GarthBox

Face value, most interactions with a brand are mundane.

Booking a hotel and checking in is banal. Looking at a restaurant menu is uneventful. Purchasing a hammer out of the half dozen options on a wall is pretty boring.

It’s on the marketer to make at least one detail of every part of the journey interesting. Not everything all of the time, but at least something every step of the way.

The descriptions of the rooms could be more interesting and the language used on the thank you page for booking could be more interesting, too. The menu design could be more interesting as well as the testimonials of a dish. The product package could be more interesting, too.

No one tells stories to another unless there’s something interesting about them. (And if they try to, no one listens unless there’s something interesting about it.)

The interesting part is what we need to create. That’s on us.

Stay Positive & They’ll Have A Side Of Interesting, Please

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What people enter with is on them. There’s not much you can do about that.

What people leave with, on the other hand, you have a lot of influence on.

Do they leave with a story? A feeling of having contributed to something bigger than themselves? Do they leave with a higher status? A beer they can share with others? A smile?

Just as important as knowing what you’re goal is that they leave with, does everyone on your team know, too?

What a great gut check to perform beyond a transaction.

Stay Positive & Own It

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Wayfinding isn’t merely finding a mark on a map, reaching a predetermined destination or crossing the finish line.

What makes being a wayfinder a unique (read: valuable) characteristic is that a wayfinder creates an identity at every location, a story at every mark on a map, a narrative at every milestone along the way to the finish line, at it, and after it.

They find a way, certainly, but along the way they find meaning.

Stay Positive & Make Way

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You might not be in a position that you can bring only the “this might not work” option. You know, the gutsy one that just feels right. The option that gets eyebrows to raise and stakeholders to adjust their ties with nervous hands. The one that’s different than the other ideas you’ve come up with, but still on target.

But it’s always worth bringing it along for the ride. The only guarantee it won’t work is if you don’t bring it. Otherwise it’s fair game even if it doesn’t feel like fair game.

Stay Positive & Surprise Others (Then Yourself)

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When the story of your product or service aligns with the target, it’s undoubtedly an easy yes for them to sign up, subscribe, purchase, reserve a ticket, etc.,

That, and they’re excited about it. No need for them to spend time trying to analyze the value and determine if they can get more out of something than they are putting in.

Until you get the easy and excited yes, it’s worth finessing your offering. If you’re not, guaranteed someone else is in an effort to get the easy and excited yes.

Stay Positive & Compete By Listening

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Getting too large of a bonus causes stress and financial frustration for what to do with it. On paper, it looks great, but in its application it begins to take hold of too much mental space and rationalization. (It’s nice, don’t get me wrong, but it comes with its elements of not-nice, too.)

Rewarding yourself with full week off may seem like it would be enjoyable, until you realize that you need to start planning what you’ll do to make the full week feel worth it; a stressful task itself and even more frustrating when the week passes by and you’re left feeling unfulfilled with it.

Giving someone an entire cake might appear as a gift, but in reality it becomes work for them. When will they eat it all? Should they share it? With who? Will the others be upset that they didn’t share it with them? Is that buttercream frosting?

A series of right-sized bonuses will do. A day off will do. A slice of cake will do.

Not only will it do, but it will do much better than too much of a good thing.

Stay Positive & Just A Bite

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On your path to earning trust, you can get out ahead if you can find a mutual introduction.

Six degrees of separation is in the past, so you don’t even have to work to hard at finding a mutual friend of someone who might be able to help you (or better yet, who you might be able to help).

It simply requires the vulnerability to reach out to those you know and share where you’re struggling (or how you want/can help another) and watch the connections be made time and time again.

Stay Positive & The World Is Smaller Than You Think

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