Produced By INKISH

0:49 Originally, Iím a copywriter from the Norwegian advertising business. I used to just run my own advertising agencies, quite big agencies, but now Iím on my own.

1:01 You know, when you work with advertising for so many years, you tend to get stuck in. Even in advertising, advertising people probably have a reputation for being open-minded and creative and all that, but to be honest, I think advertising people are just as conservative as most other businesses. We are as conservative as lawyers and architects, and then you have the advertising community. Iíve been happy to just be able to jump out of the business and working on my own. So now, I give all sorts of advices about what you should do to improve your business ñ how you should communicate better ñ and very often I see that the solutions that I suggest are not the same solutions I used to suggest when I was working inside the business where, you know, an agency can produce films, ads, banner ads, brochures, everything, so thatís what they sell, thatís what they recommend. So when you get on the outside, you tend to get more focused on whatís your problem, what you want to achieve, if you want to sell more, if you want to have a better reputation, whatever, and then you give them advice, but probably much, much better than many agencies do in the everyday life.

2:20 The media has been fragmented totally, the marketing director and his boss donít see their campaigns the way they used to when theyíre in the media, theyíre just being informed. We just finished our campaign and they never saw it, you know, as they used to, so the whole business has been turned upside down.

2:44 The conclusion is that there is so much more work to get for these people that are attending this conference, if they can open their eyes and market themselves better. And in my opinion they do the same mistakes as my own business used to do and many other business, computer business and everything. They sit on their ass and just wait on the phone to ring, you know. I mean, this is very generalistic, I know, but I remember the good, old days when we got all these clients. Why did we get them? Yes, we got them because we were everywhere. We attended all their professional meetings, we went to the conferences to meet doctors, to meet lawyers, to meet people in the fishing industry, oil industry, we partied with them, we socialized with them and we met people. We worked for months to get new clients and then all of a sudden, one guy says: ìIíve realized how we got our clientsî, and most of them just came in by what we called then, coincidence. We met them at a conference somewhere, coffee shop, same place, or whatever, but in the reality the coincidence is not that coincided, because you sort of, by just being there ñ I mean, if you stayed at home at your agency, you would never have the opportunity to meet. So, you have to just be there to create these opportunities.

4:23 I think you can break the rules and you can present your stuff in any way you want, as long as you are presenting your own stuff, itís your own thoughts and you really mean it. People will understand that you mean it and then they will listen. I think, thatís the most important part, because it comes from the heart.

4:50 One of the big points was that you have to have one person responsible for whatever youíre doing in the marketing. A lot of these companies have answered a survey, telling us that they distribute this responsibility to whoever person has got the time for it. It doesnít work, so you have to have one person in charge of marketing, advertising, or whatever you choose to do, and you can change this person for year after year, but it has to be one. So, that was one, because nothing happens if itís sort of: ìYeah, no one else is responsibleî, and so forth. The other thing is ñ do it simple, but do it. There are a lot of plans, make it simple and go with it. So, donít make too complicated plans that are not being followed up; you need some good activities, prioritized, not so many, and managed in such a way that you actually can go through with them.

5:52 And the third, and maybe the most important was ñ stop bragging about your 25-metre long machine, or whatever how long it is, but start asking questions and listen to your customer. Ask questions, try to understand, donít hit them in their heads with arguments and things that you have, or can do and brag, but try to get under the skin to your possible customer and ask questions to understand.

6:29 Grafisk brancheforening, our association in Norway, has decided to run a 2-day course, like a workshop ñ itís some teaching, some basics, training and learning that you need to know. Itís good to just get in the mood and then we work together in smaller groups, and when you finished with these two days, you take the plane home to your company with a practical plan for the next year that youíve made yourself.