Seth Godin, besides being one of the best-selling business authors around, writes one of the most popular blogs around. There’s something interesting about the way he writes and organizes his posts. He doesn’t spell everything out. He uses pictures in his posts that a lot of people won’t immediately recognize who or what they are. He links to videos and articles with little or no explanation. He lets his readers figure things out on their own. And it works.

Contrast this with advertising. Lots and lots of advertisements do a similar thing. They are written in the style of a joke without a punch line… leaving the reader/viewer to figure out what the ad is trying to communicate. They’ll make a statement, ask a question, or involve a graphic that leaves people confused. It seems to me that there is a problem with that. I don’t really want to take the time and effort to decipher an ad.

So when should you spell everything out? And when shouldn’t you?

Man, what a horrible coincidence.

What are you supposed to do when something terrifying happens that is completely out of your control? What do you do when you become linked to a horrific story like this?

This is why I don’t aspire to be an “expert.”

Ah yes, another viral video. And I really hate this one. Take a look:

This was made as an advertisement, presumably to sell a product. Tell me, does this video inspire you to buy anything? It did inspire one person, a baseball coach, to track down the girl in the video to recruit her… only to find the video was fake. Not only fake, it was an advertisement for Gatorade.

Gatorade?!

If you’re like me, you’ll have to go back and watch the video a second time to even notice that Gatorade was featured in the video. But there it is, at the end of the video, a Gatorade bottle… sitting in the grass next to the ball girl.

Now it all makes sense! People watch the video, see the incredible catch, and make the connection that the source for this incredible ability can be attained simply by drinking Gatorade, just like the girl in the video. Then, after sending the video on to ten friends (who will be equally impressed with the superhuman powers that Gatorade offers), they hurry to the nearest grocery store to buy three cases of Gatorade so that they too can snag fly balls, dunk basketballs, and knock spiders off ten foot ceilings. Yes! That’s it!

Everything I hate… fake viral ad and product placement.

Don’t know if you’ve seen this video or not…

Not surprisingly, the video is apparently fake. I normally hate this sort of thing, but for some reason I like this one, even if it is fake.

The real question is, does it sell the shoe?

The connotation of this video is that if you wear this shoe, you’ll be able to jump over an Aston Martin speeding towards you at 50mph. But I don’t think anyone believes that. Instead, I can see people wanting to buy the shoe because it’s “the one Kobe Bryant wears when he jumps over the car in that fake video.”

That’s the real story here.

Yet, the question remains, is making a fake video like this a smart move?

Check it out! Batman is real:

http://gothamcablenews.com/gotham_tonight.aspx

What a brilliant idea. To hardcore Batman fans, the Dark Knight is somewhat of a real character. So in preparation for the new Batman movie, whoever is responsible for marketing the movie decided to play along. I think the result is a breath of fresh air from the predictable.

Can your business do something unpredictable that will delight your customers?

A few Saturdays ago I was walking through a sidewalk sale in my town. It was one of those boring, run-of-the-mill sales with bits of this and that displayed up and down the street.

Something did catch my eye though.

In one of the little booths was a display of probably at least a hundred pieces of jewelry. But it wasn’t ordinary jewelry. It was all made out of coins that were cut in dozens of different designs… crosses, stars, hearts, animals, musical instruments; everything imaginable. I thought this was really something, as the metalwork was incredibly precise.

I got the attention of the gentleman behind the booth (with some effort) and asked what kind of machine was used to cut the coins so intricately. I figured it had to be some sort of laser. But lo and behold, he held up a small handsaw. He proceeded to tell me that he cut every single one of these coins by hand. By hand! I couldn’t believe it.

Unfortunately though, no one seemed very interested in his jewelry.

Later that day it struck me… this poor fellow was just trying to sell cut up coins. Impressive as they were, there was no story behind them.

When there’s no story, people make up their own. I did. I assumed the coins were cut by a large machine in some other state (maybe even another country) and they were bought in bulk by this man, who now sat glumly behind his booth, hoping someone would buy something so he could pay his rent. That’s the story I told myself. The man didn’t tell me a story about his product, so I made one up. I had to rouse him from a depressed trance in order to find out the real story.

What if he told the story himself? It would all too be easy. All he’d have to do is sit outside the booth, set up a worktable, and make the jewelry as people passed by. That’s it. I bet he’d sell three times as much jewelry doing that. People would stop to watch, become intrigued, and end up buying.

Of course, he could do even more if he were so inclined (though, judging by his demeanor, he didn’t seem like the kind of person who would be “so inclined”). He could have a poster with information about how long it takes for him to make each piece, how many pieces he’s made in his lifetime, the places he’s sold them, etc., etc. He could have testimonials from people saying how much they love their jewelry and what a great conversation piece they are. He could display boxes filled with the rejected pieces, showing what a high standard he has for his work.

But he didn’t do any of that. The poor guy thought he was just selling pieces of jewelry.

The question is, do you see your business/product/service as a commodity, consequently squelching the intriguing story that’s behind it? If you do, is there a way you could let that story out?

Yesterday I asked if there was any way your business could visually communicate your Unique Selling Proposition. I gave the example of IronKey, a company that makes ultra-secure USB flash drives.

The same question could - and should - be applied to advertising.

With the clutter these days, if you’re going to advertise at all, you’d better make darn sure those ads will really get attention and will really communicate the idea - FAST. I think this ad, which I found online, does a very good job of that:

A picture really is worth a thousand words.

Anyone who looks at this ad immediately gets the idea.

Can you communicate your company’s core idea with a visual like this one?

How do you improve on a USB flash drive? I mean, how much more is there you can do?

Well, how about focusing on a Unique Selling Proposition?

That’s what the folks at IronKey have done.

It’s quite easy to see what IronKey is all about from a quick look at their website. They are all about security and protecting your important information. I’m sure there are other features they could talk about, but they’ve wisely stayed true to their USP. Kudos to them for that!

And I have to say, this looks like a great product.

Apparently, it’s impossible for anyone to steal the information from the device, even if you lose it. And it has built-in encryption technology. It’s waterproof. In addition, if it senses a hacker is attacking it, it initiates a self-destruct sequence (I’m assuming there isn’t an explosion, like in the movies).

But even with those great security features, what fascinates me the most is not the technology on the inside. It’s the brushed metal on the outside.

I don’t know very much at all about the nuances of material technology, but I do know that there are dozens of kinds of space-age polycarbonates and other rock-hard and durable materials available to manufacturers these days. Any one of them is probably more resilient and more shock-resistant than the brushed metal IronKey used.

So why would they use brushed metal?

Take a look at this thing!

Doesn’t it just exude strength, security, and safety? I mean, it looks like you could drop it from the Burj Dubai and your Powerpoint would still make it to your presentation safely.

This is an excellent example of building a USP right into the product.

We live in a very visual culture. We need to see things. For that reason, IronKey could go on all day about the security and protection their products offer, but without any way for the average consumer to see it visually, it would be much harder to sell.

Is there a way your business can make your USP more visible? Can you build it into your product?

Every year, over 400,000 people visit this place. People from all over the world.

These people aren’t coming to enjoy a fun-filled day at an amusement part. They aren’t coming to watch a show, a parade, a firework display. They aren’t here for any sort of event; not a rock concert, a convention, or a three-day chili cook-off.

No, every year, over 400,000 people journey from around the world to visit… a stone.

Of course, you’ve heard of this stone; the Blarney Stone. Those who kiss it are supposedly bestowed with the “gift of gab.” (Though I’m guessing most people visiting the Blarney Stone probably don’t even believe the legend… they’re just doing it because everyone else is.)

Reasons for it’s popularity aside, it’s really hard to not be amazed by this phenomenon. Seriously. It’s a stone, guys. But a very famous and very profitable stone at that.

Of course, my purpose for bringing this up is not to suggest you should start welcoming people from abroad to come and kiss your driveway, billing it as the local wellspring of good luck and prosperity. The Blarney Stone - as much as it would seem like it - is not a swindle. Thousands of people happily pay the admission every year, knowing full well that the story is just a legend. But they don’t care. They’ve still participated in something popular and famous and will always be able to tell the story about how they leaned backwards with nothing but a couple rusted iron bars preventing them from falling 90 feet to the ground below.

Is there any way you can make people care about your business like this?

(If a stone can do it, so can any of us.)