Dear Rose Bandit Readers and EXTRAORDINARY Fan Club members and admirers of CatMan herself,
Please visit my dear friend Erica’s Fitness & Lifestyle blog to which I have become a weekly guest blogger! This week’s post is titled “Restoring Dignity: Coping with Cancer” on http://esmithlifestyle.blogspot.com.
I hope you find it as interesting as I do. This blog is a collaborative effort of various individuals striving to make a positive impact.
Enjoy!
CatMan
Today’s reflection on my pursuit of love comes with a few beautiful little finds…I think you might agree upon seeing them too!
1) http://twistedsifter.com/2013/05/humans-of-new-york-brandon-stanton/
2) http://thedailylove.com/how-to-let-a-man-know-you-are-interested-and-a-special-letter-to-men/
3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJeV9H8SGdg
As you can see, there are many ways to capture and express your feelings on love. Love can be found in all forms. Whether you are a stranger in NY, a man trying to help a brother out, and or expressing visually in the form of a video about your other half–love can be found just about everywhere! It is moments like these above which remind us of how human we are and that no matter how much we try to express this feeling, it still is imperfect yet meaningful.
❤ CatMan
First thing you might notice: theme change. Comments are welcomed! AND oh the other good news, I have made it to 100!!! YAY! Yes one hundred silly! No joke…BLOG POSTS not AGE! Geesh! And got a Twitter account. I think I felt your jaws just drop…FOLLOW ME @ BanditMetRoses
Well today I was talking to a good buddy of mine today regarding advertising. Advertisers are getting more and more clever in the way things are presented to their “followers” or maybe just potential customers. Take for an instance this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIu5B3Fsstg. Notice anything interesting about it? Go ahead watch it again….do you really think that this happened? Or was this person hired to demonstrate the “GoPro” brand? Cool, huh?
This is the “GoPro” sponsored highlight reel from Summer X-Games 17: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkgMXkayvQk. Since it was sponsored, you don’t really feel like it is a traditional advertising method which come across more boring and blah. This one seemingly isn’t so forced because it allows the story of the athlete and just seeing a “trick through their eyes” as intriguing! It makes you want to see how they do it. Next component is “why” they do it! One can build a segment literally just like that! In a snap! And guess what? They didn’t put a commercial in there once! So you got all the info and exposure to the ad with out the annoying “Billy Bob Jo here! We can vid-E-O tape you doing trick after trick with our BRAND NEW GoPro….yada yada yada…” It’s invasive! So, advertising people had to get much smarter and “invite” the consumer to learn more! Inviting is better because then if it’s too much you have control over how much is too much.
Image from: http://www.mansibhatia.com/2010/05/silence/
This is one tactic they use to continue to reach out to their consumers. In today’s market place, a business’ success is based on how much they engage with their consumers balanced with ROI (return on investment). AKA Spend money to make money. This can be said with any field, line of work, or product. How do they find that out? Well they test it!
Take you as an example. Take your blog for a second and think about the ways you engage your readers? What do you find other’s actually are interested in or maybe what AREN’T they interested in? What is your “target” for readers? Why do you write what you write? What’s your message? Well did you just realize that this blog is now an extension of you? You are actually advertising for YOU through your blog. The whole point is to gain followers and find like-minded people….right? It can help you find a community of support and friends. You might not do it for money or anything, but pure pleasure yet, it is still advertising YOUR thoughts, YOUR frustrations, and YOUR life or your stories.
Interesting how advertising happens everyday without a second glance or notice. Are we becoming numb to “over stimulation”? I think that is part of it. I also think we are so quick to put so much out “there” for people that we forget to have a personal life. There is no filter to the information provided! You might be saying defensively, “But I still have time to do all my chores, feed the kids, and run them to soccer practice…” I understand that 100%. But do you have time for relaxing? For peace to infiltrate your mind and heart? If you do, then BRAVO to you! Balancing all of that is awesome! We need balance…
One of my favorite quotes: “We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass – grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence…We need silence to be able to touch souls.” Mother Teresa
Here is just an example of a second approach that is even better. By recognizing love and good in a physical sense of others…isn’t that a novel idea? Silence carries a negative connotation. We think because we aren’t doing something going a mile and a half a minute, things aren’t right. But, it is in silence to which creativity is alive! Now my challenge to my followers is this, how can we translate that to the online world? How can we see through the noise and see the good? How do YOU test this to see if it works? I want to know how you find the silence in this constant stream of “tweet tweet” Seems like quite the paradox doesn’t it….well that’s why it’s a challenge! What are your thoughts?
❤ The CatMan
As told by CatMan, The Rose Bandit 