When it comes to clients, I deal with several kinds. Some of the titles are listed below are admittedly my own creations. The list goes from successful to not-s0-successful folks. Maybe you’ll spot yourself in this list:

• Free thinkers - Full of off-the-wall ideas and creative approaches, but not always practical or affordable
• Trendsetters - These are the folks out on the bleeding edge, often the ones who start a local trend; think Malcolm Gladwell’s “influencers”
• Early adopters - Maybe not the first in line, but not far back
• Practicalistics - Folks who take a practical, well-reasoned approach; willing to try new things, but need assurances that it stands a good chance of success
• Willing conservatives - They’ll listen to ideas, but would rather stay near the mainstream
• Long-rangers - These folks are some of the best to work with, and most challenging, because they take a longer view than most and want things worked out to the “nth” degree
• Glamorettes - See advertising primarily in terms of publicity, not persuasion (like to appear in their ads), and let that guide their judgment of plans and ideas (and, yes, there are better ways to approach it); remember, this ain’t Hollywood
• Hyper-hypers - They want to make a big splash with lots of hype and bombast, which doesn’t hold up over the long term; these guys have a sub-group called Megaphoners, who make lots of noise that simply annoys
• Hoppers -These folks hop back and forth between spend-don’t spend, run it-no wait, and so on; the deep and abiding value of consistency seems lost on them
• Scaredy Cats - Their thinking is almost totally governed by fear despite the probable return on their investment; sometimes cheat themselves by being fearful of losing a dollar, or often guilty of short-range thinking and shorter-range plans which, in marketing and advertising, are almost always self-defeating
• Zombies - Despite the fact that in the last five years everything has changed about advertising, marketing, communication and personal technology, they keep doing the same old thing, and often because, “That’s the way we’ve always done it,” which is the worst reason; also wonder why their business is near dead, too, and sucking the life out of them

Of these two, Scaredy Cat and Zombies are the most pitiful because they let fear (of change, adversity, the unknown, etc.) rule their thinking. Everyone knows that the Internet and mobile devices have not only changed marketing and advertising, but society and culture, too. Every year new devices arrive and add another huge wrinkle in how things work and you can adapt or be lostl

Go back to when fax machines became de rigueur in every office and sped communications and business transactions to new levels. You were considered regressive if you didn’t have one, and yet, people resisted. The same attitude exists today and is often exhibited when people say, “Oh, it’s just a fad,” or, “This is a business and Facebook is for play.”

Another example: Despite the overwhelming evidence that blogs are a boon to a business, some companies still won’t allow them because they are terrified of bad publicity. If you get a little bad publicity, so what? Bad publicity can turn out good for you and your business if you handle it well. In the end, if you’re running your business ethically and professionally, you have nothing to fear. Beyond that, how bad can something in your company be, scardey cat? Unless you’re charging for funerals and not burying the bodies, you’re probably pretty safe.

I had lunch with an insurance agent friend who’s trying hard to bring his company a bit closer to the 21st century. While he has a manager on his side, he has two “really old school” guys who can’t imagine what Facebook and Twitter can do for their business - zombies. He even had to get clearance to have a personal Facebook page. The shame of it is that they’re cheating the company out of revenues and him out of commissions.

Open your mind and look around.There are more and better ways to connect with customers than ever.