A Journey Back

Going Home

By Sheila R. Rose

When I was a little girl, I would watch the sunset with my mom. She would tell me to send all my greetings to my relatives in Iran with the sun. "That's where the sun is headed next," she would say with a gentle longing in her eyes. Almost wishing she could go where the sun was going.

I would look straight at the sun and begin talking to my relatives. "Tell Uncle Hadi I miss him very much and Auntie Soraya I love her very much. Grandma, I'm doing great in school!"

It's the immigrant struggle. You move your family to a land filled with freedoms and opportunities, yet you also take your family away from the chance to know their culture and be around the people who love them most. Like anything in life you win something and lose something else. A balancing act of sorts.

On Thursday, I get to go back home to my birth country. The soil where I was born. Words seem trite to describe the utter excitement I feel. It's been 10 years since I've seen my relatives. I just want to be around my cousins and ask them about their lives and all that's happened to them in last few years. Their successes, their losses, their heart breaks, their moments of joy. All the memories I never got to share with them or be around to experience with them.

Plus, I get to spend 30 days with my parents. I feel incredibly lucky and blessed to have this time with them because when you reach a certain age you realize the frailty of time.

It was a hard decision to make. I mean I'm leaving work (potential work), tasks, dreams, etc. But I think at the end of my lifetime, I don't want to just be remembered for the work I have accomplished, but the lives I've been able to touch.

I am still not sure if I will be able to post while I am gone, but I will certainly try.

Be healthy. Be well. Be happy. Most importantly, be around those you love.

The Journey...

The journey I am traveling on as both a marketer and business owner is one that continues to bring me to a better understanding of myself.

I am committed to two main objectives on this journey:

1. TO MAKE MARKETING MORE EFFECTIVE

2. TO MAKE MARKETING MORE EFFICIENT

As a business person, what's not to like about those objectives?

Now as a mother, father, aunt, uncle or just someone who cares about this planet - imagine for a moment if I told you that by applying effective, efficient marketing methods my clients make money (their main objective), save money and do so in a way that produces a cleaner, safer environment for the next generation. Do you care about that? I thought so.

Here's how...

The result of combining these two objectives does in fact result in a leaner, meaner and greener approach to marketing that has a greater impact financially and environmentally. These results mean more qualified leads and customers for my clients while they spend less and therefore produces a win-win.

1. MAKE MARKETING MORE EFFECTIVE
I have a mission and a passion and that is to study the very nature of human beings - how they tick, what makes them buy, etc. What I have learned about human nature and understanding why people respond to simple things (such as color and how it affects their moods, photographic content and the power of metaphors, the printed word, etc.) I have found an approach that truly resonates with an individual or potential customer. There are so many components to this that I will get into in this blog - I cannot wait to get started. Furthermore, I will dig much deeper by examining complex principles such as behavioral psychology, trend analysis and the like. All of these components contribute to a 'better way' to think about marketing or as I call it 'Fundamental Marketing'.

Malcolm Gladwell wrote about a component to this approach in his seminal book 'The Tipping Point'. The premise of the book focuses on the very specific moment where all trends or movements reach a point where the scales 'tip' towards maximum effectiveness or growth. He examines how we as humans think, act and feel as individuals, but more importantly as groups and has brought light to many in the marketing world.

2. MAKE MARKETING MORE EFFICIENT
In order to make marketing more efficient there must be an understanding of every component about it's effectiveness while combining that knowledge with intelligent solutions that speak directly to my clients' target audience. I have found that this can be done no matter what medium so long as the focus remains on what resonates with them (the audience), not what the clients preferences are. This is the hardest component to marketing, checking one's ego at the door.

We have all lived in an age where advertising and marketing have been as much a natural part of our lives as the air we breathe. While the industry is an enormous moneymaker it is not running anywhere near it's maximum efficiency. Think of the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on campaigns that exist on a local, national and international level. Do you really think they are all well-planned and 100% efficient? Absolutely not.

As marketers, our ways of thinking can be greatly improved upon. We certainly don't know everything yet and it's up to us to evolve and to find better methods and approaches to marketing.

THE BONUS SECTION
As I continue to find both more effective and efficient methods to marketing I am also focused on reducing the 'shotgun approach' to plans such as direct mail and printing in general. Less is more when it comes to applying some methods such as 'variable data printing' and I will continue to steer more and more clients towards paperless solutions. This approach saves trees, energy and reduces overall carbon footprints.

SOME IMPORTANT QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:
-How do you know your marketing works? How do you measure it's effects?
-What visual cues do people respond to? Why?
-What psychological principles work?
-Do you like your marketing? If so, are you truly the target audience? I let you do the math on that one.

I believe in marketing that is effective. I believe in continuing to find more and more efficient ways to market your business.
I believe the result will make money, save money and improve the environment.

:: Tim Andren
TRGT MKTG

Fall

My week sucked.  

By Sheila R. Rose

Hey sometimes they just do.

I really had to look back to see what I could have done better to make this week suck less. (Believe me, there is a lot I could have done!)  

I tend to be hard on myself. My little head will brood over my imperfections and mistakes for many dark hours.  In a way, this quality serves me well because I’m constantly changing, improving and growing as a daughter, friend, colleague and human being. But at some point you have to let go of feeling bad and just trust you will do better next time. 

Success is not being perfect all the time, but it’s getting better all the time.

Unrelated topic (in a way it’s also related).

I’m really fascinated by this personal brand extraordinaire and wine guru. I watched a video of him speaking at a conference and he said two things that specifically resonated with me… 1) Be completely transparent (you have to in this digital age) and 2) Do what you are passionate about.

Why does good advice sound so easy in theory and so utterly frightening in practice?  Or is that just me and a lingering of my bad week.  (wink, wink)

Success Tip of the Week

Be Consistent

By Sheila R. Rose

When we started the LifeStyle Group, I was told Tuesdays would be my posting days.  

Since then I have posted an entry on this blog every Tuesday. Now I don’t fool myself to think my posts change lives. Because if they did this would be a sad world we live in. Ha!

I also write freestyle, so no literary works of genius either.  

Here I share with you how I strive to live out the LifeStyle of my dreams. Some moments I fail miserably while other moments I feel triumphant. However, maybe as I share glimpses into the creation of my LifeStlyle, I may inspire action in someone else. Relating and connecting are extremely important qualities for me to foster in this lifetime of mine.

Basically the above was a long segue to my “thought, tip, rambling (whatever you like to call these posts)” of the week.  

The one thing I have learned to get me to where I want to be is consistency.  

This philosophy falls into all areas of our LifeStyles from family to health to work to hobbies.  

• We have to consistently work on our personal relationships to keep them thriving.
  
• We have to consistently pay attention to our health to be at our best.
  
• We have to consistently focus on our careers to get to the next level.
  
• We have to consistently practice what we love to get better at it.
  

There are some areas of my life where I have mastered consistency. For example, I have consistently worked out on average three times a week for the past seven years. Often times more and sometimes less, but a decent average (if I do say so myself). I have consistently been involved in the arts in some way since I fell in love with it back in fifth grade. I can’t imagine my life without expressing myself through

Other areas of my life, consistency has been lacking. I get an idea and run with it for awhile and then let it go before it has a chance to go somewhere. I have a hard time consistently focusing on specific business endeavors for more than a few weeks at a time. I dream and then rationalize my way out of the dream the first time it doesn’t go the way I imagined. Sometimes I like to blame it on my self-diagnosis of ADHD. (We all know that’s just an excuse.) It’s just my lack of consistency.

So this blog and my posts are my commitment to practice consistency. Every Tuesday for as long as LifeStylers let me express on this forum.