Bruce Turkel’s Blog

It’s no secret that we’re all living in partisan times. Nor is it news to anyone that social media, TV news echo-chambers, and hyper-parochial politicians and PACs all work to keep us apart. After all, it’s hard to get people to vote and fight against people they like but history shows it’s relatively easy to get angry with people we consider “different.”
It works on the playing field, and it works in wartime. The North against The South. The Allies against The Axis. The University of Florida vs. Florida State, Michigan vs. Michigan State, Alabama’s Crimson Tide vs. everyone.
It’s the same in marketing and advertising…

What is happening right now that we cannot see, hear, smell, taste, touch or feel simply because we’re so deeply submerged in our own fishponds, watching our own networks, and reading our own Sunday papers? These things might be more productive, more efficient, more comforting, and more profitable than what we think we know now? Ask Joe Jackson. He explained it all to us 40 years ago.

Sometimes it makes sense to look before you leap. But sometimes you just need to get started immediately. After all, if you don’t just do it now, you never will. Fear will stop you. Waiting for it to be perfect will keep it from ever happening. Instead, stop making excuses and just do it. No, it’s not going to be perfect, but it is going to work. As Alexander Calder said, “To an artist there’s no such thing as perfect.”

When I was invited to meet Magnus Walker and tour his collection, I thought I was going to look at some cool cars and architecture. I didn’t know that the time I’d spend with a fascinating dreadlocked and tattooed creative powerhouse would confirm my concepts of creativity, branding, and living your own life as much as any time I’ve spent working with any of my wonderful clients.

Brain research has shown that 90% of all information sent to the brain is visual. And human beings process pictures 60,000 times faster than text. Advertising has proven that provocative images matter. So if we really want to make something happen – like stopping the death and destruction caused by assault rifles – doesn’t it make sense to show it with at least one picture?

If misconceptions about real beach culture were so strong, what else am I wrong about? What other beliefs have I been carrying around for years and years even though they’re not correct? What misconceptions, limitations, and ingrained myths and fables have limited my opportunities? Where have my prejudices, biases, and delusions kept me from seeing what’s really going on? Which of my firmly held faiths, beliefs, and certainties are actually as misguided as my thoughts about California weather?
More importantly, what about yours?

People say that time and money are resources, and you can argue whether that’s true or not. What is true is that money is a renewable resource while time is the ultimate non-renewable resource – you can always figure out how to get more money, you can never, ever, ever get more time.
Elon Musk’s brand got all the advantages of our time, attention, and opinion of his reputation and he paid us nothing for it. Elon Musk did it to us again.

We’ve all heard the saying, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
In other words, what you already have – possessions, clients, talents, assets – is twice as valuable as what new things you could possibly get. But is it?
It’s easy to talk about the times when we’ve been taken for granted and not appreciated. But how about your clients? How about mine? Can we say with certainty that people like you and people like me have made sure that we’re always looking out for the people who are buying our goods and services? Perhaps we are also too busy looking for new business to pay attention to the business we already have – the bird in the hand.

As a small business owner, you have limited resources, specifically, time, money, and effort. If you run a big business, you can only employ so many people to field your calls. If your business builds widgets, there’s no sense talking to people who buy grommets. Knowing the difference between a good and bad client is a critical step to success.

What’re three things every American man thinks he can be an expert and do better than the professionals? If you agree with the answer than you can be an expert at anything also.

Marketing people and ad agencies talk about what makes you unique. They call it different things, “USP” maybe – your Unique Selling Proposition, or perhaps they’ll talk about your “X-Factor” or your “Black Box.” But what they’re all looking for uniqueness. Sadly, there aren’t too many things that are really unique.
Chances are you were told that you needed a USP by the people who get paid to create USPs, by the folks who run advertising agencies, manage consulting companies, and own creative firms. They tell you they’re going to figure out what your unique selling proposition is. Instead, you’ll pay them to going to show you how to be creatively different, not unique.
Instead, look for your Points of Difference and your Points of Distinction (PODs). What’s different about you and your company? And what are you really good at?
There’s almost nothing in your business that is absolutely unique… and that’s a good thing…

Will Smith and Chris Rock were offered very different opportunities at the Academy Awards the other night. What they did with those opportunities says volumes about both of them. What do their values, and their choices, say about you?But before you can understand what your employees’ purpose is, it’s helpful to know your own. As Socrates said, “First, know thyself.” Or as every eight-year-old responded to a playground insult, “It takes one to know one.”