GarthBox

Drawing Straws is an old tradition. When no one volunteers to perform a certain act, the group draws straws and the person who draws the shortest straw is the designated “volunteer.”

If I may make a recommendation, not only do I suggest to try to draw the shortest straw (or volunteer in the first place and skip the straws), but do as the straw suggests. Keep it short.

I peer-reviewed a couple of blog posts from a friend yesterday. He’s doing remarkable work by connecting artists and event goers to create personalized work of art. His blog posts were short. They engaged the reader, kept them interested and got them looking forward to the next CrowdArt event.

I like to think of most audiences like professors who have to read through a hundred class papers. The best way to get a good grade is to keep your paper short, concise and be sure it engages the reader with personality and story.

At the end of any paper (any blog post, ad, pitch, etc,.) your audience is a person, and every person is inundated with numerous papers, blog posts, ads, etc,. a day.

Be the shortest straw. Pick yourself. Keep it short. Make it personal.

 

Stay Positive & Sip, By Sip They’ll Catch On

Capture it on video.

Throwing a special celebration for an employee? Catch it on video.

Think your customer service is top-notch? Film it.

Want to know if you can back up the statement “everyone leaves happy?” Set up a camera that captures the smiling faces of every customer who leaves the store.

Every interaction might not be remarkable, but you’ll bee the buzz if you can catch the remarkable moments on tape.

The greatest part? You’ll learn from the not-so-remarkable episodes too.

 

Stay Positive & Smile, You’re On Camera

It’s an easy to understand, difficult to produce strategy. You want to blow someone’s mind, you want to give a customer the greatest experience they’ve ever had, you want your book, your blog, your tweet to impress and influence people in a way they’ve never felt before. Two steps. That’s all it takes.

1. Set expectations high.

2. Overdeliver.

 

Stay Positive & Are You Giving More (Way More) Than What You Promise?

My ego and I… we’re not on good terms right now. I sold my ugly baby today, four years later than I should have. Of course, not my actual baby (I don’t have one). I sold my Corvette, the first car I ever bought. Steven Dennis reminded me my baby is was ugly. So I did what any leader, any strategist needs to do with their ugly baby… get rid of it.

It’s an attitude I’m proud of acquiring. Remarkable PR folk can’t be remarkable if they hold on to their own (and usually old) ways. Strategists can’t outgrow themselves if they don’t make room to grow. And you can’t be a better you if you don’t let go of what works for what might work a lot better.

 

Stay Positive & Turn Water Into Wine

Hate may produce some awful things in this world, but we can’t deny it gets the work done.

“If you want to feel ten feet tall and as though you could run a hundred miles without stopping, hate beats pure cocaine any day.” – Kurt Vonnegut

Hate is often confused with passion. You can’t be fueled by hate and be passionate at the same time, they are opposites, they are different means for meeting the same goal. So I offer the discontent transition. The trek from hatred to passion.

step 1) What is it you want?

step 2) Make sure it’s something positive. Wanting to crush your competitors in the market is negative. Wanting to have a strong share in the market is positive.

step 3) For everything you hate along the way, refer back to step two.

Discontent is the path from hate to passion, and it’s all a matter of how you look at things.

Stay Positive & Feel The Passion

Television commercials for kids toys work great because of the TV shows that surrounds them. Fun, goofy, colorful. Put an ad for smoking between, it may not work great, but it will work because kids love the programming around it.

Beer commercials on the radio country station work great because of the music that surrounds them. Put an ad for a new pizza cutter in there, it may not work great, but it will work because people love the music around it.

Random ads on your blog work great because of the content that surrounds them. Crafty, perhaps, or motivational or delicious – whatever feeling you’re expressing on your blog. Put an ad for potatoes on a crafts blog, a boat battery on a motivation blog or a new pen on a foodie page, it may not work great, but it will work because people love the content around it.

The only ads that don’t work in this world, are the ads that have nothing surrounding them.

The ads that work great, are the ads that have great content around them.

The best ads, though, is the content.

 

Stay Positive & What Are You Advertising (Around)

It seems fair and you might think it’s smart to wait to see if the newest social media platform works before jumping in, to wait to see if selling books in a milk carton is a good idea (it is) before you try something new with your book, to wait to see if the ad agency that focuses on a few perfect ads rather than a million mediocre ones will succeed before you adopt a similar strategy.

The only problem when you’ve waited too long to see if a risk someone else takes works out is when you finally take the risk yourself,  you’re jumping into a bandwagon already filled with mediocrity. Different wagon. Same story.

There’s no shame in not being first, but there’s plenty in the middle.

 

Stay Positive & You Don’t Need 1,000 Success Stories, One Will Do