You’re Doing It Wrong

Garth Beyer

I’m not fond of advertisements or PR campaigns that are built on the foundation of people doing something wrong.

Drinking bud light? You’re drinking wrong, drink this instead. Starting fire with newspapers? You’re doing it wrong, do it this way instead. Spending countless hours playing video games instead of being outside? You don’t know how to have fun because you’re doing it wrong.

No matter how right one may be right, I can’t justify getting behind a campaign that embraces a product or service’s rightness by pointing out the user or consumer’s wrongness.

It takes a certain amount of passion and faith about a product to state to someone they are doing it wrong and to do it right they should invest in your product.

It takes even more passion and faith (and a great product) to not need to.

 

Stay Positive & Focus On What’s Right, Not What’s Wrong

p.s. also by giving examples of wrong ways, you’re planting the idea of doing it any of those ways instead of the “right” way you’re suggesting. What’s wrong for you might be right for them.

p.s.s yes, this may be a bit abstract. Feel free to email me to chat more.

In The Box Podcast

Episode 16: Luck, Being Early, False Equivalency And More – Podcast

Garth Beyer

On this episode of In The Box Podcast, we discussed the concept of luck, the need to experience something to passionately sell it, whether life mirrors business or if it’s the other way around. We also talked about the advantages of being early and argued about false equivalency (fortunately never settling to agree to disagree).

On an earlier podcast Michael and I chatted about how so little surprises us anymore. On this podcast Michael stuck a check-up question about surprises in the box. It was a good time. Well worth the listen.

Episode 16: Luck, Being Early, False Equivalency And More

Selling – Does one have to experience a product themselves to sell it passionately?

Luck – Is luck something that finds you randomly or something you create?

Early – Do you believe it pays to be early? (early to a meeting, early to send email, early to say I love you?)

Surprises – Been surprised by anything lately?

False equivalency – How can we eliminate false equivalency?

Mirror – Does life mirror business?

 

Stay Positive & Refresh Your Life, Refresh Your Business

 

Still Discovering, Learning, Making A Fool Of Yourself

Garth Beyer

“I don’t mind looking stupid. I don’t know everything.”

Those were the words of a well-seasoned PR pro after asking what “lossless images” were during a meeting.

While she thought she was making a fool of herself, I was thankful she asked because I had no clue what lossless images were either. In fact, it sounded like they were saying lostless images, which made it even more confusing.

It’s a fairly natural situation that if you have a question about something, someone else in the room has the same question, but so follows the tragedy of relying on someone else to ask the question.

Please learn that asking questions that help you discover or learn something new — essentially asking questions that make you feel you’re making a fool of yourself, have the exact opposite effect.

It shows you care. It shows you’re humble and can embrace humility. It shows you believe you can still grow.

 

Stay Positive & We Get Better When We Continuously Feel Like We’re Making Fools Of Ourselves

How To Talk So As To Always Be Understood

Garth Beyer

There’s a universal voice out there.

Some refer to it as being human, others consider it vulnerability. Personally, I don’t have a name for it, but I do know it involves stripping all thoughts of being something you’re not.

In terms of pitching for clients, I want to be excellent and place a lot of stories. PR pros are told we can accomplish this if we follow a pre-approved pitch email and phone script (given some flexibility, of course, but not much).

The times I’ve had the best pitching experiences is when I’ve stripped down the layers of scripted professionalism. The times I’ve had the most heart-to-heart conversations is when I’ve stripped away the fear of appearing weak. The times I’ve written the most resonating blog posts have been when I’ve written in the universal voice.

When you’re speaking in the truest, most intimate voice about your life, you are speaking with the universal voice, according to Cheryl Srayed who wrote the story Wild.

When you speak in that voice, you will always be understood.

 

Stay Positive & Give It A Try (And Try Hard, You Will)

Rather Than What’s Next

Garth Beyer

I’ve gotten in the rotten habit of always thinking about what’s next.

I love checking projects and assignments off because it means I get to work with the next thing, but that, in a way, prevents me from moving forward faster.

Instead of always seeking the next thing, sometimes it pays off more to do more of what you’re doing, but differently.

Perhaps you’re in a job that is repetitive and it’s frustrating that you haven’t been promoted or asked to do different work. You can let your desire (and ultimate inability) to progress eat at your passion or you can direct that passion to experiment with what you have in front of you.

Simply because you’ve been blogging for a year doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get your book published. Maybe it’s time to blog differently and see if it resonates more.

When we are facing a barrier to what we want next, we can either let it destroy us, drain our energy, and make us question our direction or we can think about things differently, experiment with our work, and find a way to improve what we think is “good enough.”

 

Stay Positive & Doing Things Differently Might Be What’s Next

Repeat Value

Garth Beyer

When you’ve got wisdom, share it again and again.

Think of your wisdom, content, and information like a live music concert: the crowd is often more excited when a song comes on that they know. (That’s why I steadily remind readers that people die standing still.)

When you’ve got what you think is wisdom, but is really information that doesn’t resonate, cut the energy to it. If there are ideas (music, art, campaigns) you have to force the crowd to feel, you’re not fulfilling your potential.

Repeat the value and let go of the content that people aren’t cheering for.

 

Stay Positive & Earn An Encore

The Inevitable Scarcity Effect

Garth Beyer

If you think the scarcity effect doesn’t play a role with your product or service, you’re wrong.

If there are two cookies left in the break room, we’re unconsciously motivated to desire one even if we didn’t want a cookie to begin with. Have you ever heard someone say “I had a sweat today and I’m not even sweet-tooth kind of person.” Scarcity played them.

If only five people in your organization could try a new product out – one you wouldn’t normally use – you would still sign up to try it out.

There is a shortage of grapefruit La Croix in the office today and all the sudden it’s my favorite flavor La Croix. Damn scarcity effect.

People don’t have a choice but to be victim to the scarcity effect. Are you leveraging it?

 

Stay Positive & Make Your Product/Service Scarce In Small Ways