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[jovicavi]

Aha!

              The world today is connected by an intricately woven tapestry of digital threads, connecting each and every person on the globe, whether they know it or not.  Communicating with people in another state, or country across the ocean was once a pain staking and treacherous journey that forced a person to face Mother Nature’s unforgiving wrath.  It was only the most harrowing of people that would even dare attempt this journey to deliver a piece of paper.  Perhaps this is why letters written before the dawn of the modern age are revered as brilliant short stories, while today’s messages are riddled with misspelled words, incomplete thoughts, and emojis to signify emotion because we’ve become to lazy to exercise the English vocabulary.  This, however, has lent itself perfectly to digital marketing.  The fast paced, sometimes incoherent, rush of info-tainment being blasted at people from every corner of their life has become as normal as seeing clouds in the sky.  With so much flying at people, it is easy to find a number of “aha’s” when exploring the world of digital marketing, and below are my top three.

 1: Be Specific

              This may seem like it goes without saying, but now more than ever it is critical that your advertising is as specific as possible. With a growing number of corporate voices shouting at their consumers, being hyper-focused on a specific niche will help your business’s voice cut through the noise, and go directly to your target audience’s ear.  

 2: Don’t Be Afraid To Try New Tools      

              Digital marketing is not only effective, but it is very affordable.  For the price of a billboard (roughly $800, depending on size and location), you can run dozens of ads focused directly on your target audience.  With its low cost, it is worth experimenting with a plethora of digital options to see which avenue is most effective for your business.

3: Don’t Sell, Entertain

              When looking at a beach, it’s impossible to point out a single piece of sand but easy to point out a log, and the same is true with digital marketing.  It is so easy, not to mention annoying, to find a friend, family member, or random business reminding you that they want you as a customer.  Facebook has almost become more of a business card cork board in the back of the American Legion than a social media sight, and most ads are indistinguishable from one another.  This why it is so important to alter the messaging away from traditional sales, and more into entertainment.  We are living in a “thank you” economy right now where people expect a lot for free before they commit.  By entertaining your target audience, you not only provide something for nothing (a.k.a. a freebie), but you also build rapport with them as somewhat of a celebrity.  Don’t be grain of sand in the beach, be a log.

                So, if you are someone who is afraid to enter the realm of digital marketing because you do not have the vocabulary of a Shakespearian poet, fear not.  This new age of digital communication lends itself less to that, and more to the modern-day vernacular spoken in our every day lives.  Being a long winded and self-glorified scribe of deeply pretentious and arrogant literature doesn’t hold a candle to being a street-savvy wordsmith who understands how to be clear and concise in their messaging.  So, slide your thesaurus back into the bookshelf, because knowing a synonym for “ostentatious” will not get you as far as a well-placed hashtag. God Bless.

[jovicavi]

Oh, Cell Phones

              When I wake up in the morning, I have the unfortunate habit, just like millions of others, to check my phone.  I may tell myself that I’m simply checking the time, and sometimes that’s true, but regardless of whatever my simple and innocent intentions may be, it often leads down the worm hole of time being flushed down the toilet.  It is not uncommon for me to check my email, text messages, weather, and a news app before exiting my extraordinarily comfortable bed (that I spent that last six hours getting just right, by the way).  This means that before my feet even hit the floor, I have been glued to an electronic device that provides no real value to me other than scratching the itch of lazy temptation.  Don’t get me wrong, there are definite benefits to these technologically advanced gadgets, but right now they mostly serve as tiny portable toilet televisions (never touch another person’s phone, you’ll get pink eye) that draw our attention away from more important things in life like family, faith, fresh air, and a slew of other things that I’m sure are, in one way or another, equally important.  Addiction to cell phones is, in fact, a real issue plaguing the first world citizens of the twenty-first century, so much so that scores of articles have been written about how to handle this (below are some links to the articles) and PsychGuides.com even gives a list of groups and centers that can assist in breaking you free from the grip of addiction.  

              I, myself don’t feel addicted, but am on it quite a bit more than I’d like.  I don’t have a watch that alerts me when my phone is face down on the table signaling my magnanimous nature, and I have all my alerts, other than text and call, turned off so that I’m not even more tempted to enter into another round of Mortal Kombat mobile simply because a new character is available. I like to see myself as an older millennial (yeah, I remember the nineties) who had the stroke of good fortune to see what a vice technology can become, and how to enjoy life without it.  As kids, my parents would kick me and my siblings out of the house so that we would play outside and use our imagination rather than sit inside playing video games all day.  In fact, on that note, it has been wonderful to see so many people become excessively rich and famous by playing video games after listening, for years, to my parents say, “video games will lead you nowhere!”  It gives me that rush of satisfaction that only a good “na na, na na, boo boo” can provide, and I’m positive I’m not alone in feeling this either.  Back to cell phone addiction, it is imperative that we maintain the proper rank in file with our devices, because that is exactly what they are, our devices.  The moment the tool becomes the master, and the master the tool, those persistently nagging temptations will become dictatorial overlords who command every minute of your life.  So please, stand your ground, and refuse to lose this war waged for your attention.  God Bless.  

 The promised list of articles:

https://www.psychguides.com/behavioral-disorders/smart-phone-addiction/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jodiecook/2019/05/01/10-ways-to-stop-your-smartphone-ruining-your-life/?sh=7aa24dec3afa

https://medium.com/swlh/your-phone-is-ruining-your-life-heres-why-and-how-to-fix-it-dd863e9ce358

https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-perspec-smartphone-addiction-facebook-twitter-0905-story.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/23/business/cell-phone-addiction.html

https://www.kqed.org/futureofyou/260662/help-my-phone-is-ruining-my-life-8-tips-for-the-addicted

[jovicavi]

Welcome To My Blog

Discussing nothing other than the word “hello” is excruciatingly difficult for someone like myself.  I find no value in it other than it being a pleasant greeting from an odd stranger who seems incapable of blinking.  The word “welcome”, however, is much more colorful and fun.  When shouted, it is almost as if you are being ushered in to view an amazing circus act by the Ringling Brothers or the famous (or infamous depending what you’ve read) P.T. Barnum.  Skylights act as beacons, the crowds cheers act as sirens heralding in a new age of excitement and wonder just footsteps away from where you stand.  This blog, and the imagination contained inside this elongated cranium sitting on my underwhelming shoulders, promise you absolutely none of that.  The golden age of flight and fancy have long since past, and I, unfortunately, have nothing more to offer than regurgitated stories and opinions you’ve undoubtedly heard over and over again.  I will, however, admit it, and in doing so hope to provide thought provoking,  if not entertaining, blurbs of anecdotal knowledge and unfounded expertise. So with that, welcome to my blog.  May it be as exhilarating to you as a loose piece of steak is to a dog.  God Bless.