Wizard of Ads Monday Morning Memo

We settle for sex when we cannot find love.Likewise, we settle for the excitement of energy – adrenaline – when we cannot find oxytocin – that quiet but satisfying excitement of knowing we belong.Adrenaline and oxytocin are the neurotransmitters that make us feel our most important feelings.POW! The release of adrenaline is easy to trigger. But it takes subtlety to gently release oxytocin.SPOILER ALERT: Yes, we’re talking about advertising and marketing. We’re talking about selling. We’re talking about building long-term relationships with our friends, our clients, and our customers.The ancient Greeks had 6 words for love.Three of them – eros, philia, and agape, were used in the original Greek text of the New Testament:Eros is erotic love. Adrenaline excitement.Philia is friendship. That oxytocin-based feeling of connectedness.Agape is sacrificial love. An oxytocin bond so deep that you will take a bullet for your partner.The following 3 words for love are not found in the Bible, but they may prove to be of use to us nonetheless:Ludus is playful love. Banter and repartee. Teasing. Dancing. Ludus is that interesting blend of adrenaline and oxytocin we see in two puppies rolling and tumbling as they play-fight. Ludus is ludicrous. Ridiculous. Restorative.Philautia is self-love. It is confidence, self-connectedness, being comfortable in your own skin. Those of you that have been to Wizard Academy have heard me say, “Much of what we buy is purchased to remind ourselves – and announce to the world around us – who we are.” This identity reinforcement – “self belonging” – is oxytocin-based, not adrenalin-based. Philautia is a good thing, but too much of this good thing will make you a narcissist.Pragma is longstanding love. It is the deep understanding that develops between long-married couples. You might think of it as oxytocin that has been aged like fine wine. Brand loyalists have pragma for the brands they promote.Did you notice that only 2 of the 6 kinds of love – eros and ludus – involve adrenaline?Eros in advertising is using a girl in a bikini to sell auto parts. Eros in advertising is a billboard showing pretty girls in tight tops serving food in a place called “Hooters.”I like to believe I’m above doing those sorts of things in ads.(I’m probably not, but I like to believe I am.)I like to believe you’re above doing those sorts of things, too.But I’m definitely not above using ludus, playful love, banter and repartee in advertising. In fact, I’m wildly in favor of it, as are most of the people on earth, if popular movies and TV shows are any indication.Have you noticed that logic is not a driver in any of the 6 kinds of love?Wow. That’s scary.There is something in each of us that desperately needs to believe we are creatures of logic, and that our most important decisions are based on reason, after careful consideration of the facts.Unfortunately, this has been medically proven not to be the case. In fact, 100% of all decisions require an emotional component.Without emotion, there can be no decision.1Without surprise, there can be no delight.Without you, there can be no Wizard Academy.Come and see us when you can.Roy H. Williams

Wizard Academy began with an itch and an image.I got the itch in Tulsa in 1978 when I was 20 years old.I saw the image online in 1994 when I was 36.The itch was to help little businesses succeed.The image was of a boy sitting beneath the stars with an open book in his lap. The crenels and merlons in the battlements beyond him suggested that he was sitting on the top of a castle tower.Looking at that cartoon image on my computer screen, I knew I was going to build that tower.I know this makes me sound crazy, but there have been a handful of moments in my life when I quietly but suddenly knew what was going to happen. I’m not talking about premonitions or visions or dreams or hopes or wishes. I’m not talking about goals or goal-setting. I’m talking about knowing something as surely as if it had already happened.Did I mention that I know this makes me sound crazy?I was 13 when I saw a photograph of Pennie Compton and knew that I was going to marry her. The two of us had never met. A few months earlier, I had been flipping through a 1963 Reader’s Digest atlas of the world when I noticed a city – Austin – in the center of Texas. I remember raising an eyebrow when I suddenly knew I would move there someday. The sequence of events that would cause these things to happen remained an absolute mystery to me. But the outcome was never in question.So I knew I was going to build that tower. But I had no idea why.My 1978 itch to help small businesses grow led to a string of remarkable successes. By 1992 I was traveling 40 weeks a year teaching ever-larger groups of business owners how to lift themselves to higher levels of success.I hated it.Dorothy was right, “There’s no place like home.” I’ve suffered from separation anxiety throughout my life. Travel, for me, is “the little death.”“Honey,” said Pennie in 1993, “let the people who want your help come to Austin. Schedule a monthly class in our conference room and if someone wants to come to it, they can come.”When we outgrew that conference room we began to rent the ballrooms of luxury hotels. By the time we paid for those rooms and rented the projection equipment and bought the coffee at $60 a pot and fed lunch to all our guests, we were spending about $20,000 per event to host these classes.Did I mention that we weren’t charging anyone to attend the classes, and that we had no capacity to serve additional clients?So we built a new headquarters building for our marketing business with a large, open room on the second floor that we could use as a classroom. That worked for about 2 years.Then we built a classroom building next to the main office building. That bought us an extra 4 years.Then, in 2004, Pennie said, “Honey, I found some land we should buy.”“Why do we want to buy some land?”“We’ll build some stuff for ourselves on one half of it, and then donate the other half to Wizard Academy and let the school become whatever it wants to become.”When she showed me the land, I smiled. There, on the top of that majestic plateau was the tower I had seen 10 years earlier. It wasn’t physically there, of course, but I knew that someday it would be.If you have a crazy image in your mind of a possible future, an inexplicable guiding star that encourages you in the dark moments and lights your way one step at a time, never forget that you have a tribe, and they’ve built a fascinating place for you to come when you need guidance or instruction or fellowship or encouragement.Do you have an idea? An itch? A hunger?Do you see something that no one else can see?Are you willing to leave a trail of sweat and tears and dollars behind you as you struggle to make it real?Welcome to Wizard Academy.You, my friend, are exactly our brand of crazy.Let the adventure begin.Roy H. Williams

2018 is looking to be a good year for small business.My personal definition of “a small business” is an owner-operator doing between $1M and $75M a year. I do not pretend to know the trends outside this group.The following are the small business trends that seem to be emerging in 2018:1: Small businesses are falling out of love with social media and with SEO (Search Engine Optimization.)2: Broadcast Radio and Broadcast Television are regaining their previous stature within ad budgets due to the excellent values available at this time.3: Business owners are beginning to learn the power of having a memorable personality. (The typical company spokesperson is “polished and professional.” Which is just another way of saying “bland, vanilla-neutral. Unremarkable. Interchangeable. Easy to ignore.” Criticism is the price of personality. Which is why so few company spokespersons have any.)Brad and Sarah Casebier used the power of personality to grow their tiny little company in Austin, Texas to astonishing levels of success. You can hear the ad they currently have on the radio on the first page of today’s rabbit hole.4: Experiments with ads in online radio (Pandora, etc.) have typically been disappointments and word is spreading quickly.5: Google is actively blocking all attempts by SEO specialists to “game” a client’s ranking on Google.6: The most savvy online marketing people are openly advocating mass media as the most efficient way to drive “direct navigation” to a website. (Direct Navigation is currently the single, most important criteria used by Google to determine the search engine ranking of your website. Number two is Time on Site. Number three is Pages Per Session. That being said, there are at least 14 other, smaller criteria considered by Google, but with each one having a decreasing degree of importance.)7: Sensing the dying momentum for their services, SEO consultants are beginning to push harder than ever in their search for new clients.8: Recognizing the importance of aligning all their channels of customer communication, business owners are becoming adamant that their online marketing contain the words and phrases [brandable chunks] that have been popularized through their mass media ads.9: Extremely savvy business owners are taking this concept of “channel alignment” to its ultimate end: ongoing agreement, alignment and reinforcement of mass media messaging throughout all their:A. online efforts,B. direct mail, including invoicingC. email,D. outbound calls,E. conversations of Customer Service Representatives with inbound callersF. weekly orientation and training of salespeopleG. weekly orientation and training of all other employees who might interact with the public on behalf of the company.Let me say this as plainly as I can. The smartest and most successful small business owners are orchestrating and aligning all these previously “siloed” departments into a single, concerted voice.And it’s about time.Roy H. Williams

I am, by profession, an ad writer. I tell stories about people and products and services.You do, too.But because I get paid for it, I spend a lot of time considering – and measuring ­– the impact of stories.Some of the stories I’ve told have made people an enormous amount of money.But the most important stories I tell, by far, are the stories I tell about myself, to myself. Those stories are the source of my identity and the foundation of my purpose in life.But we’ve talked enough about me.I see something good in you and I’m calling it out.Is it okay for me to do that?Let us stare together into the eyes of the truth:Whether good or bad, your current circumstances are temporary.Success is temporary.Failure is temporary.Your future depends on your choices.Your choices depend on what you believe.What you believe is not determined by what you see and hear, but by how you interpret what you see and hear.How you interpret what you see and hear is determined by the stories you tell yourself, about yourself.Who do you believe yourself to be?What do you believe about this world we live in?What does the future hold?Your mood, your attitude and what happens to you next will be greatly impacted by your answers to those questions.“If you want your baby to die with a name, you need to pick one now.”The newborn had inhaled meconium during birth, the most the doctors had ever seen. His lungs were 95% full of it. The father and the baby rode with lights and sirens to Dell Children’s Hospital 30 minutes away, with the grandmother riding the back bumper.The doctors at Dell looked at the x-rays and slowly shook their heads in disappointment.The grandmother stayed with the newborn while the father went back to see his wife.The mother was puzzled when the nurse showed her the baby’s birth certificate. She and her husband had been torn between 2 names for their new son and had agreed to choose the name after they met him.The husband walked into the room.She said, “I thought we agreed to talk about it before we chose the name.”“Honey, Lincoln died. But Gideon overcame impossible odds. When they asked me his name, I said: ‘This boy isn’t Lincoln. This boy is Gideon.’”When the specialist at Dell met with the parents the following day, he was holding two sets of x-rays. Holding up a film in his left hand, he said, “I have no explanation for it, but this baby…” Then he lowered that film as he raised the one in his right, “isn’t this baby.”Gideon will be eight years old on March 15 and he suffers no after-effects at all.You may believe that what happened was going to happen anyway, and that belief in the power of a name is superstitious nonsense. That would be the logical, scientific belief, to be sure.But do you really believe that beliefs have no power?Beliefs are what separate Democrats from Republicans, Hindus from Muslims, stock market Bulls from stock market Bears, and scientists from storytellers.Your beliefs are what make you who you are.And your beliefs are determinedby the stories you tell yourselfabout yourself.You are not responsible for the beliefs of others.You are responsible only for your own.During his time at Walden pond, Henry David Thoreau observed, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” And I agree with him.I also agree with Jack Kerouac. “But why think about that when all the golden land’s ahead of you and all kinds of unforeseen events wait lurking to surprise you and make you glad you’re alive to see?”Did you experience 5 years of life during the past 5 years?Or did you experience 1 year of life 5 times?Don’t let 2018 be the 6th straight year of 1 years’ experience.Do something new.Tell yourself a different storyabout yourself.And believe it.Roy H. Williams

A pleasant surprise is the beginning of delight.You surprise and delight your family by listening to them.You surprise and delight your friends by being interested in what they say.You surprise and delight your customers by giving them your full attention.That’s why everyone likes you.Ray Bard is the ringmaster of untamed quotes, captured in the wild. Crazy quotes you’ve never heard before; frightful, delightful, insightful. One of my recent favorites is by Lisa Kirk,“A gossip is one who talks to you about others. A bore is one who talks to you about himself. And a brilliant conversationalist is one who talks to you about yourself.”Lisa Kirk’s observation applies to ad writers and online content writers as well.A gossip trashes competitors.A bore talks about their company and their products.A brilliant writer talks about how they hope to improve some part of your world.That’s you in 2018, improving some part of everyone’s world.2018 is going to be wonderful for you, because you have the courage, confidence and compassion to make every person you encounter a little happier.Even when they don’t deserve it.Your attitude springs from your gratitude, like water gushing up from an artesian well. You are thankful for all the good in your life. You find interesting ways to celebrate the ordinary.Lunch with a friend.Making a new co-worker feel welcome.Remembering others by their best moments.You have chosen to be grateful because gratitude makes every weight feel lighter.Gratitude drives away depression, just as light drives away the darkness.That’s you in 2018: a beam of light! Making others feel special by listening to them, being grateful for all the good in your life, finding ways to celebrate the ordinary.You’re really lucky to be you.I’m glad I know you.Roy H. Williams

Indy Beagle brought me an electric fan and a hammer.The fan is to blow away the smoke.The hammer is to shatter the mirrors.You hear a lot of talk these days about transparency and engagement and the Zero Moment of Truth.My friend Dewey Jenkins says the most dangerous statement a stock broker can make is, “But this time it’s different.” Dewey has been around long enough to know that ideas and concepts don’t really change so much as they get repackaged and renamed.A number of marketing’s oldest ideas are getting repackaged and renamed. Among these new names are Transparency, Engagement, and the Zero Moment of Truth.What is Transparency?One clothing store says,“We have the biggest selection, the highest quality, the best service and the lowest prices.”Yawn.Another clothing store says,“Sure, we’re more expensive. But looking good costs money. How good do you want to look?”Which clothing store do you believe?The more expensive clothing store admitted the downside and won your admiration and your trust.Transparency = They’re not going to believe the upside until you admit the downside.Do you have the humility and the courage to let the public see you real? Few companies do.None of this is new.Winning a customer’s attention is easy.Hanging on to it is called “engagement.”What percentage of your selling opportunities become sales?This used to be called your close rate.Now it’s called conversion.Yesterday’s loss leader is today’s tripwire.Use the wrong word and you’re a dinosaur.None of this really bothers me much.The thing that makes me look at the ground, shake my head and sigh is the dangerous myth of the Zero Moment of Truth. But then again, Google is the new Yellow Pages, so it shouldn’t surprise us that they’ve repackaged and renamed the old Yellow Pages scare tactic.The fundamental premise of the Zero Moment of Truth is that the customer is going to go online when they’re ready to purchase what you sell.I have no argument with that.But the dangerous, underlying assumption is that all contenders are equal during the Zero Moment of Truth. But that simply isn’t true.The company most likely to get the click, the call, and the sale is the company the customer has heard of and has good feelings about.The tortoise patiently wins the hearts of the people long before the race is begun. He says he’s “bonding with tomorrow’s customers.”“Stupid tortoise,” says the rabbit, “he still believes in branding.”Have you heard how that race turned out? Take a look. I dare you.“Knowledge is power” is another dangerous myth.It doesn’t matter what you know.What matters is what you do with what you know.So what are you going to do?Roy H. Williams

Fifty years ago, an 18-year old songwriter named Laura Nyro asked, “Can you surry? Can you picnic?”Laura Nyro didn’t tell us HOW to surry. She just asked if we could do it. Then she instructed us to,“Surry down to the stoned soul picnic. There’ll be lots of time and wine, red-yellow honey, sassafras and moonshine. And from the sky come the Lord and the lightning.”What? What did you say would come from the sky?And “surry” by the way, is a verb that Laura Nyro admitted she made up.Laura’s Stoned Soul Picnic became a platinum record for The Fifth Dimension, selling more than a million copies.Do you have the courage to write that way?“Eli’s comin’. Hide your heart, girl. Eli’s comin’. Better walk-walk. But you’ll never get away from the burnin’ heartache. I walked to Apollo by the bay.”In ancient times, the temple of Apollo by the bay in Naples was believed to be one of the entrances to the Underworld. So maybe Laura Nyro was saying, “I walked to the edge of death tryin’ escape the burnin’ heartache.” But then again, maybe she meant something else entirely. She never bothered to say.Do you have the courage to write ads that way?“Yes, but why would I want to?”“Because most ad writing is painfully predictable and coldly colorless. It lacks rhythm and bounce. It lacks laughter and light. And that’s why people ignore it.”“I’m not scared of dying and I don’t really care. If it’s peace you find in dying ­– when dying time is here – just bundle up my coffin, ‘cause I hear that it’s cold way down there. Yeah, crazy cold way down there. My troubles are many, they’re as deep as a well. I can swear there ain’t no heaven, but I pray there ain’t no hell.”Written when she was 17, Laura Nyro’s And When I Die sold more than 4 million copies and was certified quadruple platinum. It also won a Grammy for Blood, Sweat and Tears in 1970. The rhythm and bounce of that song were remarkable. [I’ve gathered all these songs for you in the rabbit hole – Indy Beagle]Do you have the courage to write website copy with rhythm and bounce?Believe it or not, it was a Laura Nyro song that made Barbra Streisand a household word. Laura’ s Stoney End (1971) was Barbra’s biggest song for 5 years, until she recorded Evergreen in 1976.“I was born from love and my poor mother worked the mines. I was raised on the Good Book Jesus till I read between the lines. Now I don’t believe I want to see the morning. I never wanted to go down the stoney end. Mama let me start all over. Cradle me, Mama, cradle me again. I can still remember him with love light in his eyes. But the light flickered out and parted as the sun began to rise. Now I don’t believe I want to see the morning.”And just to show us the breadth of her diversity, Laura Nyro wrote Wedding Bell Blues.“Bill, I love you so. I always will. I look at you and see the passion eyes of May. But am I ever gonna see my wedding day? I was on your side, Bill, when you were losing. I was the one came runnin’ when you were lonely. In your voice I hear a choir of carousels. But am I ever gonna hear my wedding bells?”Hang on a second. What does “a choir of carousels” sound like?Wedding Bell Blues rocketed to #1 on the charts and stayed there for 15 weeks.Do you have the courage to engage the imagination and raise eyebrows?If you do, you’ll elevate attention, increase time on site, time spent listening, and ultimately conversion and profitability.Do I have your attention now?The reason most ad writers don’t have the courage to include made-up words and weird phrases in their ads is because every time they’ve done it in the past, a prune-faced martinet weaned on a pickle rapped them on the knuckles with a ruler, rolled his eyes and said, “You’re not doing it right.”Frightened, uptight martinets would rather be “safe and correct” than successful.AElton John credits Laura Nyro with giving him the courage to cut loose, engage the imagination and raise eyebrows. In a 2008 interview, Sir Elton spoke of the influence Laura Nyro had on his songwriting. “I idolized her,” he said. “The soul, the passion ­– just the out-and-out audacity… was like nothing I’d heard before.”Laura Nyro refused multiple invitations to appear on The Tonight Show and on Late Night with David Letterman. Uncomfortable with her fame, she retired from songwriting at 24, then passed away 20 years ago at the age of 49.Last week, Wizard Academy purchased a treasure trove from the family of Laura Nyro, including the letter she received from David Geffen, the painting she made of her mother, the music chart you see at the top of this page, a chunk of her personal record collection and a couple of dozen other mementos of her reluctant ride to fame 50 years ago.You’ll see all of these on display when you attend our special event of 2018, How to Make Money by Raising Eyebrows. We’re going to teach you how to think like a songwriter when you’re writing ads and website copy. Indy Beagle says he’ll have apples and peanut butter for everyone.Vice-Chancellor Whittington says he’ll have bail money.I say you’re going to have a wonderful time and return home happier, healthier, and ready to rock the world with your words.That’s what I say.Roy H. Williams

I was worried Thanksgiving dinner wouldn’t be the same this year without Uncle Alfred. Every year for as long as I can remember, when the time came for each of us to name something we were thankful for, Uncle Alfred would tell his famous Story of the Shoes.“Your mother was six and I was nine when I had to cut the ends off my shoes to let my toes stick out. A year later, I couldn’t get my foot in them at all. On really cold days, I’d wrap my feet in newspaper and bind it with brown twine. I always knew where to find the twine because the newspaperman would cut the bundles apart at Ninth and Pike every morning, right in front of Boscov’s Department Store.One morning in late November I was looking at a pair of shoes in the window of Boscov’s when I heard a woman’s voice behind me say, “A penny for your thoughts.”I turned around and there she was, holding out a penny. You could buy penny candy in those days, so I took the penny and I told her the truth, even though I was horribly embarrassed. “I was asking God for a pair of shoes.” Her face fell a little when I said that, so I thought she was disappointed in my answer and wanted her penny back, so I dropped my eyes to the ground. That’s when she lifted my chin with her fingertips and smiled.“What’s your name?” she asked.“Alfred,” I answered.She held open the door to Boscov’s with one hand and extended the other to me, “Come inside with me Alfred.”I had never been inside Boscov’s.She sat me down in the shoe department, unwrapped the newspaper from my feet, and told the clerk to bring seven pairs of socks, all the same color. She put two pairs of socks on me, then told the clerk to fit me with the finest pair of work boots that money could buy, but fit them a little loose because I was obviously a growing boy.Standing up in those new boots, I felt six feet tall.She paid the clerk, then handed me the boot box that contained the other five pairs of socks. She shook my hand and said, “Happy Thanksgiving, Alfred, and Merry Christmas.” And then she began to walk away.That’s when I was surprised to hear my own quavering voice ask, “Are you God’s wife?”The beautiful lady turned and smiled, “No, baby doll, I’m Mrs. McGovern.”Uncle Alfred always finished his Story of the Shoes in exactly the same way. “I never saw Mrs. McGovern again, but I’ll remember her for as long as I live.” And then he would wipe the tears from his cheeks.Uncle Alfred never married and he never left Reading, Pennsylvania. But he rose through the ranks to become a railroad executive and did very well for himself. But my Uncle Alfred also did good. For every year in late November, beginning when he was 17, Alfred would purchase a substantial new pair of shoes for as many poor children as he could afford. Hundreds of children a year. And every pair would be delivered with a note that said, “A Gift from Mrs. McGovern.”And now I must break your heart.I don’t have an Uncle Alfred.“We are all very good at suspending our disbelief. We do it every day, while reading novels, watching television or going to the movies. We willingly enter fictional worlds where we cheer our heroes and cry for friends we never had.”– Marco Tempest, in his 2012 TED talk“Fiction is usually seen as escapist entertainment…But it’s hard to reconcile the escapist theory of fiction with the deep patterns we find in the art of storytelling… Our various fictional worlds are– on the whole– horrorscapes. Fiction may temporarily free us from our troubles, but it does so by ensnaring us in new sets of troubles– in imaginary worlds of struggle and stress and mortal woe… Fiction also seems to be more effective at changing beliefs than nonfiction, which is designed to persuade through argument and evidence. Studies show that when we read nonfiction, we read with our shields up. We are critical and skeptical. But when we are absorbed in a story, we drop our intellectual guard.”– Jonathan GottschallFacts tell. Stories sell. And specifics are more believable than generalities.I call these specifics, “reality hooks.” They make a story feel true, even when it’s not.I put 62 of them into my story of Uncle Alfred. See if you can find them.My story of Uncle Alfred was simply a doctored-up version of a story attributed to the late Leo Buscaglia. Here’s how it’s usually told:A (nameless) barefoot boy was staring through the window of a (nameless) shoe store on a cold day (in a nameless town.)A (nameless) lady approached him and said, ‘My, but you’re in such deep thought.’ The boy replied, ‘I was asking God to give me a pair of shoes.’Taking him by the hand the lady led him into the store and asked the clerk to get half a dozen pairs of socks for the boy. Then she asked him to get her a basin of water and a towel. (Because, you know, shoe store clerks always have a basin of water and a towel handy.) So he quickly brought them to her. She then washed the feet of the boy and dried them with the towel. Placing a pair of socks on the boy’s feet, she then purchased a pair of shoes for him.As she turned to go, the astonished kid caught her by the hand.Looking up into her face, with tears in his eyes, he asked her: ‘Are you God’s wife?’Yes, it’s a pretty story and it has a fine moral and it echoes the story of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples at the last supper. But did it ring as true as my story of Uncle Alfred and Mrs. McGovern in the shoe department at Boscov’s in Reading, Pennsylvania?If you would be more convincing, remember this: specifics are more believable than generalities.And just for the record, the Boscov’s at Ninth and Pike in Reading, Pennsylvania, was built in 1918. You can double-check that, if you like.Can you say, “reality hook”?Indy said to tell you Arooo.Roy H. Williams

The world of online marketing was rocked so hard this summer that it almost fell to its knees.Some really big names in online marketing had the courage to announce that online customers are more likely to buy your products if they’ve heard of your company and feel good about it.Dumbfounded, I spoke to my computer screen as though online marketers everywhere could hear me, “How did you not already know that?”And then these same researchers suggested that building awareness through mass media might be a good thing to do, after all.Again, I mumbled, “How did you not already know that?”I’ve been fascinated for years that an entire army of Search Engine Optimization tweakers could – with a straight face – argue that brand awareness and brand preference are of no consequence in the online world. But then I would hear the echoing voice of Anatole France1 – with a French accent, because he was French, you know – “If fifty million people say a stupid thing, it is still a stupid thing.”SEMrush2 was one of the big names in online marketing who concluded that “direct website visits” are the single most important factor in determining your SERP [Search Engine Results Page] position. In other words, they announced that Google is impressed – and will reward you with higher SERP placement – when people go directly to your web page instead of merely choosing your name from a list of search results.It makes sense, doesn’t it? Google is effectively saying, “If this is the company people think of immediately – and feel best about – in this category, then they must be the category leader.”Voilà, you and your company are on your way to the top of the Search Engine Results Page. All as the result of brand building through mass media and public relations.Like yesterday’s telephone book Yellow Pages, a Search Engine Results Page is an information source for customers who haven’t already made up their mind. But when faced with a list of names on the Search Engine Results Page, does it surprise you that even the so-called “undecided customers” will often choose the name they’ve heard of, and have good feelings about?Direct navigation is a powerful vote of confidence. Just like it was 25 years ago when customers would look you up in the White Pages of the phone book – or dial 411 for “Directory Assistance” and say your name – when they wanted to make contact with you by telephone.WordStream3 is a huge Pay-Per-Click company that works with over one million advertisers. They were the second big name in online marketing that came to the same conclusion as SEMrush, although they traveled a different road to get there. In their case, WordStream became fascinated by a PPC campaign that had a 300% increase in conversion rates for no apparent reason.They had changed nothing in the Pay-Per-Click campaign. They hadn’t changed the landing page, the bid strategy, or the ads. What WordStream finally discovered was that some brand-awareness ads were being funded in another media, and these ads had created a halo effect on the Pay-Per-Click ads.Here are their conclusions, in their own words:“Direct visits are fueled by your brand awareness, so building a strong brand image should be an essential part of your promotion strategy.” – SEMrush, page 42 of 55“What we are seeing here is that people with stronger brand affinity have higher conversion rates than people without any, because people tend to buy from the companies they already heard of and begun to trust.” – Larry Kim, WordStreamJeff Bezos figured all this out a long time ago.In chapter four of Be Like Amazon: Even a Lemonade Stand Can Do It, we read an exchange between Poobah and a younger man:The younger man continued to read. “Although it seems counterintuitive on the surface—a little bit insane, even—Bezos knew that making honest reviews available on each product page was the right thing to do for the customer. Today more than half of all retail purchases begin with a visit to Amazon to look at product reviews.”“Are you saying that Amazon.com has become the primary search engine for consumer product research in America?”The younger man looked up and locked eyes with his inquisitor as he nodded.You and I go directly to Amazon – because we think of them first and feel good about them – whenever we want to buy something. It is only AFTER we’ve navigated directly to Amazon that we begin to consider exactly what we’re going to buy.And that, my friend, is an example of a powerful brand. We choose Amazon first, no need for Google, or SEO tweakers, or AdWords to help us. Because we like Amazon.We believe in them.Now here’s the really good news: You can be like Amazon.Even a lemonade stand can do it.Roy H. Williams1 Anatole France (1844 –1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist who wrote several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered to be the ideal French man of letters. He was a member of the Académie française, and won the 1921 Nobel Prize in Literature.2 Ranking Factors, SEMrush Study 2.0 SEMrush serves 1,500,000 online marketing clients3 How to 3X AdWords Conversion Rates Without Touching AdWords

We are alert to danger because our survival depends upon it.But there is more to life than danger.There is singing.And looking at the sky.And chewing on a blade of grass.Have you done any of those things recently?They call to you from beyond your window.Walk outside.Sing a song.Pluck a blade of grass.Hold it high.Take a selfie.Email it to indy@wizardofads.comand he will email you something in return.Be sure to tell Indy what song you sang.Do it.You can afford to stop for 5 minutes.I promise you won’t get in trouble.Don’t just agree with me in your mind.Take a literal walk to the literal outdoors.Pick a literal blade of grass.Take a literal, ridiculous selfie.Literally send it to Indy.It will help you re-establish perspective.Now, more than ever, we need to cheer ourselves up.I will not name the things that are bringing us down.Too much has been spoken about them already.Do you remember the story of Chicken Little? An acorn falls on his head and he goes ripping through the village screaming that the sky is falling.He gets everyone all worked up.Did you know that story was 500 years old when Jesus walked the earth? It’s listed under Aarne-Thompson-Uther1 type 20C, which are folktales that make light of paranoia and mass hysteria.We are surrounded by Chicken Littles.On page 226 of Where Have All the Leaders Gone?, Lee Iacocca talks about his father.“When I was worried about something, he’d prod me. ‘Lido, do you remember what was on your mind a year ago?’ And I’d say, ‘How could I remember? A lot of things happen in a year.’ He’d pull out some notes with a flourish, and say, ‘I have it written down.’ Then he’d proceed to tell me about something that had made me unhappy a year ago, and deliver the punch line: ‘You can’t even remember it now.’”Go outside.Pluck a blade of grass.Hold it up and sing a song and I promise that a year from now you’ll smile when you remember doing it. But you won’t be able to remember the name of today’s Chicken Little, or the particular acorn that has him so terribly frightened.I think I’ll have chicken for dinner.Roy H. Williams1 The Aarne–Thompson classification systems are indices used to classify folktales: