#1: Art can solve business problems.

Thing about advertising that I’m pretty sure is true number one:

If you want to work in advertising, in any capacity, you have to steadfastly believe that art can solve business problems.

Advertising—as an industry and as a business practice—traces its roots back to a letter a copywriter typed up in 1947. It said, in part:

There are a lot of great technicians in advertising. And unfortunately they talk the best game. They know all the rules… They can give you fact after fact after fact. They are the scientists of advertising. But there’s one little rub. Advertising is fundamentally persuasion and persuasion happens to be not a science, but an art.

The writer was Bill Bernbach, who went on to create DDB and revolutionize advertising by simply realizing (and convincing clients) that a message wrapped in a creative idea will increase the likelihood of that message generating value. This feels so obvious when you read it. Ads are meant to deliver messages to consumers that lodge in their memory and compel them to take action.

Up until Bernbach’s letter (and, honestly, well after it), the primary method of getting that message lodged was to repeat it as many times as possible. Irritation was a price brands were willing to pay for a tiny piece of memory.

Bernbach, and the many that came after him, upended that approach. He came to advertising with an enormous amount of respect for the consumer audience. His gamble was that attracting interest was more valuable than kidnapping it.

And we say “valuable” because advertisers have to always remember that theirs is a business practice, requiring as much focus and discipline as accounting. We use creativity and art not (just) because it makes the work more pleasing, but because it (also) makes it more effective.

You have to want to make beautiful compelling things that communicate a specific idea about the product/brand that increases the chances of it being bought.

It’s hard. But if you want to be good at this business, you have to accept this challenge and firmly believe you can make it work.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.