The BizComics Club Blog
The Australian author, critic, broadcaster, poet, translator, and memoirist, Clive James, once said: “Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing.” So it is that our comics, while humorous in nature, very often reflect common sense — a sense that seems increasingly forgotten as time goes on.
In our blog, we hope to expand on that common sense, to clarify some things, to debunk some others. We hope to help you see the complex can be made simple, that it should be made simple. We hope to reinforce what you already know to be true — that because the simplest things are the most memorable, they’re the most effective. We hope to work with you to create simple, effective messages to promote your business and your interests. Most of all, we hope to have fun doing those things with you and to make common sense dance.
People First
“We tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.” (Charlton Ogburn, 1911-1998) We once worked with a company that hired a consulting...
Escaping the Herd
We have three divisions: a sensational division, a mediocre division, and a rotten division. The sensational division is on the top floor … There aren’t too many clients who want to operate in that rarefied atmosphere. In the mediocre division, we have clients who...
You Have To Do the Work
Miles Davis once said there’s only one in every 50 performances in which musicians play beyond themselves, in which they transcend their technical abilities and their imaginations to play from pure, unconscious inspiration. But it’s the other 49 performances by which...
A Happy Medium
You can’t blame folks for being confused about media. Terms from one medium — like banners from outdoor advertising — transfer to another medium — like banners for web advertising — almost as fast as new media emerge. It’d be hard enough to keep up if media were the...
Are You Engaged?
We don’t mean to suggest we want to propose marriage. Rather, we’re inquiring whether you — or, more specifically your brand — are engaged in two important ways with two equally important but very different audiences. The first audience to consider comprises your...
All Advertising is Not Created Equal
Yes. Ad blockers are wreaking havoc on web advertising. No. Advertising is not dead, ad blockers and perilous predictions for print notwithstanding. But it is sucking wind a bit. And it may have nothing to blame but itself. Consider native advertising. If you’re not...
Pop-Up Ads
Pop-up ads were always annoying. Now they’re unscrupulous and arguably dangerous, too. Considering the fact that pop-up ads have rendered themselves all but useless, they’re also completely unnecessary. And they may even be insulting. Maybe that’s why they’re spawning...
Finding Your Target Audience
Sometimes it may seem as if finding your target audience requires some kind of specialized sleuthing. It doesn’t. It does, however, require a little science, a little art, and a little self-faith. Here some suggestions for applying all three: Science Depending on what...
The Medium Need Not Be the Message
Far be it from us to question the intellectual acuity (to say nothing of the foresight) of the late Marshall McLuhan. But we have to wonder if he’d have thought the medium is the message if he were still with us today. It seems to us, halfway through the second decade...
Bells and Whistles
If you have a marketing website, especially a B2B marketing site, it has two jobs: To direct sensory and mechanical responses. To direct those responses into your sales channel. It has to do those two jobs by doing four other things, in this order: Make it readily...