Author: Garth Beyer

A great question to ask when considering a new touch point in your marketing plan.

And not just generally speaking, but specifically.

Will the person seeing/hearing/experiencing the ad care?

Of course, it’s not that simple.

If you consider that fact you have to decide to serve an ad to 100 people that care and 20 people that don’t. If it’s only about people who care, then that ad is a terrible decision. Or is it?

That’s the headache every marketer has to face. The sooner we figure out what rate we will run with in regard to if they will care about we have to say, the better.

There’s no magic number. That is; not to the customer.

But there is a magic number for you; and it’s whatever number you choose and stick with.

Because the thing that hurts a brand the most is when the marketer can’t answer the question and stick with it. For every brand, that numbers might be different.

It’s about caring enough to decide on a number and caring enough to stick to it.

Stay Positive & Stick Carefully

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Self-focused advances don’t tend to fair us well.

Experiencing failure in advance is a waste of time.

Celebrating too early often bites us in the behind.

Worrying and having expectations makes for more harm than help.

However, planning in advance for another; thinking about what the target may want and feel; being grateful for another’s impending success; covering the tab with hopes they’ll get you back later – these are all worth doing in advance.

While selfish advances don’t tend to fair us well, selfless advances sure do.

In fact, they fair others well, too.

Stay Positive & Win Win

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It’s all suffering, really. Though we can significantly control what form of suffering takes place and to what degree.

It’s stress management. Coping. Mindfulness. Positivity.

Progress is suffering because progress is not easy; it’s uncomfortable, it requires us to leap, to challenge, to face adversity.

Hard stuff.

But once we know the suffering is oncoming, we can do something about it.

Stay Positive & It’s All A Choice

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Some reactions are straight up visceral.

You here about a change in the work place and your reaction is to be pissed off. No doubt, negative reactions don’t get us far.

But what about positive ones?

If a colleague shares a problem of theirs with you, your reaction is likely to figure out a way to solve it for them. You want to help and you want to help right away. That’s a positive reaction.

But it can still generate a negative result. The problem they shared might not be the real problem they are facing. The problem they shared might be them thinking out loud on their own path of solving it. They may have shared the problem so that another person they trust will encourage them to solve it–not solve it for them.

In all situations, a quick reaction to help isn’t actually helping.

It’s far better to respond than to react.

The space between reacting and responding is the space of listening.

The more you listen the better you can respond.

The better you respond, the more positive impact you can make.

Stay Positive & Reactions, Even Ones With Positive Intentions, Can Be More Harmful Than Helpful

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The leaders do the bouncing.

They bounce after hitting rock bottom.

They bounce ideas off others they admire.

They bounce from one new experience to another, learning from every endeavor.

They bounce to the top of our inboxes.

Stay Positive & They Keep Bouncing

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It pays to be uncomfortable. Outside your zone. Playing in another territory. Learning from others smarter than you. Leaping.

But on one condition.

It’s only worth it if you’re also passionate.

Passionate about the subject, the learning, the community. Passionate about growing, altering status quo, and using curiosity to fuel that passion more.

Discomfort without passion is merely a means to a very very short end.

Stay Positive & Choose To Be Uncomfortable, But When You Will Also Be Passionate

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Taking extra mashed potatoes when they still need to make their way around the table isn’t quite the right thing to do.

Walking the gift basket out to a customer’s car because their hands are full with other items is something extra and special you can do.

Using extra time than you actually need to finish a project is more hurtful for you and the organization in the long run.

Listening extra hard to what the guest is saying about their situation can only help you decide what to do about it.

Sometimes more is better, but it does require us to discern if it truly is before going all extra about it.

Stay Positive & Extra When It Matters

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