The Truman Set

The Truman Set

Garth Beyer

Harry's GQ Magazine Ad

Harry’s is a brand of men’s shaving products. I’ve had a browser tab open with a Harry’s product (the Truman Set) for nearly a week. I want it. I think it will be something worth talking about. And I’ve had the same big brand razor for at least 4 years. I’m tired of it.

Yet, each time I open my laptop and see the Truman Set, I wonder why I haven’t committed to the purchase. I’ve been asking myself over and over, “What’s missing?”

I think I figured it out.

When you look at the Truman Set you see the handle, two razors, and cream. Harry’s, who tells an exceptionally beautiful story with their products (and advertising!) falls short on putting some of that humanity into the product package. There’s a missing emotional, personal, human factor in the product package.

Perhaps a card verifying the integrity of the product signed by Andy Katz-Mayfield and Jeff Raider? Perhaps a 5-tips guide to shaving written by them? Perhaps a coffee packet or Simply Orange coupon or a unique spoon to get people to share pictures of them owning their AM?

It’s hard to create a flawless product. It’s harder sometimes to remember to add a little humanity to it… sort of the opposite of flawless.

 

Stay Positive & Add Some Surprise To Every Gift

To add a bit of humanity to this post, I’ll have you know each time I refreshed my home page to edit this post, Harry’s advertisement came up on it suggesting I “Shave goodbye to my old razor.” I think I will. 

Changing Your Mind

Garth Beyer

It’s cool, it’s no problem, it’s often better you do (so long as you’ve thought enough on the benefits and consequences of the act). Maria Popova reminds us that one her biggest lessons from running BrainPickings is to allow yourself the uncomfortable luxury of changing your mind.

What you believe in and stand for right now doesn’t need to be what you believe in and stand for later.

Everything in the world, outside of your control, is always changing. Why should you be any exception?

 

Stay Positive & Keep Moving, Keep Changing, Keep Rediscovering Yourself

A Much Needed Appreciation

Garth Beyer

It’s really refreshing to notice more people in all industries (especially PR) are appreciating the conscious and deliberate action of their employees, friends, managers, coworkers and interns living life: traveling, meeting culture shock at its door step, experiencing other parts of the world that aren’t labeled “work.”

I see more people getting hired after they come back from a 3 month trip to Napal or Beijing than I do college students holding a diploma. I’m not arguing the significance of a diploma, I’m simply stating a trip to a new location (for whatever reason) offers you more to talk about and people are generally, oh, hell, they’re always more interested in hearing about your unique experiences than your time in school.

Forget work and balance. Just focus on life. It resonates more.

 

Stay Positive & Damn Do People LOVE Stories

 

Don’t Forget The Friend With…

Garth Beyer

10 close friends.

You can start marketing to the top 1 percent of people who are obsessed with your product, who blog endlessly about the type of product you offer, who are the go-tos for anything related to your product…

or you can find one friend who has 10 close friends who trust her and ask her to share your product with them and then ask them to share the product with 10 of their closest friends.

Virality of a product is carried out by those who sneeze easily and sneeze often, not by those who sniff 100 ideas before they sneeze one. Sure, you’ll see a spike in sales from the connoisseur or aficionado, but then you wait worrying if the idea will stick with people or if it’s just a spotlight phase.

With 10 friends referring 10 friends, you won’t need to worry.

 

Stay Positive & Make The Obsessed Find You

Idea Overload

Garth Beyer

1) Who someone has working on a project right now, might not be as good as you. In a world where permission is free, all you have to do is ask. (Realized by tweeting to a business I would be happy to help with their PR. Guess what I’m now doing?)

2) The squeaky wheel gets the grease, but the human communicator gets the high quality stuff. (Extinguish your rage and speak with sincerity, never giving up on what you deserve, but doing so as a human, not a devil.)

3) Reach out for help, always, always, always. (I can create a good PR strategy for any business, but with friends and other experts, I can create a great one. The right way to show off on stage is to be up there with others.)

4) Enjoyment almost always comes after understanding. (Yup, at first nearly everything is work until you understand it.)

5) There’s no point in having an umbrella. It defeats the purpose of rain. (Rain gear is acceptable at times.)

6) You don’t know struggle until you try going the extra mile after you’ve gone 10 extra miles. (My current freelance work is on making an already incredible business more incredible. I’m dancing with magic and struggle.)

 

Stay Positive & 7) If You Aren’t Learning, You’re Not Quite Living

The Marketer’s Lost Touch

Garth Beyer

While studying up on some public relation strategies in regard to various businesses focused on beer I’ve found one consistent bit that leads me to believe there are still a lot of marketers with a lost touch, especially when it comes to press releases.

Erik sums up the typical press release well, “We have something new (usually beer) and we think what we have created is pretty cool. Would you like to share this news with your readers?”

I’ve seen emails, Twitter direct messages and FB posts with the a similar paraphrased marketing message.

For the marketers reading this who believe this kind of “outreach” works, you’ve lost your touch (or perhaps never had it to begin with).

The duty, privilege and opportunity of any marketer is to craft a unique message per person. Journalists, businesses and now even bloggers won’t give a damn about your press release unless you give them a reason to give a damn about you or you first somehow show by any means other than a press release that you care about them and understand what they cover.

Most press releases have an exceptional story to tell or have an update on a really exciting product, but unless you talk to people the way people talk to people, your story won’t get told. Good marketing is a conversation. Great marketing is turning strangers into friends.

 

Stay Positive & Don’t Go Losing Your Touch Again

Oh, and this seems like a fair place to let you know I have a tumblr blog where I document bottled beers I’ve had. I rate them, describe the taste for you and share the memory of when I first tried the brew. Feel free to stop by.

 

Hey, Your Humanity Is Showing

Garth Beyer

Noticing humanity comes natural, so natural to the point you may say you don’t even notice it.

You may think adding that extra characteristic of humanity, of vulnerability, of doodle, if you will, will take away from the formality, credibility and technicality of your business. It doesn’t.

I opened the Great Lakes philanthropy booklet today (what could be more human that this?) and the message from the president ends with his signature (ineligible). Following is his name and title in print (eligible).

You may see things like this and, as I have, wonder “what’s the point?” After all, you can’t read it, there’s almost no point to it.

On the contrary.

Would you believe just having a badge or ribbon-like image on a book cover makes it more likely for people to pick up and believe in? The text within the image doesn’t quite matter. It can say “runner-up finalist” or “enjoy the read.” The image adds a dimension of credibility to it just as the signature adds a dimension of humanity to the letter.

The same, I’m arguing goes for all small humanistic prints of ours: a signature, a typo, a hand written newsletter, a behind-the-scenes video or one-on-one unscripted interview of an employee. No one needs to ever mention the video to another or point out the signature; these marks don’t need to stand out, they simply need to be there. Every person notices them whether you or they realize it or not.

A final example: People love technology, but when you take all the humanity out of it, you’re removing what people connect to. When Apple talks design, they aren’t talking about how pure and inhuman the device is, they’re talking about all the human qualities they’ve put into it.

 

Stay Positive & People Connect Through Nonverbal Communicational Ques, Not Cords