to design your presentations better, but you may find new insights about your material that could be optimized for an even better market response.

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Written by Jeff Schomay

As a professional juggler and a practiced film writer and director, Jeff Schomay has a very unique perspective on making an impact on your market. He does branding and advertising for individuals and businesses to great results.
www.Inspire-Your-Buyer.com
jeff@inspire-your-buyer.com
(c) 2009

For more, please see Jeff's TNNW Bio.

*******

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OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: The Most Important Question to Answer to Impact Your Market

OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: Hollywood Marketing

Optimizing Your Impact with Jeff Schomay

There's no business like show business. And there's no other place in the world that's better at what they do than Hollywood. They make billions in one weekend. During the Great Depression the movie industry was one of the only businesses that didn't have any decline in sales. Millions of people regularly pay one hour's wages to sit silently in the dark for two hours, then they get their friends to go back with them to sit in the dark again. They make you laugh. They make you cry. They know how to make an impact and control your response.

How? Because Hollywood knows how to tell a good story (most of the time at least). We humans are hard-wired to respond to stories. Stories stand out, and they force a reaction in us, no matter what our background, culture, experience, or bias is. The way to get into a person's mind and heart is through a great story.

Do you want to make an impact? Are you trying to create a specific reaction to your product or service that you offer? Do you have trouble getting noticed, getting interest, and getting results? What you need is a great story. If Hollywood can do it, so can you.

All marketing and branding is communication, and all communication is a type of story. You just have to tell the right story and you can get people interested in anything, even sitting in the dark for two hours. So how do you become a master story crafter? How do you convert your plethora of information into a streamlined story optimized for the strongest impact? How do you communicate this story to your audience -- especially when they are not a captivated audience and you only have a few seconds to get their attention? How do you tell a story through static advertisements?

Of course you can hire a professional who is trained to do just that, and doing so is recommended. But you can get started by getting a "Hollywood mindset" and start thinking of your own material in terms of stories. The big-time Hollywood producers have always spouted rules and anecdotes like: "Show me, don't tell me." and "If the scene's about what the scene's about, you're dead." and "If you need to use exposition, you better hide it in action." and on and on. They have drawn on millennia of story-crafters to nail down strong story principles that work. These very same principles can be applied to your own message to make the results much stronger.

So start looking at your message as a story and ask yourself how to best tell it. Can you convey an idea through an image better than with a wordy description? Can you create a feeling that people will resonate with and build it into your story? Does your pitch/ad/website/article have a beginning middle and end? The next time you go to the movies, pay attention to the audience and see what gets a reaction and what the filmmakers did to get it, then try applying the same principle to your material and see what kind of reaction you get.

"If it tells, it sells."


--------------------------------------------------------
Written by Jeff Schomay
Inspire Your Buyer - Branding and Marketing
Optimize Your Impact. Get Better Results.
www.Inspire-Your-Buyer.com
Jeff Schomay is an expert brander and marketer and a professional film writer and director.

___________________________________________________________

Posted to THE NATIONAL NETWORKER. To subscribe for your free newsletter, go to www.TheNationalNetworker.com. For the complete National Networker Relationship Capital Toolkit and a free, continuous RSS feed (available either by traditional RSS or by direct email), go to: http://thenationalnetworkerweblog.blogspot.com. You are also invited to click our buttons:


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OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: Hollywood Marketing