I was asked this question years ago by one of my sons. This was my actual answer... now as an ad for Dairy Queen. Don't forget to put your audience into your advertising. Given that you have a social media schedule that lives moment-to-moment... why not? 😁 What do you buy first?

Way back in the day, I was once told to make sure to put up some of the "fun work" that I was doing around my desk (cubicle/cell - whatever you call your space) to show others what I was capable of. So I did — I started out as an illustrator, so I posted some Calvin & Hobbes type drawings of spaceships and dinosaurs that I liked to fool around with. Next thing you know, the curator at the Minnesota Science Museum saw them and asked me if I wanted to design a poster for an upcoming exhibit. "YES, I do!" Turns out, it was the biggest exhibit they had ever done and my one poster, led to illustrations (and exhibit designs) that filled not only the museum, but made it's way on to outdoor billboards, grocery bags and merchandise all over the Twin Cities. They even brought a giant animatrontic dinosaur up the Mississippi River on a barge with my graphics in tow! Today, everything is digital. Don't just hide it on your computer. Print out some things. Share some posts of your personal work. Keep your coffee napkin sketches out. Sometimes "old school" is the right school for your opportunity to create your best work!

Mike Holicek takes home the MARCH prize for most LIKED posts or comments. What an easy way to make money... perhaps even more than being employed by an award winning ad agency (which Mike is). Send me your address in the CHAT, Mike, and your spoils will be sent off to you! C'mon, everyone, let's get more people into this community and make it great! I don't have all year (well, actually I do), but still — more community, more fun, more learning... mo' money!

It seems obvious, but it can be so hard to find any real metrics to support it. This graphic from WARC (World Advertising Research Center) does a nice job of explaining the process of how powerful branding is to the sales process— when brand and performance are integrated effectively, there is a median 90% INCREASE to ROI. Small business owners seldom throw money at brand marketing. Instead, it's typically just sales promotion. When ROI tends to be everything... the reality is you need both — and your business demands that your brand be relevant to potential future buyers. As a "marketing agent", this is the core of the need for "great creative" for your clients, big or small, so that they don't succumb to being simply price shopped and forgotten by 95% of the marketplace. THE MULTIPLIER EFFECT has more to do with "Out of market" (95%: potential future buyers), than "In-market" (5%: actively seeking your product/service)... 9X by research... I think maybe more — a lot more. _ _ _ LINK to AD AGENCY member JESS WOLFE'S reaction to Elena Jasper's excellent LI post (for even more insight) > Like what Jess has to say, then CLICK HERE to watch the Jess Wolfe Interview in our Classroom >

I was born in 1962. This was America's best spot that year. My, how times have changed... but this was pushing boundaries back then from the J. Walter Thompson Ad Agency. As a Wisconsinite, I highly endorse the drinking of beer by women... and yes, "we men" will gladly join you in sharing a beverage. (and yes, that's venerated TV broadcaster Hugh Downs as the maître d)