People don’t intend to be assholes by arguing that you don’t really know something until you experience it.
As much as I get frustrated by it, as much as I say I have friends who have had experience X and shared it with me, as much as I can say I’ve written about experience Y … no, I truly don’t know about it until I experience it.
Crazy to think the argument is even used to stop people from chasing dreams.
“You want to open a book store but have never worked in one?!”
People are cut throat about experiences because they know connections are stronger, empathy is more authentic and it’s easier to provide added-value if we’re seriously aware of what the real experience is for others.
We can argue back. We can say that we’re going to do what we want without the experience. We can say third-party info is good enough.
Consider bags of cereal. They once were completely full of sugary goodness.
Now? Now they’re half filled, and some, even less.
10 years, 5 years or 3 months from now there will be even less cereal.
The race to the bottom is to blame.
“If our competitor shaved a few ounces off, so will we. In fact, we’ll shave another ounce off because no one will know the difference.”
Except, of course, the competitor, who will then retaliate. And so we have a race to the bottom.
But the market is shifting, from those who want cereal to those who merely want less air.
They want a brand that steps away from the race to the bottom to invest in customer service and story and value and generosity – not because it makes them money, but because they can.
When we begin to break down all the information we consume, all the words we express and all the thoughts we share, we begin to see a pattern.
The information age is still lingering. We’re consuming more content than ever before … through podcasts, books, emails, texts, TV, social media, feedly, etc,.
Despite what appears to be a lot of content creation, we’re still holding a lot of words back. And not just any words, but answers, explanations, truths.
While a marketing plan and a blog are great to produce when you want to see an idea of yours come to fruition, more important is that we invest the time in answering questions.
And not just any particular set of questions. All of the questions. Yes, all of them.
Here are some to get you started.
Why did you make it?
Why do people need it?
The customer base you’re wanting to reach … Why them?
Who can you help?
Who will you leave out?
What change are you trying to make?
What makes you care so much?
What promise are you making to your customer?
Why would someone recommend it to a friend?
How will you know it’s working?
What’s the difficult part?
Are others changing their status because of you or maintaining it?
Are you investing enough to measure what needs to be measured?
How can you amplify the cycle of your idea so it repeats on its own?
How are you making it easy for someone to talk about you?
What are you afraid of?
Who are the gatekeepers?
What does perfect look like?
Is it worth it?
Stay Positive & Your Answers Can Become Your Content, Too
