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It’s a tale as old as time, GLAD WORKS friends.

You want people to love you and keep coming back to you, but it’s illegal (and morally reprehensible) to slip them a little “love potion” or keep them tied up in your basement. So how is a business owner supposed to woo a customer into a faithful and mutually beneficial long-term relationship?

There are several ways, actually, and today we’re going to talk about a few of the biggies—the ones that focus on relationships rather than simply making business transactions.

People first, clients second

As you all know, GLAD WORKS had our annual retreat a little while back. Normally we play team-building games, some silly, some serious, but in the end, we come out of it with a renewed sense of our mission and better, stronger bond with our teammates.

Copywriters are incredibly valuable members of a creative team. Without them, you wouldn’t be reading any words right now. It would be horribly dull and you’d just be sitting here like a big silly, staring at a blank page.

So today, in case you haven’t guessed already, we’re going to talk about copywriters and what they do for us. Let’s start by defining some terms.

Have you ever seen or watched an advertisement for something and wondered, “how’d they come up with that?” Well, there’s a Sunday night reality TV show on AMC that airs right after our beloved Mad Men and it answers that very question. It’s called The Pitch and it’s our new favorite.

Few reality show stars speak to us as loudly as Jeff Lewis. Originally he appeared on Bravo’s series Flipping Out, and now has a new series called Interior Therapy.

On the surface, Jeff seems to be a narcissistic jackwagon who obsesses over his appearance and his pets while treating his staff like dirt. If you ask us, that’s not the real story.

Patti Stanger, owner of The Millionaire’s Club, is known as the Millionaire Matchmaker. On her reality TV show of the same name, she helps millionaires who are unlucky in love find meaningful relationships. From watching her show and thinking about her expert dating advice, we couldn’t help but notice how similar business relationships are to dating relationships.

When they’re not busy ripping out each other’s hair extensions, flipping tables and planning disturbingly expensive weddings, there are a few nuggets of business wisdom that can be gleaned from watching the Real Housewives on their reality TV shows.

Today’s post is part one in a series about the realities of business, or, what reality TV shows can teach us about business. Up next week: The Real Housewives! But first, let’s take a look at Celebrity Apprentice, shall we?

You know how when you’re watching the Oscars and stars are stopped on the red carpet and all the journalists are shouting, “who are you wearing?” Well, that’s not curiosity on the part of the reporter, it’s an advertisement. Quite often the gowns and jewels the stars are wearing are borrowed from the designers who created them. Some designers even pay celebrities to wear their stuff. This is an example of non-traditional advertising at its finest. The fashion industry has built up a huge platform for advertising by utilizing celebrities.

We found this marvy article over at AIGA, and it dawned on us that there’s something we’ve been meaning to talk to you about for quite some time now.

It’s…about our relationship.

We have needs, you have needs, and well? We have to make sure we give each other what we require to be successful. If not, this relationship is going to end with you driving by GLAD WORKS and throwing our stuff out of your car.