Getting Started With Advertising For a Small Business

Patrick McFadden

Advertising is an important driver of the lead generation mix and if done correctly, can do wonders for generating qualified leads, and you know what that means: more revenue and more success for your business.

I promote and teach a unique approach that calls for a mix of lead generation tactics that includes public relations, networking, a formalize referral process, and advertising.

The key to effective use of advertising lies in 3 core things: how you think about it, what your objectives are and how you adjust your approach in real-time.

Below you will find the most effective way to create advertising that generates leads.

It’s called   “direct response advertising” and any size business that’s tired of chasing leads and using ineffective and costly advertising, this approach is for you.

How to Create Advertising That Generates Leads

The first thing to do when employing this direct response advertising approach is to create one or more, specific and valuable offers. That offer could be in the form of information or product samples such as surveys, whitepapers, case studies, reports, articles, infographics, workshops, seminars, evaluations, trial products, checklists, newsletters, courses or tip sheets.

Then, give this information or offer a catchy title or name, something like:

Home Services

  • How To Catch Your Plumbing Contractor Lying To You
  • 9 Things to Check Before Calling for Service on Your Air Conditioner or Furnace
  • The Ultimate Home Owner’s Guide
  • 10 Ways to a Lower Power Bill

Marketing

  • Free Ebook: How to Master Small Business Marketing in 10 Days
  •  Download Now: The Step-by-Step Guide to Revenue Generating Marketing Campaigns
  • Try (X) Marketing Platform Free for 30 Days
  • Free Report: State of Enterprise Marketing 2014-2015

Health & Wellness

  • What Every Senior Must Know About Obama’s Health Care Changes
  • 13 Things Your Pediatrician Won’t Tell You
  • How to Eat Anything and Lose Weight
  • 101 More Things You Can Eat to Slim Down

Real Estate

  • The 3-Step Process to Selling Your Home Faster
  • How to Win the Home Bidding War
  • 7 Things That Cost You When Buying a Home
  • The Ultimate Tip Sheet for Tipping Your Movers?

With your now specific and value packed information or offer, use every all of your marketing and advertising—that’s online and offline business directories, radio, video, direct mail, business cards, letterheads, email signatures, websites, blogs, PPC, one-to-one conversations, speaking, LinkedIn groups, Facebook and Twitter status updates—to focus on getting people to take a self-interested action—pick up your information, call you to speak on this topic, visit your web site, scratch off a coupon, calculate their saving, send in a postcard, request or download that information. Let the information be your sales person in print and sell you, not your advertising.

That’s the first thing.

There are a couple of reasons that this  advertising approach works and is by-far the most effective approach for almost any businesses than say, it’s counter-part traditional advertising.

In most cases when you’re advertising, you can’t tell your story very well in a small, 30 second video or text limited space.

Use that ad instead to get the prospect to take some form of action right then and there. Which is normally a request for permission to either send or request more information.

This approach allows you to deliver independent value by demonstrating your expertise in a non-threatening way, and on the prospect’s own time, before you attempt to make the sale.

Nobody likes to be sold to, but if a prospect takes the time to scratch or clip a coupon, consume your information, understand the value of what you do, have a conversation with you, the relationship and trust-building has started.

A person who has responded to your ad is officially a hot lead. When a prospect visits your location or website they are effectively raising their hand and identifying themselves as someone who is very interested in what you offer.

50% of your sales job is now done!

If your direct response advertising is focused on moving the lead into the educating funnel, then your sales efforts are focused on taking that person and only that person that has raised their hands to the next step in the sales process.

That may be an appointment, sales presentation, discovery call, or just a series of education-forward mailings.

By the way that’s the last thing.

So the recap.

  • Create free information or an offer that your ideal customer would see as valuable
  • Advertise the free information in all activities
  • Capture the names and emails of those who take action
  • Follow-up on those qualified and interested leads

If you implement and execute this unique  advertising approach, you will enhance your chances of turning leads into a customers. Locating new business will become a much more rewarding and valuable experience.

 

By Patrick McFadden May 2, 2025
Ask anyone in tech where AI is headed, and they’ll tell you: “The next leap is reasoning.” “AI needs judgment.” “We need assistants that think, not just answer.” They’re right. But while everyone’s talking about it, almost no one is actually shipping it. So we did. We built Thinking OS™ —a system that doesn’t just help AI answer questions… It helps AI think like a strategist. It helps AI decide like an operator. It helps teams and platforms scale judgment, n ot just generate output. The Theory Isn’t New. The Implementation Is. The idea of layering strategic thinking and judgment into AI isn’t new in theory. The problem is, no one’s been able to implement it effectively at scale. Let’s look at the current landscape. 1. Big Tech Has the Muscle—But Not the Mind OpenAI / ChatGPT ✅ Strength: Best-in-class language generation ❌ Limitation: No built-in judgment or reasoning. You must provide the structure. Otherwise, it follows instructions, not strategy. Google DeepMind / Gemini ✅ Known for advanced decision-making (e.g., AlphaGo) ❌ But only in structured environments like games—not messy, real-world business scenarios. Anthropic (Claude), Meta (LLaMA), Microsoft Copilot ✅ Great at answering questions and following commands ❌ But they’re assistants, not advisors. They won’t reprioritize. They won’t challenge your assumptions. They don’t ask: “Is this the right move?” These tools are powerful—but they don’t think for outcomes the way a strategist or operator would. 2. Who’s Actually Building the Thinking Layer? This is where it gets interesting—and thin. Startups and Indie Builders Some small teams are quietly: Creating custom GPTs that mimic how experts reason Layering in business context, priorities, and tradeoffs Embedding decision logic so AI can guide, not just execute But these efforts are: Highly manual Difficult to scale Fragmented and experimental Enterprise Experiments A few companies (Salesforce, HubSpot, and others) are exploring more “judgment-aware” AI copilots. These systems can: Flag inconsistencies Recommend next actions Occasionally surface priorities based on internal logic But most of it is still: In early R&D Custom-coded Unproven beyond narrow use cases That’s Why Thinking OS™ Is Different Instead of waiting for a lab to crack it, we built a modular thinking system that installs like infrastructure. Thinking OS™: Captures how real experts reason Embeds judgment into layers AI can use Deploys into tools like ChatGPT or enterprise systems Helps teams think together, consistently, at scale It’s not another assistant. It’s the missing layer that turns outputs into outcomes. So… Is This a New Innovation? Yes—in practice. Everyone says AI needs judgment. But judgment isn’t an idea. It’s a system. It requires: Persistent memory Contextual awareness Tradeoff evaluation Value-based decisions Strategy that evolves with goals Thinking OS™ delivers that. And unlike the R&D experiments in Big Tech, it’s built for: Operators Consultants Platform founders Growth-stage teams that need to scale decision quality, not just content creation If Someone Told You They’ve Built a Thinking + Judgment Layer… They’ve built something only a handful of people in the world are even attempting. Because this isn’t just AI that speaks fluently. It’s AI that reasons, reflects , and chooses. And in a world that’s drowning in tools, judgment becomes the differentiator. That’s the OS We Built Thinking OS™ is not a prompt pack. It’s not a dashboard. It’s not a glorified chatbot. It’s a decision architecture you can license, embed, or deploy— To help your team, your platform, or your clients think better at scale. We’ve moved past content. We’re building cognition. Let’s talk.
By Patrick McFadden May 2, 2025
In every era of innovation, there’s a silent bottleneck—something obvious in hindsight, but elusive until the moment it clicks. In today’s AI-driven world, that bottleneck is clear: AI has speed. It has scale. But it doesn’t have judgment . It doesn’t really think . What’s Actually Missing From AI? When experts talk about the “thinking and judgment layer” as the next leap for AI, they’re calling out a hard truth: Modern AI systems are powerful pattern machines. But they’re missing the human layer—the one that reasons, weighs tradeoffs, and makes strategic decisions in context. Let’s break that down: 1. The Thinking Layer = Reasoning with Purpose This layer doesn’t just process inputs— it structures logic. It’s the ability to: Ask the right questions before acting Break down complexity into solvable parts Adjust direction mid-course when reality changes Think beyond “what was asked” to uncover “what really matters” Today’s AI responds. But it rarely reflects. Unless told exactly what to do, it won’t work through problems the way a strategist or operator would. 2. The Judgment Layer = Decision-Making in the Gray Judgment is the ability to: Prioritize what matters most Choose between imperfect options Make decisions when there’s no clear answer Apply values, experience, and vision—not just data It’s why a founder might not pursue a lucrative deal. Why a marketer might ignore the click-through rate. Why a strategist knows when the timing isn’t right. AI doesn’t do this well. Not yet. Because judgment requires more than data—it requires discernment . Why This Is the Bottleneck Holding Back AI AI can write. It can summarize. It can automate. But it still can’t: Diagnose the real problem behind the question Evaluate tradeoffs like a founder or operator would Recommend a path based on context, constraints, and conviction AI today is still reactive. It follows instructions. But it doesn’t lead. It doesn’t guide. It doesn’t own the outcome. And for those building serious systems—whether you’re running a company, launching a platform, or leading a team—this is the wall you eventually hit. That’s Why We Built Thinking OS™ We stopped waiting for AI to learn judgment on its own. Instead, we created a system that embeds it—by design. Thinking OS™ is an installable decision layer that captures how top founders, strategists, and operators think… …and makes that thinking repeatable , scalable , and usable inside teams, tools, and platforms. It’s not a framework. It’s not a chatbot. It’s not another playbook. It’s the layer that knows how to: Think through complex decisions Apply judgment when rules don’t help Guide others —human or AI—toward strategic outcomes This Is the Missing Infrastructure Thinking OS™ isn’t just about better answers. It’s about better thinking—made operational. And that’s what’s been missing in AI, consulting, leadership development, and platform design. If you’re trying to scale expertise, install judgment, or move from tactical to strategic… You don’t need a faster AI. You need a thinking layer that knows what to do—and why. We built it. Let’s talk.
By Patrick McFadden April 27, 2025
“Most companies can scale process. Very few can scale how they think.”
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