Best Practices

If everybody is following best advertising/marketing practices, are they still best practices?

If everybody is doing the same thing, how do you get attention and interest from your prospect?

Don’t do the right thing.

God knows, you’ll be tempted.
The right thing sounds so good in meetings.
It looks fantastic in charts.
The right thing soothes racing pulses,
and settles churning stomachs.
Everybody can get on board with the right thing.

The right thing is “good enough.”

But good enough is not enough.
Don’t do it.
Don’t do the right thing.
Avoid it like the plague.

So, what are you supposed to do?
The wrong thing?
Of course not.
Do the brave thing.
The thing that troubles your sleep.
The thing with a million unknowns.
That seems ridiculous one moment,
and genius the next.
That’s the thing you should do.

Chase it down.
Don’t let it go.

Do the thing that disrupts.
That upends.
That doesn’t just defy the status quo,
but reshapes it,
forever.

You can do that.
You have that in you.
To do the right thing or not, is a choice.
To disrupt or not, is a choice.

Let’s do the brave thing.

- Lee Clow

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After letting that sink in, I thought you might be interested to hear Clow talking about @leeclowsbeard:

You can get the book here (amazon).

Customer Input, Henry Ford, Listening Skills, & Innovation

 

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” 

So, supposedly, said Henry Ford.  

On the surface this quote has a lot of appeal, and it's often used to justify the idea that innovation doesn't need customer input. 

That's a mistake.

Below the surface, lies the truth.

If I'd been alive and hanging out with Ford in the 1890's, I would've said, "Henry, my good man, we need faster horses."

But, sticking with the legend of the quote, Ford's genius was listening to what I said, plus understanding what I meant: "Henry, old chap, we need faster transportation."

And, with that in mind, Ford went on to fame and fortune, changing the world as a manufacturer of automobiles.

In short, don't use this quote to ignore customer feedback, use it as a reminder to understand customer feedback.

You customers know what they need

Your customers know they need: a solution to a problem. But they don't necessarily have the experience in or understanding of your business to detail what form they want the solution in. They can tell you what outcome they want/need, but don't have the tools to articulate the best path for how to get from here to there.

That's your job as a marketer.

Get them to detail their problems. Ask specific questions. Not about features, but about what they are trying to achieve.

If Henry Ford had done that, and maybe he did, he would've found that people wanted faster transportation that they could afford. He most likely wouldn't have spent much time asking questions about saddle design and how horses were bred, fed and housed.

In this telling of history, he understood the need and responded with innovation: mass produced, inexpensive automobiles.

Applying this to your business

I'm not suggesting that you innovate at the world-changing level of Henry Ford. I'm suggesting that you can understand your client's needs and offer them innovation for their business using your knowledge of tools they don't have (or perhaps may not know about) and/or the ability to operate at a level of expertise they haven't imagined.

Takeaway

 Ask your customers specific questions. Listen to what they say. Understand what they mean. Use that information to deliver what they need. 

A Winning Ad Campaign Visual for a Transparent Product

Can't see the product? Promoting the packaging is one alternative ...

There was nothing particularly unique about the Absolut Vodka bottle until an incredible ad campaign made it iconic. The Absolut bottle became one of the most recognizable in the world with a print campaign of approximately 1,500 separate ads that ran for about 25 years.

When the campaign started, Absolut had about 2.5% of the US vodka market. When the campaign ended in the early 2000s, Absolut had a US market share of about 50%.

Here are some examples of the ads that had such an incredible impact:

Takeaway 1: Your product may initially appear boring, but you can tell its story in an interesting way that can differentiate it and make it successful. 

Takeaway 2: Sometimes just a properly selected word or two combined with the right visual is enough copy to reach the desired result.

SPIN: Faces, Family, & Real Estate Marketing

I just shaved off my quarantine beard.

That's my spin on my new clean-shaven look.

Because prior to this morning, I haven't been beardless for around 20 years, but am now because of an easily avoidable trimming incident that makes me feel like an idiot. A beardless idiot. 

Spin: I meant to do that.

Spin is the way we knowingly offer a biased interpretation of an event or action or comment or whatever gaff that positions ourselves outside the way we want to present ourselves to the world.

My kids have never seen my chin. They will soon. Probably in minutes. As will my wife. I've had a beard since before we were engaged.

If ever there was a time for spin, this is it. 

When we do something potentially embarrassing, such as an inept attempt at facial hair trimming (which until today I had done successfully a few times a week for a couple of decades), we want to tell the story -- or spin it -- in a way that puts us in the best light. 

Outside of politics, the spin that amuses me the most is found in the world of buying and selling residential property.

Real estate is a veritable spin-fest. If an apartment is so small that you have to step out into the hall to change your socks, it is advertised as cozy. If the kitchen appliances are well-worn harvest gold remnants from 1963, the ad boasts original condition. 

Other real estate spin that entertains me includes:

• Beachfront steal translates to, "You ain't never gettin' hurricane insurance on this baby."
• Country living is an indication that your commute will be longer than your work day.
• One-car garage let's you know that, with skill, you can squeeze your Fiat 500 in, but you might not be able to get it out.
• Must see inside is code for: the outside is uglier than a lard bucket full of armpits.*
• Usable land is spin for "no trees or landscaping."

As a copywriter, I am often challenged with positioning a product or service in the best possible light while, at the same time being truthful. Sometimes that includes describing a house that brings to mind, "What a dump!" as a home that needs TLC.

I'm glad I don't have to do that in my family.

When they ask, I won't give 'em the spin, I'll tell them the truth: 

• When trimming my beard this morning, I made a stupid error and carved a stubbly swatch from just under the center of my nose to just under my left ear.
  
  
• Then, after a few moments of looking at my gaff in horror and realizing there was no saving any of it, I mowed off the rest. Giving my face a look similar to usable land.
  
  
• When I looked in the mirror, I had trouble recognizing myself. 

The kids'll be surprised. So will my wife. There will be laughter.  

And in a few weeks my clean-shaven appearance will be gone. But the ribbing about letting me near sharp objects won't.

*props to a very funny book: "uglier than a lard bucket full of armpits" is courtesy of Cooter Browns' South Mouth.