Life Sayings

As life sayings go, advertising is an interesting one. We often take advertising to be what we see on the television, or browse through in a newspaper.

But advertising goes way beyond that. As I explain in this post, it speaks a truth of who we are. And that is the purpose of all of these life sayings: to speak the truth of who we are.

Life – as we know it – is a marketplace. It is an exchange and an interchange of energy, ideas and cold, hard cash.

One of the key elements of life is knowing how to market yourself. This doesn’t come naturally to many of us. Indeed, having to sell yourself can be a great source of embarrassment and shame.

What will immediately show up is how you were put down each and every time you tried to show the world that you were special, as a child.

Adults – who failed to learn their lessons when they were children – are deemed to be, “arrogant”, “self-centred”, “ego-maniacs”. They don’t fit in, and they are definitely not nice. And most of us are trying our dandiest to fit in and to be nice.

So recognise that if you try to market yourself all kinds of stuff will likely come up.

One way that people avoid having to market themselves, is by marketing things which are external to them. They could promote their favourite band, or, perhaps, their favourite charity. Or the magazine they work for. Or they could be patriotic and fight for their country. Or they could preach about their religion. Or their favourite football team.

Yes, they preach about anything and everything … but them. Like downplaying their virtues is somehow a virtue …

No, it’s not a virtue. More likely it is an endless source of frustration and aggravation as you fail to do yourself justice in life. And all of life seems to conspire against you.

So, give up the false humility and, instead, get in touch with yourself: What do you love about yourself? What are your best qualities? What are you contributing to the world, or the people around you?

You don’t have to blurt this out to the world. Just be it. Walk as that person would walk, talk as that person would talk, stand in your own magnificence.

But that’s not enough. If you are going out to market you have to know the market. And you have to know one thing in particular: is that market interested in you and what you have to offer?

The better you know yourself the clearer you will be on what you have to offer. And then it’s a matter of taking an honest and objective look at the marketplace. When it comes to what you are selling are they buying?

If not, cut your losses and move on. Stand in your own magnificence and the doors will fling open to you sooner or later.

Because magnificence sells.

If you enjoyed this post, check out other life sayings on how life really works.

Here are some other articles on advertising you might be interested in:

• Promotional Spending for Prescription Drugs – In the late-1990s, the Food and Drug Administration changed its advertising guidelines and drugmakers began marketing directly to consumers-a practice known as direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising. Since then, the manufacturers of many …
• brilliant advertising ideas – volkswagen van came up with this brilliant idea to promote its carrying capacity as against many other cars: ford mondeo showcases its pickup speed with this stunner of an advertisement. great execution. …
• comment on 21 great advertising networks for publishers by … – that’s a huge list. i’ve already tried adsense. i noticed chitika didn’t make it to your list.
• Measuring Google TV Advertising and Privacy – Google’s advertising model goes beyond the Web to places like televison. Yesterday, the Official Google Blog ran a post on TV advertising through Google, Tuning in to TV data, which told us that they are gauging interest in ads shown on …
• Doc Searls Weblog · Looking toward life beyond advertising – I just moved into a house, and the nice fellow from Verizon came yesterday and installed FIOS, which is the new 800-pound gorilla in this whole TV/Internet thing. Everything’s available on-demand. There’s a button you push that shrinks …
• Pay Per Click Advertising Management – According to Forbes, pay per click (PPC) advertising is growing at a very fast pace. By 2008, companies will spend $8 billion a year on PPC advertising. It will only get more expensive and more competitive in the future.
• Low cost advertising to nab pedestrians | Bookshop Blog – Advertising doesn’t have to be expensive to be effective. A lot of in-store book sales come from walk in traffic. Even if you’re in a high traffic area.
• How Google Might Enable Property Owner Advertising in Streetviews … – Imagine that you are the owner of the Eugene O’Neill Theatre in Manhattan, New York, and you have a marquee banner that lets passersby know what performances are currently taking place on your stage, as well as posters advertising …

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