Wizard of Ads Monday Morning Memo

Thirty-five years ago, he patrolled a stretch of beach as long as two football fields on a Caribbean Island whose name I cannot remember.He pushed a wheelbarrow full of ice as he pranced from one end of his empire to the other, the music of his voice rising and falling over the sound of the surf.“I’m sorry I’m late, but I’m here. You want it. I got it.”His music would often stop. Then resume. Stop.Resume. Stop.Finally, we saw him, a tiny, native islander in his late 50’s, as slender and leathery as a bullwhip, his naked feet falling as lightly as snowflakes on the soft Caribbean sand.“I’m sorry I’m late, but I’m here. You want it. I got it… I’m sorry I’m late, but…”His song would stop abruptly when he saw a hand raised. Sprinting to that spot with his wheelbarrow, he would ask the vacationers to name the drinks they desired.I watched him for a while. He was a genius.Occasionally he would reach into the ice and produce the requested beverage, but usually, he would pull his empty hands out of the icy water and fly like a bullet to his shack at the back of the beach. He would leave so quickly that you had no time to tell him you would happily accept a substitute.He would return like Santa’s reindeer, his feet barely touching the sand, with the requested drink in hand, triumphant and proud not to have let you down.Once, as I saw him fly over the sand with cold drinks in hand, I thought I could hear the sound of sleigh bells,“More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:‘Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now Prancer and Vixen!On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donner and Blitzen!‘”That’s when it hit me: “This sandy song and dance is the daily floor show he gives us in this magnificent tavern without a ceiling. He is making a fortune in tips, and earning every bit of it.”I observed him long enough to decode his methods: if he suspected vacationers of feeling entitled and flinty, he would immediately pull their drinks from the ice, accept their money, and resume his happy song.“I’m sorry I’m late, but I’m here. You want it. I got it.”I was honored when he couldn’t find our drinks. Pennie and I smiled at each other as he sprinted across the sand and returned with them 90 seconds later.One minute after that, we smiled at each other again when we saw him pull those same drinks from the ice to serve an unhappy couple 20 feet away.Like I said, the man was a genius.When an unpleasant person is demanding my attention and I feel like showing them the bird that I keep in my hand, I think of that happy, slender islander, and tell myself that he is still there, his hands in the ice, his bare feet falling like snowflakes on the soft Caribbean sand.Roy H. Williams

It is easier to increase sales than it is to cut expenses.In the words of Adrian Van Zelfden, “You cannot shrink your way to profit.”Cost-cutting CEO’s are hailed as geniuses by Wall Street and lauded as saviors by private equity firms because cost-cutting always works in the short-term.But that’s not how you build a business.When Roger Smith rose from his position of accounting clerk to become CEO of General Motors in 1981, Wall Street saw him as a brilliant businessman who was “optimizing operations” and “maximizing profits.” But anyone who loved cars could see that he was destroying one of America’s great companies.When I complained to one of my brothers-in-law that the GM brands were rapidly losing their distinct identities to become a bland blend of nothingness, he said, “You don’t understand business. It costs a lot to engineer and tool a new model of car for each GM brand,” (Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac,) “so Roger Smith is building all the cars on a single platform. But each brand will get its own grill and headlights and interior and taillights.”I said, “Perhaps I don’t understand business, but I understand marketing and reputation-building from the hair of my head to the soles of my feet and I’m telling you that Roger Smith is destroying General Motors.”Every time I point out the dangers of an unsustainable plan to cash in on the 90-day attention span of the American investor, I am told, “You don’t understand business.”Always those same four words.Prior to the arrival of “optimizing, maximizing” Roger Smith in 1981, GM held 46% of the U.S. car market. By the time he left 9 years later, market share had slipped to 35.4% and was rapidly falling. When asked about the plummeting market share, he defended the bottom line: “You don’t pay dividends on market share.”By depriving his brands of the oxygen of creativity and innovation, Roger Smith choked the life out of General Motors.Oldsmobile died. Pontiac died. Buick is not far behind. GM’s market share in 2021 was only 15.2% of the U.S. car market.This did not have to happen.“Critics say Smith’s greatest flaw was overemphasizing that bottom-line mentality rather than working on improving product quality. ‘He was a bean counter,’ says Owen Bieber, who was president of the United Auto Workers during much of Smith’s tenure. ‘Suddenly, GM started making a lot of cars that looked alike. I used to tell him that you can’t have a Cadillac that looks like a Chevrolet and expect to sell them both.’”– Los Angeles Times, Dec 1, 2007By 1989 GM was losing $2000 on every GM10 it built. Asked by Fortune magazine why the program had failed, Roger Smith answered: “I don’t know. It’s a mysterious thing.”In June, 2009, when GM dropped to its knees and begged the bankruptcy courts for mercy, Motor Trend magazine had this to say,“Less than a year after celebrating its centenary, the company we knew as General Motors is dead. Once the richest and most powerful automaker in the world; the symbol of American industrial might; the engine room of the American economy, General Motors is now officially bankrupt.”*You cannot shrink your way to profit.Roy H. Williams* June 1, 2009 – A series of bad decisions based on grievously flawed assumptions led to GM having just $82 billion in assets and $173 billion in liabilities on June 1, 2009. This is a scenario that routinely repeats itself, but no one seems to be paying attention. – RHW

The choice between a good thing and a bad thing is never a hard choice. The only hard choice is between two good things.Science is a good thing. And so are the Arts. Why choose?Rube Goldberg became wildly famous 100 years ago because his elegantly absurd inventions combined Science with Art.Elegant absurdity surprises and delights us because it reveals lofty creativity and deep commitment aimed at something that is not – to the logical mind – worth the effort.Confronted with the elegantly absurd, pure logic snorts a derisive laugh, but the heart laughs with peals of pure joy.YouTube and TikTok are filled with elegant absurdity. OK GO rode the rocket of the elegantly absurd to heights unknown, then Walk Off the Earth rode it like a surfboard to the edge of the world and beyond. The absurdly elegant inventions of Mark Rober and the elegantly absurd shenanigans of Rex and Daniel have given them massive influence in their fields of endeavor.Marching bands, baton twirling, and tap dancing… perhaps all kinds of dancing… are examples of the elegantly absurd because they require creativity and commitment to achieve something that, again – to the logical mind – isn’t worth the effort.Indy Beagle has examples of all these for you in the rabbit hole.Satire is another elegant absurdity.“Satire has done more to change society than a mountain of political policies. Everything from All in the Family to Saturday Night Live to The Daily Show… (not to mention court jesters, Twain, Menippus, Will Rogers). It’s a battering ram disguised as a rubber chicken.”– Johnny MolsonBut is ‘elegant absurdity’ as absurd as it first appears?“Life is a drama full of tragedy and comedy. You should learn to enjoy the comic episodes a little more.”– Jeannette Walls“The more evolved an animal is, the more time it spends playing.”– P.J. O’Rourke“Humanity has advanced, when it has advanced, not because it has been sober, responsible, and cautious, but because it has been playful, rebellious, and immature.”– Tom Robbins, Still Life With Woodpecker, p. 19So there it is. When you are literate in the basic concepts of the Sciences and the Arts, you are qualified to be elegantly absurd. You are that flash of energy, that illumination we see when two wires come into close proximity after having been connected to opposite poles of the same high-voltage battery.Shine on, bright friend, shine on.Roy H. Williams

The great game of BUSINESS does not come with an instruction manual.The assumption of most players is that Customer Acquisition – lead generation – sales opportunities – is how you win the game.But the understanding of a Highly Skilled Player goes 2 levels deeper:Customer Acquisition (lead gen)Conversion (closing the sale)Remove the Friction (from the buying experience)Highly Skilled Players understand that exponential growth is unleashed by improving the conversion rate. Big differences in top-line sales and bottom-line profits flow from small improvements in Conversion.Highly Skilled Players are usually successful, but the Master Players – the paradigm shifters – the system disruptors – the Kings and Queens of their Categories – turn this Highly Skilled Order of Operations upside down.This is the methodology of every Master Player:Remove the FrictionCustomer AcquisitionConversionWithout exception, every one of the 26 Mammoth Successes in which I have played a part was triggered by Removing the Friction.When you remove the friction, you differentiate yourself in a profound and meaningful way. Customer Acquisition accelerates and Conversion Rate climbs.The friction in your customer’s Buying Experience is hard to see, but you can feel it in the reluctance of your customer.A customer survey will only add to your confusion because customers cannot consciously tell you what they subconsciously feel. You will read the results of your survey, do what your customers told you they wanted, but it won’t help you in the slightest.Let’s review:You need to remove the friction that creates Customer Reluctance.This is felt as a lack of sales opportunities, but you cannot identify the cause.Because it is subconscious, not even your customers can tell you the cause.Wait. It gets worse.When you were a kid, did you ever call “dibs”? If there was only one piece of cake and you wanted the right to eat that cake, you would call “dibs” on it. You had a preference and you wanted to impose that preference on others before they could impose their preference on you.Now that you are an adult, there is a new kind of DIBs – Data Information Bias – and it is far more costly than the loss of a piece of cake.I have a client who was successful long before they met me, but their Data Information Bias was impeding their ability to jump to a higher level. I recognized their DIBs when they told me to write ads that would drive sales opportunities to the telephone. Their data clearly indicated their conversion rate was much higher on the telephone than on their website.I said, “You have an extraverted sales assumption, a preference for listening and talking rather than reading and writing. And you assume that everyone else is like you. But it isn’t true. Your data isn’t telling you to drive your customers to the telephones, it is telling you to fix your website.”They believed me. They fixed it. And their sales volume doubled. Then we doubled the double by removing the friction in their mass media. That company is now approaching 10x the sales volume and profitability that was previously considered “successful.”You have already told yourself that you would have interpreted their data correctly. Am I right?Perhaps you would have. But that company’s data isn’t what is holding you back. Your own data and your own Data Information Bias is holding you back, but you can’t see it because it is hiding in your blind spot.If you knew it was there, they wouldn’t call it a blind spot.This last little bit that I am going to tell you – if I can figure out how to communicate it clearly – will resolve the final two mysteries that are lingering in your mind.If I am correct, you are wondering:“Why can’t the customer articulate their subconscious reluctance? I believe I could do it.”“If I am honest and sincere and open-minded, what could possibly keep me from seeing what is supposedly hiding in my blind spot?”Fear and Pride are the answers to both of those questions.Every form of Customer Reluctance is built upon a subconscious fear. We are too proud to admit – even to ourselves – that we are fearful, so we tell ourselves a convenient lie so that we don’t have to admit we are afraid. We believe this lie, so this is the lie that we report to you in your Customer Survey.To see what is hiding in your blind spot, you will have to alter one of your fundamental beliefs about how the world works. Your fundamental beliefs underlie your operating system, your worldview. You and I are exactly alike. Our pride causes us to have a deep, natural aversion to learning that we may have been wrong all along.Here is one example that might help you understand the depth and pervasiveness of the typical blind spot: If a person believes that “money makes the world go ’round” and that we can always find the truth if we “follow the money,” they will also believe that everyone evaluates each other based on their incomes. They see proof of that belief everywhere they look, because we see what we are looking for.Their belief in money as the primary motivator causes them to create a generous pay plan for their employees. They then find success by:(A.) lowering their prices to attract more customers, or(B.) offering a discount or rebate to attract more customers, or(C.) raising their prices to create a “prestige brand” like Rolex or Tiffany or Ferrari.Their solutions to problems will always begin with the assumption that money is the primary motivator. And this deep, instinctive belief about “how the world works” will be correct enough to bring them a meaningful degree of success. But hiding in their blind spot will be a huge number of employees they can’t hire, and a large number of customers they can’t attract. These are people for whom money is not the primary motivator.A belief in money as the primary motivator is just ONE of the many fundamental beliefs that can form a worldview, and with it, the blind spots that can keep you from getting to the next level.Every blind spot is the result of a deep, instinctive belief you trust unconditionally. You trust it because it brought you the success you currently enjoy.But if the growth of your business has flattened out,it is probably an instinctive belief that is holding you back.It got you to where you are.But it won’t take you to the next level.Is your hunger for growth strong enoughto cause you to listen to thingsyou would rather not hear?Aroo,Roy H. WilliamsNOTE: The business owner who believed “money is the primary motivator” unconsciously targeted the low-profit Transactional customer in his A & B options, gaining the high-profit Relational customer only in option C. We’ll talk more about this in the rabbit hole.– Indy Beagle

Gordon Atkinson’s Land of La Mancha is the finest literary work of loneliness that has been chronicled since Henry David Thoreau spent 2 years on Walden Pond.Here is how Thoreau opens that most iconic of early American books:“When I wrote the following pages, or rather the bulk of them, I lived alone, in the woods, a mile from any neighbor, in a house which I had built myself, on the shore of Walden Pond, in Concord, Massachusetts, and earned my living by the labor of my hands only. I lived there two years and two months.”Walden Pond, by the way, is only 2.2 miles from the old North Bridge in Concord where a British soldier fired “the shot heard ’round the world” that triggered the Revolutionary War.Come with me now to July, 1845 when Henry David Thoreau first arrived at Walden Pond:It has been only 69 years since Thomas Jefferson wrote that document by which 13 colonies of England broke away from King George and banded together to form this baby nation. (To put this in perspective, it has been 69 years since Chevrolet introduced the Corvette. – RHW) There are tens of thousands of Americans today who can remember growing up in the 13 colonies. They can recall reading the newspapers of Benjamin Franklin with his constant showering of articles advocating “No Taxation Without Representation” and how their fingertips became blackened by newspaper ink that was not quite dry.Florida became the 27th state 90 days ago and Johnny Appleseed died 15 days later. There is talk of the Republic of Texas also becoming a state. The newspapers of New York are buzzing about a new poem by Poe in which a raven walks around saying, “Nevermore.”That was America on the day Henry David Thoreau wandered off into those woods from which he and his book Walden would emerge 2 years and 2 months later.You’ve never read Walden? Here is a short passage from “Brute Neighbors,” one of the later chapters:“The mice which haunted my house were not the common ones, which are said to have been introduced into the country, but a wild native kind not found in the village. I sent one to a distinguished naturalist, and it interested him much. When I was building, one of these had its nest underneath the house, and before I had laid the second floor, and swept out the shavings, would come out regularly at lunch time and pick up the crumbs at my feet. It probably had never seen a man before; and it soon became quite familiar, and would run over my shoes and up my clothes. It could readily ascend the sides of the room by short impulses, like a squirrel, which it resembled in its motions. At length, as I leaned with my elbow on the bench one day, it ran up my clothes, and along my sleeve, and round and round the paper which held my dinner, while I kept the latter close, and dodged and played at bopeep with it; and when at last I held still a piece of cheese between my thumb and finger, it came and nibbled it, sitting in my hand, and afterward cleaned its face and paws, like a fly, and walked away.”Gordon Atkinson is still writing his book, Land of La Mancha, but 3 days ago he posted 25 entries from the journal he has been keeping since the day he became the inaugural artist-in-residence at Wizard Academy.Gordon and I have not yet spoken. You will understand why when you read what he has written.Roy H. Williams

In 2011, the attention of our nation was consumed by the economic problems caused by the sub-prime mortgage debacle of 2008. That’s why everyone thought I was crazy when I wrote these words…“Western Society is in danger of becoming self-righteous, sanctimonious and insufferably judgmental. If history is to be our guide, the next 20 years will be when we move from our agreement of mutual brokenness, ‘I’m Not Okay – You’re Not Okay,’ to embrace a self-righteous indignation, ‘I’m Okay – You’re Not Okay.’ Sanctimonious vigilante-ism will become popular as indignant leaders demonize their enemies and rally their followers by appealing to their inborn sense of rightness and social obligation, ‘Let’s clean this place up and to hell with compromise. They are entirely wrong and we are entirely right. They are stupid. We are wise. They are evil. We are good.’”“The last time we went through this, America formed a committee in Congress called the House Un-American Activities Committee (1938) and later watched with glee while Senator Joseph McCarthy destroyed countless lives by recklessly branding his enemies as ‘Communists,’ and creating the infamous blacklists.”“This sounds a bit far-fetched, doesn’t it? I know it does. I’m writing because I want you to be able to look back and recall how absurd this all sounded when I first told you what was on the horizon.”I brought that 11-year-old prediction to your attention because I’m going to share something else that I see poking it’s head up over the horizon.Are you familiar with the argument that roared among the founding fathers during the 1790’s?Thomas Jefferson feared tyranny and was worried that a strong Federal government would stifle individual freedoms. He envisioned a decentralized republic built of small, agricultural towns. Alexander Hamilton feared anarchy and desired the structure and order that a strong Federal government would provide. He envisioned centralized, efficient power at the top of the pyramid.When the Federalists passed the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798 that restricted the activities of foreign residents and limited freedom of speech and of the press, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison wrote the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, which called on state legislatures to nullify federal laws.I believe we are seeing the acceleration of that argument between “Federal Power” Hamilton and “States Power” Jefferson, but I believe this time Jefferson will win.I know you would like me to speak plainly, so I will. But first I want to make it clear that I am not advocating the thing I am about to describe. In 2011 I didn’t want to see our nation degenerate into two polarized groups that were equally self-righteous, sanctimonious and insufferably judgmental, but it happened anyway. Likewise, I don’t want to see a surging escalation of state’s rights that ultimately cause our nation to become an expanded and updated version of the European Union, but I believe that is where we are headed.By 2033 you will hear this idea of “each state doing their own thing” being proposed by Alpha Voices that will arise and popularize it.Ten years later, the “ME” cycle of 2043 will be launched in the heady delusion that all of America’s problems can be solved by letting each state become, in essence, its own little country. America will maintain a common currency and a standing army to defend the member states, but the real power of the nation will have shifted to the governors and state legislatures. When you cross a state line the laws will change in profound and meaningful ways.By 2063 we will have begun to realize that if you sow to the wind, you reap a whirlwind, and we will begin to mourn what we left behind.I will be 105 years old in 2063 so it is unlikely that I will be paying much attention. But that’s okay. I’ve already seen this movie, I know how it ends.Roy H. WilliamsPS – I apologize if this seems unfair, but I did not write these things to you so that we could have a discussion about it. In truth, I would rather go to the dentist and have a root canal without anesthesia. But about once a decade I see the future clearly and write down what I see. I am prepared to be wrong. In fact, I hope I am wrong. But this is not a subject I really want to talk about. I wrote today’s Monday Morning Memo so that it can gather dust in the archives and be read by historians of the future who will say, “Well, he was only stating the obvious.” – RHWHindsight is that moment when smug academicians look at what was once impossible and call it “inevitable.” – Indy Beagle

Johnny Molson sent me a video of an elderly Ukrainian woman walking up to a heavily armed Russian soldier, the point man of a force that was occupying her town. Looking him in the face, she said, “Put sunflower seeds in your pocket so flowers will grow when you die.” *The note that came with the video said, “That’s a Patrick Henry/Paul Revere level story. That’s the shit Churchill wished he would have said.”Johnny’s note caused me to remember two things. The first was a passage from a remarkable op-ed from Yuval Noah Harari in London’s 200-year-old newspaper, The Guardian:“Nations are ultimately built on stories. Each passing day adds more stories that Ukrainians will tell not only in the dark days ahead, but in the decades and generations to come. The president who refused to flee the capital, telling the US that he needs ammunition, not a ride; the soldiers from Snake Island who told a Russian warship to “go fuck yourself”; the civilians who tried to stop Russian tanks by sitting in their path. This is the stuff nations are built from. In the long run, these stories count for more than tanks.”The second thing Johnny’s note brought to mind was something I wrote 19 years ago:Heroes are dangerous things. Bigger than life, highly exaggerated and always positioned in the most favorable light, a hero is a beautiful lie.We have historic heroes, folk heroes and comic book heroes. We have heroes in books and songs and movies and sport. We have heroes of morality, leadership, kindness and excellence. And nothing is so devastating to our sense of wellbeing as a badly fallen hero. Yes, heroes are dangerous things to have.The only thing more dangerous is not to have them.Heroes raise the bar we jump and hold high the standards we live by. They are ever-present tattoos on our psyche, the embodiment of all we are striving to be.We create our heroes from our hopes and dreams. And then they attempt to create us in their own image.Most people assume that legends, myths and stories of heroes are simply the byproducts of great civilizations, but I’m convinced they are the cause of them. Throughout history, the mightiest civilizations have been the ones with stories of heroes; larger-than-life role models that inspired ordinary citizens to rise up and do amazing things.Americans are united, at least for a moment, to set aside our petty bickering as we gaze in wonder at the people of Ukraine.My prayer is that Volodymyr Zelensky, his family and his nation, emerge from these dark days alive and free.Amen.Roy H. WilliamsPS – I have liked all of the Russians I have ever met. My strong suspicion is that Vladimir Putin does not represent the hearts of the people of Russia. One more thing: many of you have asked me about William and Sasha, Wizard Academy’s ambassadors to Russia. I have been very careful in my communications with them in recent days since Vladimir is angry with America and it might not be beneficial to be seen as having a lot of American friends right now. – RHW*The sunflower is the national flower of Ukraine, which makes grandma even more of a badass. – Indy

Motivational speakers often tell their followers to visualize accomplishing their desired outcomes; to mentally go into the future and feel the joy of that not-yet-happened moment.Visualization is the mental rehearsal of possible future events.When the word “rehearse” was invented more than 700 years ago, it meant to hear again; to re-hear.I am an ad writer. My job is to get people to repeatedly imagine doing what my clients want them to do. I want prospective customers to live those events in their minds.I could just as easily have been a songwriter.Each time you imagine an action that is followed by a sequence of events, you move precipitously closer to taking that action and bringing those events to pass.Athletes in every sport are taught this by their coaches.This is why I don’t listen to country music. I don’t want to visualize those events and imagine those feelings.Visualization – mental rehearsal – is a powerful thing.Visualization affects one-and-a-half percent of us a little more strongly than it does most people. We are the ones who are warned by psychologists not to get involved in role-playing games because we can get lost in the characters we play and lose touch with reality.This is why, for me, listening to a country song about heart-breaking loss and gut-wrenching grief is exactly like watching a horror movie. But I believe I understand the appeal of country music to people who are not afflicted with my condition. Shauna Niequist writes, “My friend Eve told me once that the ability to cry is a sign of health, because it means your body and your soul agree on something.”If I am right, people love country music because it helps them remember the things that are important in their lives.As Solomon said in the 23rd division of the book of Proverbs, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”His words apply equally to both of us, I think.To me, Solomon is saying, “Do not be in your mind the man you do not want to be.”But to the country music fan, Solomon is saying, “Feel deep and meaningful feelings in your mind if you want to be a deep and meaningful person.”I could be wrong. I have certainly been wrong before. But I do not think I am wrong this time.Roy H. Williams

A brief summary of this episodeThe goal of branding is to build a relationship with future customers. When a relationship has finally been established, you become who these people think of immediately – and feel the best about – when they, or any of their friends, need what you sell.Direct marketers often disdain mass media because it doesn’t allow them to “target and track” their prey. But these same Direct Marketers will give heavy bags of money to online influencers. It never occurs to them that every person listening to the radio or watching TV is an influencer of approximately 250 people.These 250 people are their Realm of Association. They are the people who listen to them when they speak. They are mostly friends and co-workers, but some of them are family.You have people in your life – acquaintances – with whom you are familiar, but they never quite made it into that circle that is your true Realm of Association.Here’s my question for you. Do you trust those people who never contact you unless they want something from you?Those people remind me of direct marketers. They target you – get something from you – and walk away smiling.Your true friends are the ones who spend time with you, who make you smile, laugh, feel good, and rarely ask for anything at all.A brand that you love is like a friend.Ads are either transactional or relational. A long series of transactional ads does not build a brand. It builds name awareness, yes, but not a brand.If I reach and win only 10 percent of your realm of association through my focused use of mass media, but you ­– my future customer – are not within that 10 percent, I am not worried in the slightest. My relational ads will have won the hearts of 25 of your best friends and it is likely that one or more of them will get my message to you when you finally need what I sell. If I reach and win 20% of your community through my relentless use of cheap and effective mass media, I will have reached 50 of your best friends.Decisions are rarely made in a vacuum.Each of us is surrounded by influencers who do not have blogs or podcasts or YouTube channels, but we value their opinions very highly. We trust the recommendations of our friends.“Reaching the right people” is not the secret to building a brand. The secret is to say and do the right things.Getting attention is easy. Any fool can do it.To win a person’s heart, you have to hold that attention. You have to nurture that little spark by the breath of your mouth and then blow it into a flame by your actions. You have to cause people to look forward to their next encounter with you. You have to make them enjoy spending time with you.This, mon chéri, is branding.Brand building is not something you test.Brand building is something you do.Your first encounter with a cold contact will be Low CAP.Low Conversion.Low Average sale.Low Profit margin.But when that contact types your name into the search block because they are looking for you – precisely you – those encounters will be High CAP.Direct marketers wear their CAPs low.Brand builders wear their CAPs high.The most successful direct marketers are those who first built their brands, then began offering specific things to their brand families at specific times, all the while maintaining and nourishing that bond their customers feel with the brand.My personal formula is one-third transactional ads, two-thirds relational.Television and radio advertising are astoundingly cheap and effective. They are the way to go if you want to build a brand. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.Aroo,Roy H. Williams

There are four kinds of thought.Verbal Thought is hearing a voice in your mind.Analytical Thought is deductive reasoning that seeks to forecast a result.Abstract Thought embraces fantasy and all things intangible.Symbolic Thought relates the unknown to the known. The pattern-recognition power of the right brain connects new ideas [abstract thought] with known information [analytical thought] in the deductive reasoning left brain.Symbolic Thought allows you to communicate the abstract by pointing to something familiar that shares an essential attribute with the abstraction you are trying to describe. This is the essence of all similes and metaphors.“This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks, bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight, stand like Druids of old, with voices sad and prophetic…”– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline“murmuring…”“bearded…”“garments…”“Druids of old, with voices sad and prophetic…”We’re talking about trees, remember?Symbols are a language of the mind.But that observation is just the beginning.I have no proof of what I am about to tell you. So if you continue to read, please understand that I will be sharing nothing more than a deeply held pet theory of mine. I can reference no sources other than 25 years of experimentation and my conversations with Indy.I believe the 4 types of thought are composed of 12 essential languages. Think of these 12 languages as the Operating System of the mind.I believe Numbers are a language of the mind.There are things that can be said in the language of Numbers that can be said in no other language. It is easier to learn mathematics when you think of Numbers as a language and the order of operations in math as the grammar and syntax of that language.I believe Color is a language. Red and pink say different things.Likewise, Shape is a language. A curve says something different than an angle.Arranging colors and shapes so they speak to us is the essence of composition in photos, paintings and illustrations. It is the basis of architecture, Feng Shui, and industrial design (cars, jewelry, furniture, etc.) In fact, it underlies every type of visual communication that causes people to think and feel a certain way.The human mind is given wings by its unique ability to attach complex meanings to sounds.When you use words, you are rapidly choosing which of the 44 Phonemes of the English language shares an essential attribute with the fractional abstraction you are trying to describe.Yes, the entirety of the English language is composed of just 44 sounds. This is not a pet theory of mine. This is settled science among the linguists of the world.When you speak or write, you are connecting Phonemes together in rapid succession to create words – sounds – that represent what you are trying to communicate.Did you know the written word has no meaning until it has been translated into the spoken word it represents? Graphemes, the letters of the alphabet and certain combinations of those letters like ch, sh, and th, merely represent the sounds – the phonemes – to which we attach deep meaning.Look again at ch, sh, and th. Don’t say the names of the letters in your mind. Make the sounds that each of those two-letter combinations represent, “ch,” “sh,” “th”Did it occur to you that “th” has two different sounds? Voiced “th” is the sound we hear in “the”. Unvoiced “th” is the sound we hear in “with”.It is my belief that a basic understanding of the 12 Languages of the Mind will make you a better communicator. Indy Beagle gave you a glimpse of one of the Languages – Symbol – before he got carried away in today’s illustration. And I gave you a glimpse of 4 of them: Number, Color, Shape, and Phoneme.Perhaps one day, if you are interested, we’ll tell you about the other seven.Roy H. Williams