Priority one: Don’t be boring. (OK, but how?)
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Boring marketing happens. I’d rather it not happen to you.
First, a personal note:
I’ve had brushes with boring. Most were early in my career, when I felt boxed in, self-sequestered by convention. I pushed a little here and there, enough to leave an imprint but not enough to break molds. It’s an explanation, not an excuse. I learned from it.
My model for boring/not boring is simple: invest in not boring and chances are the risk will be worth the return. Still it needs to be the right kind of not boring. I’ll elaborate.
If you’re a marketer on point for content, campaigns, communications, customer stories - any form of inbound or outbound marketing - the goal of not boring is incremental sales and long-term brand equity relative to your peers. There’s $$ in it; e.g. the ‘Return’ in the graphic above. And the cost of boring: invisibility + low returns. The choice is more in your court than you might think.
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Ten bullets x 2
What’s boring:
Copying the style of others. Not only is this creatively underwhelming, it’s a vote of no-confidence in yourself and your team. Borrow selectively (every artist does); copy, no. There’s a difference and once you’ve told enough stories and engaged enough audiences, you’ll get it. Your customers already do.
Not having a style of your own. This is almost as painful as point (1). Unless you’re expressing a distinct attitude, you will fade into the background. Beige on beige is bad for profits.
Not sharing new ideas. You will never expand your possibilities unless you reach out. Take your work for a walk among critical thinkers and risk the consequences. Most people won’t do this. Just think: You are not most people.
Underdelivering. Not pushing your work to be distinct. Unless you search around each corner and think through every scenario with excellence as your intent, you’re underdelivering. Hard truth.
Making life difficult on buyers and users; e.g. not being helpful. I see this all the time. Dear brand, Why are you sending me on a treasure hunt? If your communications aren’t making decisions easier for your target audience, they should be rewritten. Signal, always signal.
Regurgitating old material. Don’t be a one-hit wonder. Consider: Am I rocking this like Amadeus for the 1,100th time? If so, please pause and return at a later date. (That’s a Falco reference, BTW.)
Me, me, me. A vapid technique often employed by companies who are starved for anything at all to say. Shine a spotlight on your customers and not yourself. It’s far more flattering.
Features. I’m sure they’re awesome. But if you can’t tell your audience why your features are important and how they’ll solve a problem (in a measurable way), then they won’t move the needle.
Theoretical benefits. I’d rather not have to guess if your marketing is sending me to the fiction or nonfiction section. Make your offer true, tangible, achievable by me. In the digital world, anyone can say anything and they often do. Please make your claims real.
Phoning it in by not innovating in formats and channels. Every hour, every day the market is moving. If you’re not meeting your audiences where, when, and how they’re hanging out, then it’s like you’re showing up for a costume party at the same time and address as last year when this year the party is black tie and a week later at a location a mile away.
What’s not boring:
Having a distinct point of view. This often begins with a fresh discovery or placing a new creative lens on an old conflict. You want to change the status quo, not uphold it and become a commodity.
Creating your own unmatched style. When you enter a room (real or virtual), there should be no mistaking you for anyone else. Warning: If you’re good, expect imitation and do everything you can to remain one step ahead of it.
Digging for new insights. Push the envelope. Even if you don’t find what you hoped to find or if the idea you thought had potential instead landed like a lead balloon, then at least you learned something. Fortune does not favor the timid because timid is boring.
Overdelivering. Provide value in every exchange. Make me want to read what you write, watch what you produce, listen to what you have to say because it’s more than what anyone else in your field has considered let alone shared. Be very not normal here.
Living on the path your customers travel. Internalize their problems, speak their language and regard it as poetry. If not, they will tune you out and chalk you up as …. zzzzz.
Helping buyers and users of your product or service. They are under pressure to make effective decisions - for themselves, their team, company, and/or family. If they’re interested in you, assume they’ll give you twenty seconds (a generous estimate) to determine if learning more will be good for them. Point your audience to proven payoffs and don’t distract them with outdated or irrelevant material. Note this will require discarding content and concepts you might like but others don’t find helpful. Keep the helpful stuff and only the helpful stuff.
Your customers, your customers, your customers. This is good old-fashioned respect. You exist for your customers and they will always be your best form of PR and advertising. And they’re never boring.
Validated benefits. Let's see them and illustrate how they came to be. Wrap them in authenticity. Communicate them in large font (so I don’t have to hunt for them) and update regularly.
Being open and candid. Vulnerable. Because life is messy and the best way to hold an audience’s attention is to let them in. When you do, you make it worth their time and strike boredom from the equation.
Taking chances. I saved this for #10 even though it’s the red thread of today’s post. If you’re not in an organization that encourages chances and know what to do with the chances worth taking, then you’re not growing. And if you’re not growing, then you’re not on the road to work that will get noticed. I want you to get noticed.
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I think the world counts on each of us in unique ways. Deliver your ideas with inimitable style, commitment, and conscientiousness and I promise you won’t be boring. Even better, you’ll be fully alive.