GarthBox

To a degree, we all wear our hearts on our sleeves. We can’t help but show our emotions because they’re integral to connecting us to one another–an internal drive that’s out of our control.

But there’s more than our hearts out there. As marketers, we owe it to see and listen and responsibly respond to the other items people wear on their sleeves.

Take status for example. It doesn’t take much to see who is trying to increase their status (which again, is human, not a bad thing).

They’re the folks who might put a toe over the line. There is more for them to talk about and flaunt. They leave items out for people to see rather than tucking them away or tossing them.

Or consider the desire to escape.

The people who are hooked on story or are one of the few who make plans to go out on a Monday evening. They’re the happy hour organizers and those who make others feel calm.

There are visible signs that lead to greater insights than “this person loves coffee” or “this person makes a lot of money” or “this person has a heart of gold.”

Stay Positive & Eyes Wide Open

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The most efficient way to grow a business is to make promises and then keep them.

It’s to treat every commitment like a contract that can’t be broken.

The moment you step back from a promise you’ve made (2-day shipping, having something in your colleague’s inbox by 11 a.m., “you’ll love this or we’ll find one you do”), people lose trust in you.

There are too many options out there for people to waste time on trusting you again and engaging in a new contract.

Some subconsciously know this, so they promise less. And in the process of underpromising in hopes to overdeliver, they fail to meet the promise at all.

To grow meaningfully, create more contracts.

Stay Positive & Out-Contract The Competition

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If you were asked to describe your marketing, what words would you use?

Attack, penetrate, interrupt, swindle, scare and ignite is a different strategy and has a different result than resonate, communicate, balance, attract, inspire, add value, and spread.

Does the marketing you’re doing align with the words you want it to?

Stay Positive & Better Yet, How Would Your Target Describe Your Marketing?

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There are many styles of working that people deploy. If you’re ever curious what their work mindset is, pay attention to what they brag about.

Do they brag about the hours they put in, the fact they came into the office over the weekend, that they missed a happy hour because they worked, that they were the ones who had to turn the alarm on because they were the last to leave?

OR

Do they brag about how efficient a project was, how they were able to automate a component of a project, that they delegated a task so they could focus on a more important piece of the work, that they were able to get their work done like a professional so they could make it to their kid’s birthday party early?

We have a right to brag–it connects us, validates our efforts and can motivate others.

However, the choice of what we brag about is also ours.

Stay Positive & Are You Choosing What Makes You (and Others) Feel Best?

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There’s only one secret to winning an arm wrestle: Hold out longer than your opponent.

You don’t need to hold out hours longer. A single second will do.

That’s how you win. Not only in arm wrestling, but in getting ahead of any competitor or reaching any goal you’ve set for yourself.

Consider the concept of putting the customer first longer than a competitor puts their customer first (because we know there will come a time when we have to decide between the customer and something else).

Or consider the situation where you want to run a marathon and your only competition in mile 11 is yourself – can you hold out longer?

Our ability to have grit is what makes us great, but don’t think you need to have an endless supply of it. You only need to hold out on things long enough for them to make the difference.

Stay Positive & See You At Mile 26.21889

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An incredible friend of mine refuses to share any data or ideas or evaluations without action steps after them.

She believes that if we’re just talking to talk, then it’s not going to move a brand forward.

She’s right.

So, I write this merely to point out that action steps can feel annoying because they’re work.

But remember that the work we do gets us the change we seek.

Adding action steps doesn’t set you back, it propels you forward–which is scary–which is why we feel annoyed with action steps.

Consider requiring an action step for every data point you share or promise you make.

You’ll be amazed at the number of actions you can actually take, how little they will annoy you and how big of a difference you can make when you take them.

Stay Positive & Step Step Step

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Some may look at their reach of a social post and think they connected with 22,359 people.

Some might see the impressions the magazine gets and think they connected with each reader.

Some likely consider a purchase or renewal to be a connection with their customer.

But is that really how we want to define connection? Or is there a more powerful, empathetic, personal and ultimately rewarding way we can define – and carry out – connection with others?

Stay Positive & Keep Raising The Bar Of How We Define Connection

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