Have you ever heard of a "platitude" before? Kind of a funny that platitude sounds a lot like a "platypus". Big difference though: the platypus is an exceptional animal that is so distinctive, that people stop and stare at it wherever it goes. Conversely, the platitude isn't so unique; in fact, it causes people to yawn and becoming disinterested and disengaged.

So what is a platitude?

A leading marketing expert at Y2Marketing described a platitude like this, "Words are phrases that are drearily commonplace and predictable that lack power to evoke interest though overuse or repetition that nevertheless are stated as though they were original or significant."

Here's a quick list of the perpetrators to look out for, how many times have you seen them in other people's marketing and advertising? When you saw them, didn't you think, "They're the same as everyone else?"

* We're the fastest

* More honest

* Best service

* Get the job done right

* Largest selection

* Most convenient

* We're experts

These are all good qualities to have; don't get me wrong. But how often have you gone through a magazine or telephone book and sifted though countless ads that all looked and said the same thing? No separation, no distinction and no way to tell one business from another; it was hard to choose a business wasn't it? That's largely because the businesses were using platitudes. When this happens we as prospects or consumers get confused and become disinterested, and that means low to no sales for that business.

By unwittingly using platitudes in marketing and advertising you're in effect telling your prospects that there really isn't any difference between you and the competition, and there's no real reason they should choose to do business with you. If your marketing and advertising says the same thing as everyone else you'll blend in and get lost with everyone else in the crowd.

Saying the same thing and appearing the same as everyone in your marketing and advertising causes confusion and apathy on the part of your prospect, and slow to no sales for you. When you're investing hard-earned money into your business you want to get the most out of your investment, and that means making sure whoever does your marketing and advertising can make your projects unique and effective.

What you can conclude here is that in order to get more customers, better customers and get the absolute most out of your marketing and advertising dollars you have to discover and bring out what's unique about you. Different is good, in fact, being different is essential - if you're not unique, you're invisible. This is why the "free" graphic design you receive when advertising in a publication is something you want to avoid, (check out my article, "When Free's Not What It's Cracked Up to Be").

So what can you do to be unique?

You can invest time and money in learning what's unique about you, or if that isn't your cup of tea, you hire a business savvy graphic designer who can help uncover what's unique about you and why that should make you the clear and overwhelming choice for your prospects to do business with. Hey - that's what I do for a living, and why I invest so much time and energy in learning about you, your business, your competition, your clients and your vision and direction when designing marketing and advertising projects. I, and other high level marketing designers can help prospects see you as unique, I suppose we can help you look like - well, a platypus.

Have you ever felt like you have an outstanding business but you're the best-kept secret in town? If you do there's a strong chance that your marketing and advertising makes you blend in with everyone else. Frustrating isn't it? If you're looking to change things up in your business and start getting every last dime of value out of your marketing and advertising, give me a call at 480.391.0704 and schedule your free business credibility consultation. Let's talk about taking you from being a secret to a success; let's talk about turning your platitudes into platypuses.

I help small businesses build more confidence and credibility into their business brand. Through marketing and design initiatives; I help you feel better about your company. Making you feel good about your business gives you more confidence and less anxiety when you are networking, promoting or selling your business. If your business needs the reliability and talent of an in-house marketing and design department but doesn’t want additional employees, salaries and benefits, give me a call at 480.391.0704 - I have a new approach for you.

If you are looking for more free insight and inspiration, you’ll want to get in on the “Can-Do Confidence Builder”. Emailed weekly, the Confidence Builder provides you with essential marketing and design insights that help you get the most out of your investment and help you to stay one step ahead of the competition.

A magistrate in the home country of Breaking News, Trinidad and Tobago, ordered an investigation into how a picture of one of the accused in the Sean Luke murder case got on the Internet. The boy is 13 years old and his picture is supposed to be protected because he is a minor. Ever since she made this comment, one of the top search phrases for and from Trinidad was "Sean Luke's killer face."

If you don't have one already, this court order only highlights the need to get your website as soon as possible because from a business perspective, it shows the true advertising power of the World Wide Web.

Here's what the magistrate's request teaches us:

No website, no business
The magistrate said that her daughter told her that the picture was on the Internet. Her daughter and her daughters' friends are going to be the driving force behind the international economy tomorrow. If you don't have a website, you may not even show up on their radar screen. "Oh well, I can wait until they do become the driving force and then get in." Here's some Breaking News for you: it has already started happening. Multi-million dollar corporations are complaining about competition from online merchants. So what you should really say is, "I am going to wait until everyone else has established their brands on the Internet and by then I would have missed the boat but I like to play catch-up."

The Power of Word of Mouth
Again, the magistrate said her daughter was the source of information. Now, you can advertise all you want, pour millions of dollars into TV, radio, and press ads. But when someone you know and trust tells you that Singer has the best quality furniture, you're going to buy from Singer, even if you just saw ten Courts ads on TV. Given the fact that the Internet is still a game of search-and-find, people feel accomplished when they "find" something on the Internet and they tell their friends about it, many times even when their friends never asked.

Just fix it
From our preliminary investigations, we found that the owner of the website where the picture was allegedly published acted quickly to remove the picture. What happens if you invest a few thousand dollars into a press ad and then after it's published you realise it contains a mistake that you made when you submitted it to the newspaper. You just lost your money! Not with the Internet. In the same way, the Trinidadian Canada-based student acted quickly to remove the picture, you can remove anything from your website in fractions of a second. You can fix your ad as soon as you find errors.

No Mediator
Now, this is a power that ought to be used responsibly. There is no active mediator of content on the Internet and with blogs, basically anyone can publish anything. In old-school advertising, publishers still check ads to ensure that they adhere to (1) their own rules (2) advertising rules and (3) laws of the land.

Small Advertising Fees In a future issue, we will publish a comparison chart on the cost-effectiveness of advertising in different media including the Internet. However, what is undisputable is that advertising on the Internet gives one of the best Cost-Per-Thousand ratios. With a website of your own, you stand to save a lot. Don't think you need to advertise? Let me know who you are so that I can bump you off our list. :-) Seriously though, if no one knows about you, no one can buy from you. It's that simple.

Interactivity
Only on the Internet can someone go into your ad in detail and interact with it. If your website is your 24-hour ad, then you can even put systems in place on your website to get information from customers and stay in touch with them. That can't happen with any other media.

There are many other reasons to stop waiting and act now but I'm always eager to hear what you think. So drop me a line or two especially if we're not on the same page.

Good typography is an art. There is a lot to know about type, from typeface design, to using appropriate typefaces, to learning typesetting rules and conventions. How you use type has everything to do with how your pages communicate and engage the reader. I could write about type for the rest of the year and still have more to tell you.

As computers have rapidly taken over the task of typesetting, everyone, including the designer, has had to learn typesetting rules and conventions in order for their printed work to look its best and draw readers in. And now the World Wide Web has come along to challenge all of it. I don't think there will ever be a time when I feel like I know all there is to know about type.

In his book, Using Type Right, author Philip Brady writes "Designing with type means controlling all the visual signals so how a typeset piece looks reinforces what it says." The typeface chosen; the size of type; placement on the page; letter, word, line and paragraph spacing; white space; type and page color; alignment — everything — help to create the visual effect and get your message to the reader.

TYPE Should Be Read and Not Seen

When an illustrator or photographer puts a great image on a page, it's often the first thing we notice. But when a typographer sets beautiful, perfect type, we may never notice it. In fact, if you find yourself noticing the type instead of the message, that is bad typesetting. I've seen lots of examples of this, where the use of type is so creative that the message becomes secondary or there is no message. If the goal is fun and beautiful art, and if we're going to frame and hang it on the wall, then fine. That's the end of the discussion.

But, type is meant to be read. And usually, our goal is to use type to assist communication. Grammar plays a part in this, along with the type. The two should work together to make reading easy, even pleasurable. The best use of grammar is to clarify meaning in the message. The best use of type is to create a mood and support or enhance the message while maintaining legibility (easy recognition of words).

CLARIFYING Meaning

The consistent use of standard grammar and typography help clarify meaning. I think most of us agree that consistency in grammar helps us bring out the meaning in what otherwise would just be a long series of words. We break essays into paragraphs, paragraphs into sentences, and sentences into phrases. We spell words the same way every time. We start sentences with capital letters and end them with periods, and in between we strive to get the commas and semicolons in the right spots.

Similarly, with type, we want letters to be clearly formed and legible. Even a novelty font used to create a mood must be readable. A beautiful typeface, used improperly, can look terrible. Badly set type makes it difficult to discern the words. Enough struggling to decode bad type, and the reader will move on.

RULES for Type

Number One:

I can think of no good reason to set body copy in all caps. Even in headlines, all caps type should be limited. A little goes a long way. This goes double if you are using a script typeface.

We recognize words primarily by the shape they create. We learned and are conditioned to read most easily lowercase letterforms with moderately thick and thin elements and serifs (the little crosslines at the end of strokes). All caps type has a uniform rectangular shape, forcing us to look at each letter to determine what the word is. This slows reading and requires more effort on the reader's part.

Try this experiment from Using Type Right. "Take a sheet of paper and cover the bottom half of the letters in several words. What can you read? Try this experiment with a line of upper- and lowercase letters and with one having only caps. Repeat the action, but this time allow only the base of the letters to show. Again, can you read the words? How readily? All the parts of a letter, including the serifs, are important to legibility, but the tops seem relatively more important."

I watch a lot of stuff on Television in India, particularly the ads that make me think. Now hold on. I don’t mean that in a good way but the fact that they bring the thought, ”What the hell was that all about?” speeding in to my head.

You know the stuff that makes you wonder what were they thinking? Well I am sure there will be constant supply of this stuff in the coming months and years so I am starting this article as a series.

To open this 1st episode if you like I would bring the ad for the Bajaj Pulsar motorcycle to your attention. They used the song, ”These Boots were made for walking” as the soundtrack. The first fifteen seconds or so you think it’s a shoe ad. Then for the next ten you feel it’s a Ray Ban commercial and then out of nowhere wham – It’s a Bike! Great.

Next up is an ad that still sends shivers down my neck every time I see it. It’s the one for HP Pavilion Desktop. It features a boy that seems interested in this girl that’s always surrounded by other guys. It’s the geek gets the girl routine and that’s fine. The chink in the “amore” so to speak here is the fact that the boy and girl chosen look so much like each other they could be brother and sister. Ouch! I know but look at them, they even feature in the press ads and it’s shocking stuff. Quick get that out my mind!

That’s better. Now to cool things off lets have a look at the latest ad for the Mahindra Scorpio SUV set in a very snowy part of the world. You know the funky looking Helicopter ad. Where this chic looking lady, pilots the helicopter that blows the snow off of Scorpio that belongs to the very chic looking dude in an overcoat. Well look at it – something’s not right. And you know what it is? No its not the MCP concept of the guy getting all the work done by the gal but in fact the Helicopter is a R/C model. Not the one that the lady is sitting in but the little thingy that is shown flying around the SUV. Come on guys you can do better!

Finally to round things off we go back to another beauty from Bajaj. This time for the motorcycle called Discover. I am sure you’ve heard that Time Warner is suing Bajaj for using the “Harry Potter” look-a-like to sell their bike. To make matters worse it got heavy exposure on tele and also print. The only “Jadoo” [Magic] was that they thought they could get away with it. Hey who knows they still might!

Classified ads are one of the most inexpensive ways to advertise your products or service. People read classified ads for a purpose. They are specifically looking for products, services and information that appeals to them.

Unfortunately many people misuse classified ads. They try to sell a product directly from the ad. People read classified ads for a purpose. They are specifically looking for products, services and information that appeals to them.

Instead of wondering, speculating and experimenting with your advertising budget, concentrate on offering free information to attract as many interested prospects as possible for what you have to offer. Realise from the beginning that your ad should serve only one purpose: to target a specific audience consisting of people who need and want what you have to offer.

The best way to use a classified ad is as a two step process.

1. You place a classified ad in your local newspaper/magazine. The ad should be simple and straight to the point. It should then direct readers to a website or to call a phone number of your answering machine.

2. Your customer will either visit your website or dial the number where they will get a powerful sales message. At the end customers are directed to send an order to the address you give on the website/tape or they can leave their contact details.

An example of such classified ad would be:

“Double your mail order business’ profits. Incredible recorded message tells secrets. Call 1234 5678 24hours or visit www.yourcompany.com.au.

The selection of words you use is the most important aspect of classified ad copy. You need to choose precisely but don’t skimp on words to save the cost in the ad.

Where to place classifieds?

The best advice in placing classifieds is to follow the leader. Find where other goods in your category are being sold and do the same. Although your product must have an appeal different than the others, stay with the same pack and advertise in the same publications.

If you do not charge anything in the classified ad, you will get far more responses from the ad for free information than you will for goods at any price. Charging a small fee to cover postage or the cost of the inquiry will never make you break even – people won’t be bothered.

Test test test!

The most important element in mail order advertising is to test. Not only do you need to find out if your product will sell, but you have to find out what the best price is. You have to test the magazines. One may not draw as many responses as another. Or, after three months, it may not seem to pull at all. Then switch to another publication.

Don’t be too hasty in dropping a publication, however. Sometimes it takes the repeat insertions of three or four months to get the proper percentage of response. People become more secure with a repeat ad or they may pass it by the first or second time until they get around to writing for information.