Be Creative in Advertising

It’s quite true about the saying – There’s no second chance at making a good first impression. Advertisement, regardless online or offline, if they don’t catch your attention within seconds they are considered failed. Agencies and big corporations do not believe in ‘cool factors’ in advertisement anymore. Instead, to really stand out of the crowd, the idea has to be really out of the box, something that makes you laugh, talks about it or at least make you look twice.

You might also like:
* 40 Impressive Product Ads You Don’t See in Magazines

Its amazing..The world is about to change...

Dan Schawbel is the leading personal branding expert for Gen-Y. He is the bestselling author of Me 2.0, as well as the publisher of both the award winning Personal Branding Blog and Personal Branding Magazine.

• Learn More
• DanSchawbel.com

Today, I spoke to Nancy Colasurdo, who is a writer, a practicing life coach, a facilitator of goal-setting and creativity workshops, and a columnist for FoxBusiness.com. In this interview, Nancy talks about how she’s built her personal brand as a life coach and journalist, what issues she typically helps people with, how people can confront this economy, and more.

Nancy, how did you build your own personal brand and get to where you are today?

My career has been built on hard work and setting goals, but being open to opportunities along the way. I have always had a fire in my belly. My pattern seems to be nose to the grindstone, someone else noticing my work and suggesting a path, me resisting a bit but then pondering the possibility. It was a college professor who noticed my articles in the campus newspaper and suggested I major in journalism. It was a former editor at the newspaper I worked for (10 years) in Central Jersey who first left print for the Web and talked me into joining him at FoxSports.com in New York in the late 1990s.
It was a life coach in a volunteer training program I was doing who said I had talent in this area, that I seemed “a natural.” As an independent contractor, my brand has been built through authenticity and incrementally adding components that help increase my exposure (i.e., teaching workshops, attending networking events, blogging, writing a column for

FoxBusiness.com and engaging social media). And I feel like I’ve only just begun.

You’ve been involved in print, web and television. Where do you see these in relation to the web?

When I entered the world of Web journalism via FoxSports.com in 1998, it was brand new to me and I was, frankly, nervous about leaving print. Fortunately, what I brought to the table in terms of journalism chops was perfectly complemented by the bright, computer-savvy 20-somethings on staff. We learned from each other and I quickly figured out how to bring my deadline experience to the Web. Getting up to speed enough on HTML to edit within its parameters was perhaps my biggest challenge. What came naturally was being the liaison with on-air talent (i.e., Keith Olbermann) to get breaking stories on the site.
Later, at Oxygen Media in 2000, marrying television content to Web content was my primary responsibility, so again I learned by diving in head first. A decade later, television and Web content are becoming more seamless, interchangable. I’d hardly want to hazard a guess as to what’s next. Still a bit of a technology dinosaur, I keep marveling.

What is life coaching? What typical issues do you help people with?

For me, life coaching is about helping people get clear about what they want and often that it’s OK to go after it. I’m a can-do coach. So many people get caught up in the societally dictated norm or get pigeonholed into one line of work when they’re young and never go outside of that world they’ve constructed. They get into their late 30s to late 40s and realize they’re not living the life they want. Sometimes even loved ones aren’t supportive of the changes they want to make because they’re afraid of what it will mean to them.
My tagline, “Connecting you to your creative core” came about because part of what inspired me to coach was the book The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I specialize in unblocking creatives, helping clients push through inertia and guiding them to build out what I call their “non-work” life. The idea is that often your day job feels more satisfying if the rest of your life is spent doing things you love. Of course, ideally we strive to merge their passion and their work life.

What advice would you give to someone who is depressed because of the current economic situation?

Well, if it’s clinical depression I’d say go to a qualified physician and get some help. Life coaching is not designed to replace that.

However, if it’s not depression in the clinical sense, I would offer words that even I had a hard time hearing when I lost my job in 2002. Keep going. This is a test of your mettle.                                     If it is at all possible and/or feasible to use a period of unemployment to pursue something you’ve long wanted to, do it. I strongly believe if we link our desires with appropriate action, doors will open. For example, I decided I wanted to be a columnist for a major Web site, so I began writing columns as if I had a writing gig. When I was at a social function for a beloved professor from college, I ran into a former colleague who had recently been hired to head up FoxBusiness.com; he was familiar with my work as a columnist and knew my ability to build a following. When he suggested a column about “how to live life” I already had samples to send him. This isn’t magic. The desire, or wish, must be in lockstep with action.

For those feeling particularly desperate about money, I highly encourage you to work through denial and anger and get to a place of acceptance that your lifestyle must be simplified. I know that’s hard to hear — if foreclosure is on the table, for example — but it will benefit you and ripple to everyone around you. Also, take care of yourself. I must say a saving grace for me was holding on to my gym membership for dear life even when health insurance was not an option.

What career obstacles have you endured and how did you conquer them?

I don’t know that I’ve had obstacles as much as challenges. My traditional Italian-American family didn’t see education for girls as a priority, so I worked my way through college with only one very small loan to worry about upon graduation. I am very proud of that. I thoroughly enjoyed my years as a sports reporter/columnist and was part of a talented and dedicated team, but certainly heard my share of “because you’re a woman” when I received an accolade. Again, I don’t think it held me back, but I struggled to handle it gracefully sometimes. Perhaps my biggest challenge of all has been bouncing back from a layoff in 2002 that I was ill-prepared for financially. It was jarring to be turned away from temp agencies and even cashier jobs because I was over-qualified. Eventually, I realized it was an opportunity to build my life coaching practice and pick up freelance writing and editing projects along the way. I pounded a lot of pavement and still do.

Nancy Colasurdo is a writer, a practicing life coach and a facilitator of goal-setting and creativity workshops. She currently writes a twice-weekly life coaching column called Game Plan for FOXBusiness.com and has been published in, among others, Ladies Home Journal, Parents and on Beliefnet.com. Nancy has 20-plus years of experience in three forms of media – print, web and television. Her journey in the communications field began at The Trenton Times, where she was a sports writer/columnist for 10 years. Nancy spent the ensuing three years working as a web producer for FOX Sports and the National Hockey League and as a television producer at Oxygen Media. Nancy is a member of Conversation Among Masters, the International Positive Psychology Association and mediabistro.com’s AvantGuild.

 

 

 

Being creative the deepest parts of your being are activated, you feel an amazing feeling of connection to your higher self. When you are being creative you realize that you already are everything you always wanted to be. All that matters is your creation and the creative process, your ambitions fade away, because they belong to your ego.

“every child is an artist. the problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up” Pablo Picasso

Do You Recognize These 10 Mental Blocks to Creative Thinking?

Whether you’re trying to solve a tough problem, start a business, get attention for that business or write an interesting article, creative thinking is crucial. The process boils down to changing your perspective and seeing things differently than you currently do.

People like to call this “thinking outside of the box,” which is the wrong way to look at it. Just like Neo needed to understand that “there is no spoon” in the film The Matrix, you need to realize “there is no box” to step outside of.



You create your own imaginary boxes simply by living life and accepting certain things as “real” when they are just as illusory as the beliefs of a paranoid delusional. The difference is, enough people agree that certain man-made concepts are “real,” so you’re viewed as “normal.” This is good for society overall, but it’s that sort of unquestioning consensus that inhibits your natural creative abilities.

So, rather than looking for ways to inspire creativity, you should just realize the truth. You’re already capable of creative thinking at all times, but you have to strip away the imaginary mental blocks (or boxes) that you’ve picked up along the way to wherever you are today.

I like to keep this list of 10 common ways we suppress our natural creative abilities nearby when I get stuck. It helps me realize that the barriers to a good idea are truly all in my head.

This is a great article by Brian Clark. Please visit his site to learn about the 10 Mental Blocks. I think you will appreciate it. Leave him a comment...

xxxxxx
I know you've worked really hard on your branding: The thing you want to be known for.

But guess what: Your brand is not determined by you. It is determined by the collective impressions of everyone who has interacted with you.

Social media is a great too for spreading the message of your brand. You should create several blog posts, each on a different topic or answering a common question in your field. Make those posts easy to find. (You'll notice 'Popular Articles' in the menubar of my blog.) Spend some time each week seeking out people who:

• Need help you can provide
• Have a question you can answer
• Need advice you can give

                                                                                                                                                                                                   What Are YOU Good At? - Click To Read Article
Recently, during a corporate training session at LEGO, I asked a group of professionals to write down 20 qualities about themselves, 20 strengths of their personal brand. One woman looked completely dumbfounded. She stared down at the blank sheet of paper and finally said, "Rahna, that's got to be the hardest thing you could've asked for!" She was stumped. She had no idea what to write and sadder still, she had no idea what she was good at! This is a woman in a very large, very well-known company that conducts annual formal performance reviews....and still she didn't know. Can you imagine?

The Brand Provides The Key ... or You Have What It Takes! - Click To Read Article
I have a gardening background, both from spending years as the Brand Manager for Miracle-Gro and from my master gardener mother, who continues to teach me all about how to coax loveliness from a bare patch of earth. She was talking about tomatoes, and it reminded me of a very important personal branding lesson.

Personal Branding Update: Now Is The Time For Individual Employees To Shine! - Click To Read Article
It's the individual employees that are going to pull America through these troubled times. Everyone has unique skills and abilities to bring to bear, whether you work for a Fortune 500 company or a two-person accounting firm. When people focus on what they're good at and what makes them unique, they get re-energized about what they do and they are inspired to innovate.

Personal Branding From The King of Pop - Click To Read Article
Yesterday, the world heard the bizarre news that Michael Jackson, the self-proclaimed King of Pop, had died. Talk about a strong personal brand. Here's a guy who was absolutely unique-unlike anyone else. You may love him, you may hate him, but one thing is certain: you know him. You understand who he was, what he has done, what he stood for and what he was all about.

Do You Have a Social Media Strategy? - Click To Read Article
While Social Media is the newfangled thing for everyone to talk about, monitor and watch these days amongst marketers, I see a day in the future when social media will be yet another tool in a marketer's tool belt just as "cable" is now just another line item in a marketer's advertising budget. We will get to a day when marketers can't imagine developing a campaign without at least considering how their brand, or new product or service offering might be expressed digitally across a range of social media options.

Digital Branding is Great ... But Don't Forget The Strategy! - Click To Read Article
It has come to my attention recently that many clients are getting frustrated with all the "Social Media experts" because they forget about the strategy. You cannot be enamored with "doing something just to do it." Please remember that e-mail campaigns, Twitter updates, Facebook pages, blogs, and any other digital marketing tool is just that ... a tool ... a vehicle to further your engagement with your consumer. One thing everyone needs to remember: you can't forget the strategy. 

Blogging

• Register your own name as a domain name. If not available, use your personal brand name or some variation that won’t confuse people and will still reinforce your brand.
• Syndicate your blog in brand-related sites and networks.
• List your blog in pertinent website, blog and RSS directories.
• Exchange blogroll placements with industry bloggers.

Places to put your personal brand information

• Email signature
• Forum signature
• Website personal profiles (like Ning’s) that allow you to fill in a short bio and list your website or blog.
• Software-based personal profiles, like Skype’s.
• The name field in blog comments forms should mention your personal brand name.
• The website field in blog comments forms should point at the website that best brands you, whether your blog, social media resume, LinkedIn profile, or anything else.

Social media

• Considering the time investment involved, be selective in choosing the right social media for you, and then complete your personal profiles with your branding messages.
• Use Twitter or other micro-blogging services to network, ask and answer questions, share and learn.
• Create a social bookmarking account (e.g. on del.icio.us) specifically for articles related to your profession or interest, and then encourage people to help you find related arti cles.
• Arrange to have bios posted about yourself on Wikipedia, Knol, Squidoo and other user-generated media.
• Launch a Facebook Page about your industry niche.
• Tie together everything in a dedicated FriendFeed profile that allows people to follow your online activities from one source.

Personal brand-reinforcing content

• Produce your own podcasts (audio or video).
• Dedicated video channels for you on sites like YouTube.
• Launch an online initiative related to your profession.
• Participate in other online initiatives to get noticed.
• Put out press releases when you have a newsworthy accomplishment to share.
• Write op-ed articles for mainstream media.
• Start a newsletter about your field of expertise.
• Conduct (free?) webinars about up and coming topics.
• Create your own products.
• Grow an affiliate network to promote your products, which means they’re also promoting you.
• Likewise, promote products that you can recommend honestly and whose buyers will appreciate you bringing it to their attention.
• Leave insightful comments on related blogs.
• Have online chats or Q&A sessions about brand-related topics.1635284948_d230029508
• Guest post on pertinent blogs.
• Interview industry celebrities, trendsetters and other people of interest.
• Be one of those people of interest and get interviewed on related topics.
• Post presentations you’ve given on topic, such as by publishing them on your LinkedIn profile and blog.
• Write an eBook.
• Release free reports about latest events in your industry and your predictions for the future. 

Adobe Photoshop CS3 allows you to create avatars more efficiently. Choose an appropriate image and modify it to suit your personality. You can use various tools that you learned about in Photoshop to modify the avatar. Let’s see an example of how to create an avatar.
To create an avatar:

General purpose:

• Show, and create your expertise as much as possible.
• Publicize your brand-related successes and achievements.
• Make yourself easy to contact for thoughts and questions via email, Twitter, Skype, internet messaging, etc
• Help other people in your industry such as bloggers, Twitterers, colleagues, advice seekers, etc.
• Give people a reason to talk about you in a positive way that also matches your brand.
• Follow other people in your industry and anyone else who can teach you how to spread your message.
• Create and apply personal design guidelines that will share the values of your brand and are reusable online and offline.
• Keep in mind that where you interact online also conveys messages about you, and then stick to the websites and communities that will help most in reaching your goals.

Tactics:

• Choose an appropriate avatar.
• Consider using a personal logo.
• Join brand-related communities on social media (such as LinkedIn Groups), in discussion forums, newsgroups and mailing lists.
• Be helpful by sharing links and resources that you know people will enjoy.

Kinds of websites you could create

• An ‘ask an expert’ website to answer questions about your profession or area of expertise.
• Discussion forum about your industry that you would moderate and participate in.
• Wiki about your industry
• A social media resume
• A personally-branded version of a free online tool that your audience will find useful.
• Personal blog

Create Animated GIF online for free! Upload your pictures or grab them from Flickr or Picasa Web, make avatars or funny animations and post it to MySpace, LiveJournal, Bebo, Digg, Facebook, HI5, QQ, Friendster, etc. No need for Flash.

To do this, you will need to create your photo's in Photoshop or photobucket. Have them handy , like on your desk top for easy upload to Picasion.com 

Since I had such a hard time finding it, I wanted to be sure to share the process with my readers in case you are wanting to add this to your site.This is what I read on Kimberly's Blog, and needless to say, it was music to my ears... I spent days searching for something that I had no idea what they called it either. I just knew that it was called a button... Have you ever played that game button button who's got the button... Well my search kinda went like that! Good Luck to me in ever finding this! Oh about a week maybe... It's a good thing I am a little determined in my learning how to set up my blog...
I am putting Kimberly's BUTTON here avail for you to grab it!! You'll love and enjoy her blog. This will be the 7th time I have pasted it here... I am now learning that you do not go back and disturb it all all, because it can disappear!!! All this for a crazy button... YEP... : )



The command rows and cols defines how large the box will be. You can change these numbers as you see fit to adjust the size of your text box. The first number (rows) defines how tall the box will be, and the second number (cols) defines how wide the textbox is. The next part (readonly) is optional. You could delete the entire command and it would still function; however, I chose to include it as it prevents someone from accidentally hitting a button and changing the code during the copy/paste process. The is what actually appears in the text box.  Here is my actual instructions:





Gif maker

Social Media

Social Media is media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media uses Internet and web-based technologies to transform broadcast media monologues (one to many) into social media dialogues (many to many). It supports the democratization of knowledge and information, transforming people from content consumers into content producers.

Internet marketing Optimization:

I met Rick on FB. I am so impressed with all his knowledge and the breath of fresh air that he brings into his teaching, and educating others on making it work online.. I highly recommend his teaching's and I have been applying them to my own website... Plus he has a great sense of humor... You will laugh, and learn in his own unique way.. View the second video

Check out his demonstration on Tweetspinner below



About Rick

• IMO-Networker.com IMO-Networker.com
• Business Consulting
• WordPress Setup and Design
• Website Graphics
• Internet Marketing Optimization
• Brick and Mortar Businesses: Website analysis and implementation of Internet Marketing Strategies.
• Online Businesses: Website analysis and implementation of Internet Marketing Strategies.

I am a FANATIC when it comes to FONTS.. Love Em... Yes I do. I enjoy using them, and I love the creativity you can express from your self using them.  For instance one day on FB, I came across this....•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♥Well all gears went screeching ahead as I tried to become friends with the owner of this incredible page with the one and only design I wanted to get my hands on it. Not only did I want to own it, I was determined to find out how they did it... Can you believe that this is a big SECRET!

Well not for long... I went on my man hunt, kinda like I did one Christmas, when I was obsessed with finding a special yet very particular little shrub, that it's small but yet fancy little branches would look like the perfect little yet live trees for my new Christmas Village I was putting together... This hunt could have put me in the slammer, but I found them, and I cut them, broke them off with bare hands, twisted them , what ever it took to get them, I had to have them... And so did my BEST FrIEND... I laugh when I think back at that.... 

Any way, back to the fonts. I haven't explored this yet, but wanted to post it, so I wouldn't lose it again... When you are building a blog, you can come across so many neat things...  This is a winner....  Visit the sight they have some great fonts that are Free to download... Give your blog some personality!