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You bring up a great point!

About those bells and whistles, that's where I think we all get a little confused. I am talking about accurately conveying my brand (the personality of my agency) through the website. I want folks to have a good idea of who we are and what we are about after visiting the website, and I just haven't captured that yet. If done right, I can do this with or without "bells and whistles."

I always tell clients to have a concept behind their advertising. A concept is an insight that speaks to the target on an emotional level, it connects with them, it cuts through all the business speak, and translate the product benefit into a human being's need. I don't have that yet for my agency. I may be too close to see it.

Literary, what is the one thing you want visitors to your site to know, what makes you special? Find that and you will be excited about your site. It's finding your song and playing it for the world. There are plenty of other tunes but there is only one that is you. Then not only will you be excited but visitors to your site will be too.

Don't give up, just stop trying to force it - let it come to you.

Snipperred,

Thank you.

Drop me a line: dereklw@mail.com

To all,

I don't mind taking a conversation off forum. Feel free to email me but please don't email me about trying to buy something or adding me to a list. I am trying to get my agency going - I'm broke. LOL

I actively block and report spam.

Consider this a public service announcement.

Try again. I haven't recieved anything as of yet. It might help if I gave oyu the right email address: dereklw@mail.com

Okee Dokee then Iwrite....

Did you get my message and get a chance to look in to what I'm doing? Or am I so extreme as to earn a no comment!

Regardless of what you think about my site. I think your marketing philosophy is spot on. This is the kind of transparency and documentary I am looking to build into my own concepts- that is thinking out loud about how you want to set up your site. "Why my advertising agency does not have a website - yet." Is a perfect theme. And you are literally up close and personal with where you are coming from. You say maybe you are too close to see it. However, anyone who looks into this post is going to see it.

I assume most marketing firms intend to impress upon visitors the quality of end product. However, sometimes the underlying drawings and sketches that went into that final work are more interesting and revealing. Companies put out their vision and mission statements sometimes to connect with people. However, what of these things as they are just forming, are adapting and reflecting on the industry environment around them, and then customizing to align with the visions of potential clients and so on.

So what was that commercial..for Sprint I guess. The guy is walking down the street like any other guy and says in an intimate conversational tone- he's the new CEO for Sprint/ imagine a better world of services/ so i just did it/ pretty nice, huh? and then the commercial ends with his e-mail. I'm so tempted to try the e-mail. I just don't want to be dissapointed when the response I get is indirect. Rather, I'm kind of doing the same thing but am suggesting you really can get through to my personal e-mail- or the least a real person who represents me and who can forward to me if interesting enough.

I'm not suggesting self-glamorization like some sort of Zoolander, but finding a way to incorporate modern personal insight that genuinely connects rather than insults intelligence is so hot right now!

O.K. Thanks. So my message got through. I think you'll find I'm right there with you on this.

Conversely, I suppose my perspective from being happily married is that I would enjoy being able to look in that mirror, be myself, and communicate the best intimate message with "the one" so as to make the most of the moment. In my site, I'm focussed on a target market of people who are like me. I say it right from the beginning...this is not for everyone. It is for anyone who shares my personal ambitions and challenges. If you are fine living a boring life and not accomplishing anything amazing, then I've really not got much to say to you. So for relating to a target market- that is essentially a mirror image of me- I'm cutting through the animosity and engaging them directly.

No worries about commenting back if you don't have the time. I do welcome any news on what you think if you do look into it. I just wanted to make sure you could see my application of what I gather is your emerging vision for your firm. You may not be my intended audience, but I think you will find my marketing approach is right on line with what you are expressing. Should be inspirational.

I just added a home page draft. So select Intro Videos ALPHA if you look into the site.

Thanks!

I might have missed something but I don't think I asked the question: "Will people buy your product without any marketing effort?"

But since you did, here we go. I disagree, people will not buy your product - marketing includes package design and branding. Without those your product is in a simple container with a simple name, and the only way people might buy it is out of curiosity but the numbers will be low. We sometimes view marketing as advertising, they are not the same. Marketing is everything, including advertising, used to draw attention to a product, goods or services that are offered by a company.

Although word-of-mouth and viral is powerful, the numbers are not there to show that they can deliver like a fully integrated campaign. Because you have to reach people where they are and that is hard if they aren't on the site you want them on or they are watching tv or driving in their car or walking down the street. The internet is a great tool but it is still only one tool of many tools that a business should employ to reach potential customers.

Let the conversation begin anew!!