Anthony G Adams - Blog

Best as honest as possible when running your (online) business.  If you are a two person operation whose warehouse doubles as your guest bedroom, tell us about it.  Trying to appear bigger than you are will eventually catch up with you anyway and does the exact opposite of your initial intention:  It makes you look unprofessional. 

The Tiger Woods scandal is further proof that there is nowhere to hide anymore.  The truth comes out.  There is nothing unique about the Woods situation, he just happens to be the first mega celebrity to have his image fall in the Twitter age.  He is a product of the times.  

Earlier this year, David Letterman was involved in a blackmail scandal involving his own infidelity. Letterman did the smart thing.  He took full responsibility for his actions as soon as possible on national television.  It became a non-story.

Woods, on the other hand, has been MIA since details of his car crash began to surface on Twitter and the Huffington Post, while groupies continue to come forward.

Will this hurt Woods as an endorser?  Of course.  It already has.  But there is more money in being honest.  Nike, Woods' main endorser, built a renegade image using athletes like John McEnroe and Charles Barkley.  Maybe what Woods needs is an image change.

Start doing anything out of the ordinary and you will attract critics.  Take this as a compliment and move on.  It means you are doing something right.  

If you are working hard, you will not have time to worry about anyone but yourself. Critics and haters are people without enough to do.  Let them talk about you all they want.

Besides, any publicity is good publicity.

If you think you have something to lose in starting a new business venture, you have already lost.  

You have all heard the axiom.  But consider:

Google is the most-trafficked website on the internet and arguably the most successful business in human history.  Seriously.  Just an unoffensive logo, a search box and a white background.

If Facebook were a country, it would be the fourth largest on earth, and is one step away from becoming your de-facto online identity with Facebook Connect.  Myspace, on the other hand, is dead in the water.  Facebook is clean, easy to use and loads quickly.  It has uniformity. Myspace, with its profile songs and custom backgrounds, takes forever to load and feels sloppy.

Twitter is the hottest site on the internet right now.  It's glorified text messaging.  Simple.

Apple doesn't sell 8 gig mp3 players with 2.5-inch (diagonal) color LCD and LED backlight and five hour extended battery life.  It sells 1,000 songs in your pocket.  

Can you argue with this?

Google AdWords is the best medium of advertising on the planet.  I cannot claim this quote as my own.  The credit goes to the New York Times.  

AdWords puts you in touch with potential customers actively looking for your product.  They are literally telling you exactly what they want.

Amazing.

When Twitter decides to monetize, they will be wise to follow Google's AdWords model.  If you tweet about drinking coffee, a small text ad, possibly geo-targeted, for Starbucks will appear.  It's coming.

I get calls from traditional advertisers all the time asking for my business.  My answer is almost always the same.  

"No."

"But Mr. Adams, our magazine is read by thousands of college students every month.  Don't you want to put your product in front of college students?"

Once again, "No."  I want to put my product in front of people looking for a way to cure a hangover.  There is a big difference.  

Get out now.  The ship is sinking.  Advertising is dead.  Long live advertising.