Who hasn't walked up to their parked car only to see one or more brightly colored advertisements adhered to their front window, locked in behind their windshield wiper. I know that I don't take this type of guerrilla style advertising seriously and the ad almost always ends up taking my parking space after I pull away. The simple reason this kind of marketing and advertising doesn't work is because it's intrusive and the type of medium used usually loses the message.

As briefly mentioned above - the medium used is a big reason that these types of advertisements are lost. Simply put; if you came back to the same-parked car and you noticed that there was a Rolex attached to the window you're going to take the message much more seriously then before. Because of the medium the message is on - a rolex you can use - a piece of thin paper with text on it you can't.

The first rule of advertising and marketing is; only advertise something that you yourself would want and would want to hear about. Treat your advertising as if you were on the outside looking in - then you will be able to cut out all of the ideas that turn potential customers and leads stomachs.

After you have the first rule of advertising and marketing figured out the rest should come naturally. This rule is really just a hybrid of the golden rule almost all of us grew up following.

"Market and advertise unto others as you would have them market and advertise unto you".

It's that simple. It really is. If you never forget that simple message you will have more conversions, and less negative feedback about your marketing and advertising campaigns. Contrary to popular belief it is not our job as marketers and advertisers to decide what our customers needs are, but only to help them when they realize their own needs.

Going back to my initial point - make sure all of your marketing and advertising materials are better then great! Even if that means you have to go a little over budget to make this happen. Remember if you as a marketer won't take it seriously then how do you expect your potential customers to take it seriously.

Look carefully and evaluate the type of campaign you're going to conduct. The type of medium your message is on can only be determined after you have determined your campaigns type. After you have determined your campaign type then take a step back and think of what would make you interested in that type of campaign.

This is where the rule of advertising and marketing separates the men from the boys - the women from the girls. This is where you will need to harness all of your creative energies and figure out a way to become dynamic and not static with your way of thought.

You most certainly wouldn't take a flyer if someone handed it to you on the street, and if you did take it from him or her it was because you can't say no - not because you want their message. Don't let your marketing and advertising turn out this way...

Follow the first rule of advertising and marketing!