I have said before that the average American is targeted with an average of 4,000 advertising messages everyday. We can’t remember even ten of the 4,000 ads from yesterday because we have great filters in place to keep them out but that doesn’t seem to stop advertisers from putting all those ads out there.

Now, despite what you may think, advertisers and marketers are people too. The problem is when a marketer is in his/her job it’s easy to forget about the things they know don’t even work on them. So while a marketer for a local car dealership knows he changes the channel when commercials come on TV, he keeps pushing those ads for his own company. It doesn’t make any sense but it’s happening today in virtually every industry.

A Marketer’s Toughest Question
The hardest question for a marketer (or advertiser or public relations person) to ask is this: is it better to say and do nothing than to create another one of those 4,000 messages that get filtered out everyday? The short answer is, yes, but that’s a tough pill to swallow. The fact of the matter is that marketers are paid to do stuff, even things that don’t work. In many organizations it’s better to do the same old marketing that doesn’t work than to try something new.

The Necessary Shift for Marketers
It’s necessary that traditional marketers shift their thinking. Rather than talking about yourself, your company, your product, or something else we probably don’t care about, try adding value to the people you want to reach. When you add value to someone’s life they may decide to give you the opportunity to talk with them again. The more value you add, the more opportunities you earn. That’s what social media can do and why it works. It gives anyone the chance to add value to people you want to reach. It’s the reason a guy in his garage with no marketing budget can compete with a multi-million dollar company. It’s exactly the opposite of the 4,000 ads that get filtered out. Instead of being blocked, valuable content is grabbed. There’s no worry about filters. The filters are down and the content is willingly taken and even passed along to other people who will find it valuable.

Though I’ve said this many times (so this is my apology to longtime readers) the best way to position yourself mentally for creating valuable content is to remember five things:

• Be entertaining
• Be inspiring
• Be educational
• Be informative
• Be outrageous

When you speak to these ideas rather than telling people why you’re so great, you’ll see they can figure that out for themselves…and then they’ll tell some people for you. Or, just keep doing things the way you’ve been doing them…we don’t want all those good filters going to waste.

Over the weekend I visited the local Home Depot to pick up a few things. As I pulled into the parking lot I passed the “garden center” and noticed rows and rows of flowers just waiting to be purchased and planted in the front yards of homes all around the community. You would think that’s a good thing, right? Not me. I was mad. Here’s why…

Home Depot is pulling out all the stops to sell people the flowers they need for their yards. That’s fine except for one little thing…they’re selling the flowers a full month before they’re really supposed to be planted. Most folks who plant flowers in this area recommend you wait until after May 15. That’s an entire month from now, but Home Depot is more than willing to sell you flowers a month early and is doing a great job of creating a really attractive display to convince that it’s just fine to get them now. You should see the spread of flowers they have out there. It’s beautiful. It looks like exactly what I would love to have. It’s also way too early to buy them. The likelihood they’ll die between now and next month is pretty good. Tonight it’s going to get down to almost freezing…so case in point!

Here’s why I’m talking about this. Some marketing firms and ad agencies will sell you flowers a month early. They’ll be happy to provide something you want without telling you how and when to use it. It may be good for business, but it’s bad for customers. I understand there’s a level of responsibility on the part of consumers, but when you expect someone to know more about a topic than you do, you also put some trust in their hands. That’s why I’m appalled that Home Depot is selling flowers a month early as if to say, “Go ahead, get you flowers early. The smart people won’t be doing that, but you ignorant folks can give us your cash now.” I’m equally appalled at marketers who sell services to people when they don’t need them.

The bottom line is this: just because it’s available doesn’t mean it’s the right time. Just because they’ll sell it to you doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do. Just because you bought it doesn’t mean you should use it. That would just be doubling the number of wrong things you’re doing.