Ecclesiastes 2:22-23 NLT - “So what do people get in this life for all their hard work and anxiety? Their days of labor are filled with pain and grief; even at night their minds cannot rest. It is all meaningless.”

This verse always resonates with me when I go through a season in life where my restless mind keeps me up all night processing thoughts, re-enacting events, and planning future actions. God gave us fever to alert the body to infection, and He’s given us a restless mind to alert the body when we need a Sabbath.

The reason Americans have a 5 Day work week, which begins on the Lord’s Day of Sunday, was because Worship and Rest were considered two different things.

Sunday – Begin your week with the Lord first by worshipping him which is an action
Monday – Friday – … Read More »

Had dinner the other night with a few friends. My friend Greg hooked up some world class fajitas with tortilla soup. Dana and I felt right at home. Over dinner the discussion turned to an upcoming fundraiser our church’s youth ministry was having which was going to be a bake sale.

The questions asked of me was, “Is this a good fundraising idea?” and “Will it work?”

I always respond to questions with questions because you often aren’t given enough information up front to formulate an adequate answer.

“How much money are you trying to raise?” I asked.

The youth pastor quickly responded with “I’d be happy with $1,000 bucks.”

His wife is much more analytical and introverted and she pondered for a second and said, “You’ll probably laugh at me, but I want to raise $20,000. We have about 15 teenagers who want … Read More »

The illustration goes like this. It is more effective and easier to advertise a product like Aspirin which is the answer to the pain problem of headaches than it is to promote a vitamin which is preventative and promotes well-being.

Aspirin is relevant at the moment you have a headache.

Its not that Vitamins don’t have value, but they don’t have an immediate relevance to a consumer. There is not a thorn in the flesh of the consumer which makes them need to go out and get these vitamins because they don’t feel the pain of not using them.

The one exception I can think of off the top of my head is Pre-Natal Vitamins which obviously have the built in relevancy factor of Pregnancy to motivate a purchase. Once again the relevancy comes from what is my felt need at the … Read More »

We all know Dale is right. But why?

“Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” – Dale Carnegie 1936

The answer is RELEVANCE. Relevance is what makes something stick to brains. This experience, thought or encounter matters and is significant to us. One of the most important human needs we all have is the need to be significant and to be recogized.

When a person calls our name we immediately respond because we instinctively know we are being recognized. This is why it is equally insulting when a person doesn’t remember our name.

When we are significant we are remembered. The sign of being remembered is a person calls you by name. When we are insignificant we are forgotten and we encounter a person and they say “What is your name again?”

In your … Read More »

No one cares about you. Except for you. That should be the first rule of advertising, but it’s not. If you listen to any ads today you’ll quickly identify that most organizations just talk about themselves. Sounds like a bad first date. Me, me, me instead of you, you, you.

Advertising to felt needs is the fundamental assumption that the potential customer only cares about their needs. Not even their real needs, only their perceived needs. These are the needs they feel. If you want to engage their attention you are going to need to talk about what they care about – which is them and their needs, not you and your qualifications.

These are 3 examples from my trade area of New Orleans where organizations only talk about themselves and never about the felt need of the customer in their advertising.

You’ve … Read More »