Why Try To Get Out Of Your Box, When You Can Use What's In It?
There tends to be an optimal time for everything.
The best time to switch a job. The best time to have coffee. The best time to wake up, start a relationship and buy a home. It’s all here.
Still, however, “now” might be the most powerful moment there is to start.
Stay Positive & Make Your Own Research
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Many a marketer and business owner has tried to tell people what to talk about when they talk about the brand.
Time and time again, however, what gets talked about is what the customer wants to talk about.
And, almost always, it’s something the business hadn’t expected to take off in such a way – they were merely being generous or having empathy.
It’s the warm towel on your face when you’re getting your hair washed. It’s the random goonies play card you get in your package. It’s the moment the server took to write down and remember that you’re getting married in a month so she can ask you about it again.
It’s often not about the cheapest price or the best service or the fastest delivery.
While you can’t guarantee what you want will become, as Seth Calls, a purple cow, you can get the heard on what you end up doing will get talked about if you do it generously, with passion, in a way that makes someone feel, in a way that expresses empathy and that no one else is doing.
Stay Positive & Tough, But Worth It
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Consistent brands prevail.
One’s that think about the story they want to tell no matter where they are telling it.
Especially one’s that think about the best avenues to tell that story.
It’s about the way a major fashion brand approaches direct marketing the same way they approach their blog content. It’s all about clicks and return on that investment. They pay the stamps because they get a return on the stamps to buy more stamps. They pay the blog content, because they get a return on the content to invest in more content.
The way a major chocolate brand approaches their customer service is the same way they approach their packaging. It’s all about sharing the reason for the brand and what people get out of buying it. They put in the training because it helps them tell the story better. They design and redesign and redesign their packaging (and then change it again) because it helps them tell the story better.
The execution might be different, but the reason why they’re doing what they’re doing, the story they’re working to resonate with and the way they’re thinking about the impact they’ll make is the same across the board.
The more ways we think about it, the less likely our brand will succeed.
We must have a reason.
Stay Positive & Then Consistent With That Reason
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They won’t notice how clean your place is.
They won’t notice how nice your staff are.
They won’t notice all the sweat equity and money and passion you have thrown at the project.
They won’t notice all the sleepless nights, the ups, the downs and everyone who had to be involved to make it happen.
They won’t notice that you’ve designed your project with complete intention.
They won’t notice that you’ve asked meaningful questions, listened all the way, and built for what they wanted.
They won’t notice how you’ve rallied a community around your project.
They won’t notice the tiny details that you’ve noticed.
They won’t notice any of these things.
But they will feel them.
And it’s the feeling that people get hooked on.
Stay Positive & Are You Okay With Them Not Noticing? We Need You To Be
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Greatness in doesn’t mean greatness out.
Talented people don’t get chosen. Phenomenal books don’t get published. Incredible works of art never make it to the Louvre. (Whether that should stop you from sharing your work is a different blog post.)
Crap in doesn’t mean crap out, either.
Hugh MacLeod built a tribe on what everyone thought were crappy doodles on business cards.
Almost every lesson in Tool of Titans was learned from putting crap in and eventually getting greatness out.
What guarantees greatness in the end is that we put something in to begin with and then do more, try more, start more, learn and repeat.
There are only two ways to avoid greatness.
The first way is to never learn from anything you do, which, let’s be real, is impossible.
(Physiologically impossible because we’re wired to avoid failure, and if we’re forced to do things than the only way to avoid the failure is to get good at the things we do).
The other way to avoid greatness is to never put anything in.
Stay Positive & More In, Please
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We all have the opportunity to make things a bit better in what we’re doing.
And it doesn’t take much effort or time or money.
It only takes a moment.
A moment to notice that the opportunity is there.
A moment to consider what legacy we want to leave.
A moment to imagine what it’s like in someone else’s shoes.
A moment to wonder about doing things differently.
A moment to go the extra mile.
Pick your moment, but by all means … pick.
Stay Positive & You’re Here For A Reason
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One of the most simple ways to stand out is to ask a question.
Sadly, there’s a shortage of questions being asked from brands, audiences, investors …
Of course, it’s not just the question that’s important, but what you do with the answer.
While neither carries more weight because they have separate benefits, when combined, the impact can be meaningful. Ask. Act. Ask. Act.
As a brand, ask questions. Even if that question is if your target has any.
As a target, ask questions. It might change everything (for the better).
Stay Positive & You Never Know Unless
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