You may have heard the story about the man who spent a hot summer afternoon doing yard work. When he came inside, his little boy said, “Come on, Dad, let’s play!” The man was tired after all that work, so he stretched out on the couch and closed his eyes. His son jumped onto the couch, pulled open his father’s eyelids and said, “Let’s go, Dad! Aren’t you ready to play?” Realizing that he needed to keep his son busy while he took a short nap, Dad reached for a magazine on the coffee table and turned to a page he had seen a few days earlier. It was a full page, full color map of the world. He pulled out the page, tore it into a dozen pieces and placed on the floor. He said, “Son, here’s a puzzle. Put these pieces of the world together and then we’ll play.”
As he drifted off to sleep, he could hear the pieces being shuffled, and after only a few minutes, his son tugged on his arm and said, “Dad, I got it!” He opened his eyes and – sure enough – every piece was in the right place. He said, “I’m proud of you. How were you able to do that? You’re too young to know how the world fits together.” The little boy broke into a big smile and said, “Dad, I turned those pieces of paper over and there was a picture of a boy. So I put that picture together, because I knew if I put the boy together, the world would take care of itself.”
The lesson is simple: Even though there will always be troubles in the world, our job is to work on ourselves.
Consider the economy. We can’t do anything to change inflation rates or interest rates or international conditions. But we can have an impact in our little corner of the marketing world. Let’s take a look at three steps to help advertisers who are concerned about the economy:
1. Localize the problem. Like the little boy and the map, it’s important to narrow our focus to the things we can influence. For us, that means concentrating on the local economy. What are the local issues that individual business people in your town are worried about?
When advertisers wring their hands over far-reaching issues, reframe it for them by asking questions like, “In what ways is that impacting your business?”
2. Localize the solutions. Once areas of concern are identified, work with each advertiser to develop individualized solutions. A little brainstorming can help shift their attention from fearful to hopeful, from negative to positive.
3. Learn how to create ads that work. The best way to serve your clients is to make sure their ads generate results. That means targeting specific audiences, developing consistent campaigns and insisting on compelling offers in every ad. When ads work, advertisers will keep running them.
Nothing sells like a history of success. That’s why putting the puzzle together starts with us.
(c) Copyright 2025 by John Foust. All rights reserved.
John Foust has conducted training programs for thousands of newspaper advertising professionals. Many ad departments are using his training DVDs to save time and get quick results from in-house training. Email for information: john@johnfoust.com
As he drifted off to sleep, he could hear the pieces being shuffled, and after only a few minutes, his son tugged on his arm and said, “Dad, I got it!” He opened his eyes and – sure enough – every piece was in the right place. He said, “I’m proud of you. How were you able to do that? You’re too young to know how the world fits together.” The little boy broke into a big smile and said, “Dad, I turned those pieces of paper over and there was a picture of a boy. So I put that picture together, because I knew if I put the boy together, the world would take care of itself.”
The lesson is simple: Even though there will always be troubles in the world, our job is to work on ourselves.
Consider the economy. We can’t do anything to change inflation rates or interest rates or international conditions. But we can have an impact in our little corner of the marketing world. Let’s take a look at three steps to help advertisers who are concerned about the economy:
1. Localize the problem. Like the little boy and the map, it’s important to narrow our focus to the things we can influence. For us, that means concentrating on the local economy. What are the local issues that individual business people in your town are worried about?
When advertisers wring their hands over far-reaching issues, reframe it for them by asking questions like, “In what ways is that impacting your business?”
2. Localize the solutions. Once areas of concern are identified, work with each advertiser to develop individualized solutions. A little brainstorming can help shift their attention from fearful to hopeful, from negative to positive.
3. Learn how to create ads that work. The best way to serve your clients is to make sure their ads generate results. That means targeting specific audiences, developing consistent campaigns and insisting on compelling offers in every ad. When ads work, advertisers will keep running them.
Nothing sells like a history of success. That’s why putting the puzzle together starts with us.
(c) Copyright 2025 by John Foust. All rights reserved.
John Foust has conducted training programs for thousands of newspaper advertising professionals. Many ad departments are using his training DVDs to save time and get quick results from in-house training. Email for information: john@johnfoust.com