How Color Can Effect Your Mood...and Your Business!

I just read a great article on the use of color (in life and in business) and what impact it has on our decisions and moods. I've posted about this before, and this article is definitely another to be added to the archives!

As someone with synesthesia (I talk more about it here), color plays a huge role in how I associate many things. It's a big inspiration, as well as a guide for me. Probably a little weird, but fun!

Enjoy the article!

A Trip to the Organic Market.

It seems like every couple of months I have to take at least a few hours out of my week to sort through the various newsletters and email lists I've acquired, unsubscribe from what I'm obviously not reading, and finally get my life back from the marketing clutter that's filling my inbox (and keeping me from what I really need to be reading).

Inevitably, I gradually sub to more lists ("sign up for a free video" or "get daily motivation" usually draws me in), and the cycle continues.

Shampoo. Rinse. Repeat. The Marketing Wheel keeps turning.

Truthfully, though most of these people are really successful marketers, no doubt hitting that critical percentage that makes up their lifetime customers and guarantees them residual monthly income, it all looks alike to me.

When the Marketing Wheel spins in this hypnotic "Marketing Kaleidoscope" fashion, I become blind to anything that makes any of them different from the last one.

In fact, I cringe a little each time I realize I've fallen for another one, gotten sucked onto a list that will cost me precious seconds at least once a day (and they almost seem to be getting more frequent), and have to now deal with sorting through them all once again!

My biggest fear is that, in my own marketing, I'll become one of these people.

And THAT's a conundrum, isn't it? Because we know that at least some of them are successful, so we should at least analyze what they're doing right. But at the same time, is it worth the risk of turning off real people, who are looking for more than just the 'right' words? They want to know who we really are, what we're offering, and most importantly, what benefit it is for them, without being sold to like victims at a used car lot.

Good news! You can be an Organic Marketer. An Organic Marketer is someone who speaks authentically, all naturally, and without all of the harsh crap that your readers, customers, clients, or community don't want spoiling the precious seconds they're giving your words.

Maybe androids want some magical text that's going to lure them into throwing down cash without trust or proof that it's worth their while, but human beings (the ones behind those computer screens) don't. In a world that's ever increasingly contrived, if you've got something real to offer, you owe it to your product, service, prospect, and YOURSELF to be real in how you market it.

Here in Kansas, trees are brimming with delicious harvests of the fall. It's a constant reminder to me that the sweet, uncorrupted fruits of communication are the most appealing. Organic Marketing is the only way.

A Meatball Sundae is just what you need.

Marketing genius Seth Godin has once again hit it out of the marketing ballpark with Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing Out of Sync?. Colorfully and succinctly, Godin lays out what you might not want to hear: that the "Old Marketing" of television interrupts and mass marketing average products, is losing ground to the "New Marketing" in the Web 2.0 world, and you've got to pick a team.

With fourteen clearly defined considerations of New Marketing in his toolbox, along with enough case studies (from companies you not only already know of, but have probably worked with) to prove his points, Godin makes a great case for not only utilizing these new tools, but also for adapting your entire business structure to work with them.

What could be so compelling that a seasoned company would restructure into a fresh startup just to take advantage? The consumer. In today's online market, the customer is not only king, he's also the boss, the critic, and sounding board from which all new ideas come.

It's never been a better time to be a consumer, an entrepreneur, or a creative. With Meatball Sundae Seth Godin makes us all feel new again!


Check out this book as well as many other great business resources at the Serious Vanity Learning and Productivity Center.