I had an MLM (multi-level-marketing) gentleman visit me the other day which reminded me of a time I was tricked into sitting through a presentations and had to almost laugh out-loud as they told the audience that this method of generating a residual income was “recession-proof” and tried to sign us up to spend more on their ‘superior’ products at inflated prices.

I guess the biggest problem that I have with these systems is that they attempt to convert people into assets, too often at the expense of genuine relationships.

What lengths will you go to?

Is generating an income more important than relationships or even genuine friendships? I understand that sometimes the two can get a little fuzzy in the service industry. Being paid to provide a service it sometimes becomes difficult to not see people as part of your paycheck.

A good way I have found to combat this is to find somewhere or some cause to give your time. Time is probably our most valuable asset, but unlike our bank account, we can’t check to see how much we have left. We also can’t borrow it from anyone else. We refer to it the same as we do with money, which is really weird when you think about it.

“I don’t have enough time” – “I can’t afford the time” – “I ran out of time” … Or in more negative circumstances, “He’s on borrowed time”

I thinks it’s this unknown that drives our insatiable desire for making more and more money with our time. Have you ever thought, “I’m worth more than this!”? This self-evaluation has driven more than one person to quit, ask for a promotion or raise, or start out on their own. Some people have an inflated opinion of themselves and others a deflated one – either extreme is annoying. The challenge for those in the service industry is to place the correct value on services. The market usually determines this equation fairly quickly.

Understanding what your services are worth makes you much less ‘annoying’ – taking out the need to apologize or feel a need to justify the prices you charge.

What lengths will you go to?

Always remember that relationships with others require an investment and you should only ever expect to gain human connection in return. You set the rate on relationship based on the quality and quantity of time you invest.

The ‘time’ of your life that you convert to finance through an hour rate or wage is set by the marketplace. Your value in the marketplace is also determined by the quality and quantity of the time you spend combined with the ability you have.

How then do you keep the two separate? Or do they need to be separate?

It is my opinion that our ONLY focus with people needs to be developing healthy, mutual relationships that are as void of hidden intention as humanly possible. Focus on fostering authentic, genuine relationship with people whether you are working for them on a project to deliver a result or going for coffee to chat about life. It is out of this kind of relationship that will come more ‘business’ and ‘referral’ then you know what to do with.

I say that last statement with extreme reluctance, because even admitting the potential rewards to truly liking people will cause some to structure this as a process of business growth. Please… look at people as people – like you – with hope, fear, ambition, disappointment and love. They are lives to be invested in and served to accomplish their hope, ambition, goals and future.

If we can learn this lesson we not only contribute to making this world a better place but will truly enrich our lives beyond the greatest financial resources available.

What lengths will you go to? Invest in people.

We officially changed our name just over a year ago from Martin Weiss Design, which had been a staple in the area for over 25 years. We are approaching the businesses 30 year anniversary and our 5 year anniversary this year and are excited about the growth we have seen.

Welcome to Fluid Audience – the renovation.

This is the main reception area at our Grande Prairie office. We believe strongly in presentation – we help companies put their best foot forward and feel we should expect no less of ourselves. Achieving this has been a process from which we have significantly learned along the way.

Streamlining our workflow has not only allowed us to be more competitive as a business, but allowed us to serve our clients with greater efficiency and effectiveness.

The collaboration stage of any project is crucial. The process of achieving consensus of direction and design elements, understanding the directives of each project and meeting the clients needs in a way that allows them to actually be part of the process is ultimate goal.

The creative process can better happen with the right tools. Understanding products, materials and production gives us the ability to design for function so that after we spend the time and energy we have a knowledge of whether or not the idea will work in the end.

Our print room contains a full color digital print and finisher, wide format full color photo quality HP that allows us to print on everything from canvas to adhesive vinyl. We service our construction and drafting clients with our wide format blueprint duplicator which we can print up to 36in. wide. Our facility gives us the ability to process most jobs in-house giving our clients access to short run printing with relatively short turn-around times and exceptional quality.

The commercial sign portion of our business has been one area that has grown significantly in the past several years. We have a full shop (not all of which is shown here) and have worked on many projects both large and small.

We can laminate up to 41in wide which gives us the ability to laminate maps, menus, brochures, business cards or whatever the project requires.

Here’s the new efficient workspace in action – fast action!

We have strived to create open spaces in our work areas, which gives us the flexibility that is required in our field. We continue to grow in our knowledge and experience and have taken on several ‘stretching’ projects over the years. We feel that our growth also needs to be ‘fluid’ – change is inevitable, the choice we have is whether we will lead it or resist it.

Welcome to our evolution. I am convinced it will not stop.

Thanks

They came with some initial concepts and once we heard a bit of their story, their passion and their direction we recommended an overhaul. Their plan was to take there product nationally and we felt that their initial concepts would not adequately support that task.

They had a desire to appeal to the urban home owner that wanted green healthy lawn – fast. They had a product that supported those claims better then any other product in the residential market and the manufacturing capability to be a large-scale distributor. Branding them as a main-stream competitor in an already name dominated industry was going to be difficult. What they brought to the market was a new residential product that was well tested in other applications but never before utilized in the lawn care field.

We then abandoned the direction they had approached us with and designed a new package and developed an additional product package for them. We worked with them and their bagging manufactures to see their bags delivered and ready for them to start production.

We have since helped them to develop of product guide and supplier manual so that they can steadily increase their carriers and grow their business. From posters, point of sale display and in store advertising to this years ad campaign we continue to journey with them.

We have worked within budget considerations to provide them with the tools they have needed to reach this far and will continue to do that throughout the course of our relationship with them and have developed a friendship and level of trust that we hope will continue far into their products becoming a household name.

But, this is the dilema. The over-consumption of ‘stuff’ has led us into all kinds of problems: environmentally, socially, relationally, the list goes on. So I have this moral check. I love helping people communicate their message to other people effectively and intentionally in order provoke a positive response –this is advertising.

But, what if the most effective advertising was directed at provoking positive change in the world around us: environmentally, socially, relationally and the list goes on and on? What if the best of this industry were commissioned to design for change? What if there was more investment into these types of advertising, not to provoke people into spending more, but acting smart, conserving and maybe even caring? I don’t mean the government, spending to advertise to promote being ‘good citizens.’ I mean, real change.

Maybe it’s too late, maybe we’ve become so desensitized to ad messages that advertising has no hope of doing good. Maybe the ability we have of influencing those around us can still be used to promote positive change. I think that it’s important to take a step back and have a look at the big picture once in awhile. Here’s how I see the ‘big picture’ –we’re all still selfish, but I don’t think we want to be. I think that because we still find joy watching the few who are willing to sacrifice for others says that we are more than a little discontent at our own selfishness.

Here’s the challenge for you today. Try to do something for someone, somewhere that you know you will never get paid for or may not even get praised for. Then try to influence someone else to do the same. You’re ‘advertising’ for positive change… because advertising is little more than influence – and you can influence!

I have experimented with several tools over the past year to help to manage projects and timelines and keep on top of things while continuing to grow the reach of our company through collaboration and networking with like-minded professionals.

Here’s the low-down:

Capture Everything, Access Anywhere & Find Things Fast

Evernote does a good job of delivering that claim and even the free version of evernote would give the average user adequate data transfer, storage space and access for saving all your notes in one place. I use evernote primarily as a note pad. No more stickies! Orders that come in, inquiries, phone messages, todo’s that haven’t made it to action yet. Evernote gives you the ability to tag items and has a powerful search tool that narrows down your multiple note by remember even one word.

There are even more powerful features in the paid version, but so far I have been content with the free subscription. It integrates with my multiple devices and the sync function has been so far without a hitch, on my iPhone, macBook and macPC.

Definitely a huge help.

Project Management & Collaboration

This is an amazing project management tool that allows for us to keep track of our projects and collaborate with our team in various locations. We have also found it extremely useful in collaborating with our clients throughout a project giving them access to seeing our progress through the milestones of the project, interjecting the necessary feedback and approvals throughout but still giving the team the ability to communication behind the scenes privately so that we don’t overwhelm our clients with unnecessary correspondence.

Great tool that has become irreplaceable and enables us to manage our multiple projects and project types effectively.

File Sharing, Backup & Easy Access (2 GB for free)

This has become another valuable tool in our arsenal. It allows for easy access to the files we are working on from any location. I did use mobileMe for this previously but the data transfer rate with mobileMe is so slow that it was proving in-effective and frustrating. Dropbox is quick and simple to set up. We use it to synchronize various file types, it gives the ability to share large files through email link and serves as another great tool.

I guess that’s life, because we are all, by nature, creative. Don’t be allured by the pursuit of wealth in your quest for influence – the two are not very closely related. Effecting the world around you comes when you are willing to let things go – not hold them too tightly. Sometimes ‘creative’ people hold tightly to the things that they ‘create,’ but influence only comes when the thing created is allowed to live a life of it’s own.

Here’s an example of what I mean. If you create something that could change the world around you for the better but never tell anyone for fear that someone will see it and re-create it and make lots of money, what good was the idea? How many revolutionary ideas never live a life and make an influence because of someones fear or someones greed. Making the world a better place takes creative people. Not just creative people, but confident, creative people.

If you have a good idea – don’t be afraid to share it. Maybe you won’t ‘make it rich’ on that big idea, but maybe… maybe, you’ll be an influence.

Jared

Most business owners decide to advertise when they want to or have to make more money and usually when they need results fast. Unfortunately effective advertising isn’t always fast. I know you didn’t want to hear that.

Here’s another annoying fact. Your advertising messages are mostly seen by people who already like you. Humans have this crazy defense mechanism that allows us to function throughout a day without loosing our minds completely. The statistics show that we are exposed to anywhere from 2000-5000 advertisement messages a day.

Here’s where I’m going with this. If you have ever purchased a vehicle that you thought was unique? Maybe the car dealer even convinced you that there were only a limited number of this color manufactured. You even admit that you had never seen this color before on this vehicle. You make the purchase and drive down the road, now you see where this is going. You never saw that color or that vehicle because you never cared before, not because they weren’t around.

You only see what you have already seen. So, where is the best place to advertise? Well, I guess ask yourself, how effective I want to be?

The phrase ‘preaching to the choir’ refers to the ‘futile’ task of trying to convince a group of people who have not only already been convinced, but they’re standing right there with you. Maybe, when it comes to advertising your business the ‘choir’ is a good place to start.

You will have to spend far less energy convincing the convinced then trying to infiltrate the 3000-5000 messages of those who have never seen you before. The question then becomes what is the best way to inform instead of trying to come up with ways to invade with your message?

I was shopping the other day with my family in a chain children’s clothing store and was struck by how dysfunctional the store layout was. It was actually much like traditional advertising acts – everything was in the way. The isles were so narrow that you could hardly squeeze by, much less with children and heaven forbid you have a stroller in this children’s clothing store. The stroller took out half the clothes, pulling at the displays and knocking down clothing. Why? There’s got to be a better way of doing this!

Our local Walmart is much the same. The aisles are jammed full of stuff, ‘discounted’ and in your face. Why has advertising become annoying and intrusive? When was the last time you were intrigued when a telephone solicitor called? When was the last time you were excited by a product pitch?

I heard a speaker the other day talking about how advertising should encourage passion not derail it. Ad agencies and business have become desperate in recent years. The nature of advertising is interruptive – I hate to be interrupted. Who ever figured that ‘annoyance’ would be a good first emotion for people to have with your brand?

Emotion is what usually drives our purchases and how people emotionally relate to products or services is vital to the success of a brand and the future growth of a company. If we emotionally connect with a product or service we commit to it, we talk about it, and we tell others about it.

Here’s an idea – figure out what emotion that you want people to experience with your product and service. Then tailor your marketing to stir that emotion. A word of warning though, your product or service better deliver or you will foster ‘betrayal’ if people feel they have been duped into buying something inferior. That will also stir passion, but against you.

Post a comment of ways you can stir passion in people.

With this backdrop, how does any company with a modest budget (at best) break into the vast array of competing products and services?

Well… smartly. In most cases you can’t hope to out-advertise the established competition. You need fast results from your advertising, and you need tangible results for every dollar that you spend.

There’s a common myth with traditional advertising which is pushed by many main-stream advertising agencies. The myth is that ‘brand awareness’ is worth spending money on. Brand awareness is, in fact, a luxury. What you really need are sales! And now. Awareness will come, but sales are necessary.

You need to spend smart when it comes to advertising if you want to grow your business, or for some, stay in business. Avoid the temptation of spending thousands on repeat ad campaigns, mailings and commercials to audiences that don’t know or care about what you have to offer.

Market smart. Market to those who care.

We practice and teach a system of marketing that may be considered unconventional or even unheard of. Once your direction is clear we get down to the task of helping you determine what you smallest market is – what? That’s right, your smallest market. We want to help you build your marketing strategy like you would build a fire. When you have limited resources, few dollars and require quantifiable results you need a marketing strategy that will work for you and keep working for your afterwards.

This strategy is called Pyromarketing and involves four steps:

1. Start With The Driest Tinder

- These people have the lowest ignition temperature relative to your product. The slightest heat from your marketing causes them to light and burn hot. This is the only group whose ignition temperature is within reach of traditional advertising.

2. Touch It With The Match

- Let people experience your product or service. If you want prospects to laugh, don’t tell them you’re funny, tell them a joke. Experience is hotter than advertising and can ignite even the mildly interested.

3. Fan The Flames

- This means equipping your customers to spread your message more effectively through word-of-mouth. Personal influence is hotter than advertising or experience and the only way to convert the apathetic masses. Reach them by leveraging the power of passionate customer evangelists.

4. Save The Coals

- Keep a record of the people you find with your marketing so that each new campaign builds equity you can tap into in the future. The most likely to return are customers who have been deeply satisfied with your product or service.