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Articles filed in: Marketing

The Right Story

What makes some bad ideas successful, and why do many good ideas fail? It turns out that there’s no such thing as a bad idea or a good idea. There is only the wrong story or the right story. The right story is one that is trusted. It is believed because it is told by the right person, for the right reasons, in the right way, at the right time, to the right people.

The success or failure of our ideas depends on us telling the right story. We can only do that by being clear about the change we want to create, and why—and then bringing enough of the right people with us on the journey. It’s up to us, the changemakers of today and tomorrow, to galvanise those people we hope to bring on the journey with us.

That’s why I wrote my new book, The Right Story. Not just to help you to persuade people or get better at delivering your message. But also to give you the tools to help you understand what should drive that message.

The Right Story will help you to resonate with your right people and become a more purposeful and powerful communicator. You’re the reason I wrote it. You can preorder your Kindle copy today—paperback copies will be available next week. I hope it helps you and your good ideas to succeed this year.

The Power Of What Goes Unnoticed


The two sign installers stand back to assess their work before finishing the job. But something isn’t right. A couple of the large adhesive letters they have applied to the storefront window are crooked, and one of the men calls this out. His colleague agrees. The sign is definitely looking a little wonky. But, he reasons, if the store owners don’t care about fonts, they aren’t going to notice this.

‘Let’s just crack on with it,’ he says.

And they do. But something else is not right—something that skips his attention, as he turns to get the rest of the equipment from their van. His colleague’s smile slips, his shoulders slump. Even though he agrees that the store owner might not notice the sign isn’t perfect. He knows. And that knowing sucks all the joy out of the work.

We are not only showing up for customers. We are showing up to ourselves—to do work we’re proud of, even when no one is watching.

Image by Peter B

Forget Marketing


Forget marketing. Instead, sit down and reflect on what you want your customer to know about why you’re building what you’re building. Tell them everything. Write it down.

Start with how you got to this moment and how your journey to it has equipped you to help them. Tell your customers how you’re going to help and why it matters that you do. Then show them how their lives will be better because of what you created. Remind them what’s at stake.

Marketing doesn’t have to be about promoting and pitching. Marketing can be an honest conversation between two people (or groups of people), who need each other.

Image by Garry Knight

More Customers Vs. More For Customers


Every business begins with the founder’s intention about the outcome he or she wants to achieve. Every aspect of its development stems from that original intent.

As businesses owners, leaders and creators, we can adopt one of two strategies. We can build a business with the intention of getting more customers, or we can want more for our customers.

The outcome we want shapes the kind of business we build.

And the flip side, of course, is that when we want more for our customers, we end up being the kind of company more people want to do business with.

Image by Garry Knight

Necessary Work


Last week I reached out to two different digital companies for technical support via email.

The first company promised to respond within 24 hours. Their eventual reply was a copied and pasted generic email, that likely went out to every person with a similar issue. It was obvious the busy person dealing with my support ticket hadn’t read my original email in full.

The second company got back to me within an hour. Amy at Mailchimp not only replied to my email, but responded to me with empathy and rectified the problem. In a single email, Amy introduced herself and said she would be happy to help. She’d already investigated the issue and fixed the problem. She walked me through this step-by-step in her email response. Then she signed off by saying if I continued to have problems I could reach out again, then wished me well for the weekend. In the reactive world we live in, this kind of thoughtful response feels rare.
It is. It shouldn’t be.

The reason a company exists is to help. If our systems and processes, our products and services or our work and ideas are not helping, then why are they necessary? Necessary work is not only good for customers and businesses—it’s essential for our individual and collective wellbeing. We are hardwired to help. We can’t thrive when we are limited to doing unnecessary work.

If this email landed in your inbox today, it’s because Amy cared to make it happen. Amy is empowered and equipped to do necessary work because the leaders at Mailchimp built their company with this intention. Every one of us has a similar choice to make.

Image by Marc Thiele

The Convenience Trap


The homeless man sitting at the Brunswick Street junction doesn’t look up as people walk past. He doesn’t try to catch the eyes he knows are trying to avoid his. He lets the cardboard sign at his feet do the talking. The headline in red crayon tells us that he’s genuinely homeless. There isn’t enough time for a passer-by to take in the detail of most of the rest of what’s written on the sign in smaller print. But the unusual call to action at the bottom stands out.

‘If you’d like to consider regularly donating $5 a month please let me know.’

The homeless man request knows that he doesn’t just need more donors, he understands that he needs more of the right donors—who keep coming back.

In recent years we’ve seen the rise of businesses that make it easy for us to become returning customers. These businesses have worked out that convenience is sticky. And so we’ve seen the rise of subscription services for everything from razors to flowers and apps that will have a meal or ride to our door in minutes. But convenience alone isn’t what drives thriving, sustainable businesses. Companies that merely offer a convenient solution risk disruption. They must live in fear of the next new thing that’s closer or cheaper, faster or fancier.

If we want to earn loyal donors or customers, we must offer them more than convenience. Loyalty is a byproduct of resonance and convenience. Successful causes and companies don’t only make life easier for their donors or customers—they strike a chord with them too.

Image by Kevin McShane

Two Ways To Think About Selling


Are you selling or are you showing up in the best light for the people who need you?

Sales can be a service. And vice versa.

Image by Garry Knight

A Deliberate Advantage


Voting is compulsory here in Australia. To make it easier for people polling places now open the weekend before election day. Early voting in our state and local council elections opened last weekend. As we lined up at the entrance to the polling place we were met by representatives of all candidates and parties. Each one tried to thrust a marketing leaflet at us as we passed them, in a last-ditch attempt to get our vote. The only thing to differentiate one candidate from the other was the colour of their shirt or the arrangement of the words ‘people’ and ‘power’ on the brochures.

It’s true that sometimes people don’t decide who to vote for until the last minute. Last minute votes can count. But they don’t build a sustainable advantage or a loyal following over time. Whether we are in politics or business, the real work we do is to show up for the right people consistently, so they know what we stand for, every day—not just on voting day or launch day.

Our goal isn’t to be chosen at random because of the colour of our shirt or a single snappy slogan. It’s to be deliberately sought out again and again for our service, our values and the way we empower and impact the people we serve.

Image by Drew

Becoming Better Storytellers


We’ve all heard the news that attention spans are shrinking. We’ve come to believe that the people we’re trying to reach are always distracted. If that’s so, how do we explain the rise of binge-watching, the success of serialised podcasts and long read articles? What we’re witnessing isn’t just a shift in the way content is consumed. It’s a change in the intention and behaviour of both audiences and content creators according to their preferred platform or media.

The goal of prolific tweeters and grammers is to distract, rather than to immerse their audience. People visit Twitter and Instagram when they want to be distracted. Steaming services want to keep us watching. Their intention gives rise to the creation of engaging content and better storytelling.

How we tell stories changes how people react and respond. How audiences react and respond changes the kinds of stories we tell.

We become better storytellers by knowing who we are and who we want to be to whom. Purposeful storytellers are intentional about the impact they want to have and the messages they choose to send.

This IS Marketing

As I boarded the long-haul flight, I kept my fingers crossed that I’d get some sleep before we landed. So it was a relief when my fellow passenger, Don, declared his intention to do the same. We agreed that we weren’t anti-social, just two pragmatists trying to come away from the journey in the best shape we could. But halfway through dinner, probably as we were flying over Singapore, my travelling companion seemed to change his mind. Don started opening up about the difficult meeting he was heading to as soon as we landed the next day. He and his business partners ran a successful engineering company, but they couldn’t agree on the best strategy for ensuring its sustainable growth. Don was worried about what would happen next. He sensed trouble ahead.

After he realised he’d been talking about himself for quite some time, Don apologised and asked the question we, especially us marketers, love to hate. ‘So, what do you do?’ It’s always easier to answer this question if your job title is your job, even if the title doesn’t convey your contribution to your community and the world. As marketers, many of us have the added problem of almost feeling ashamed of the answer. When I told Don I worked ‘in marketing’ his posture shifted.
‘Oh, that’s all just smoke and mirrors,’ he said.

The irony, of course, is that we’re all ‘in marketing’. Don is too. Marketing isn’t only about selling. Marketing is about helping. It’s about having the courage to show up with vulnerability. It’s about telling stories that change people. It’s about helping them to make decisions they won’t later regret. Marketing done right is an act of generosity. It’s work that matters for people who care. But that’s not the marketing most people experience and not the kind of marketing many people practice. It’s up to us to do better. To do marketing we’re proud of. Because we can.

If you’re on a quest to do work that matters for people who care and if you want to be a proud marketer, then Seth Godin’s new book This Is Marketing is for you.

It’s impossible to quantify the impact Seth’s work has had on millions of people around the world. People like you and me. I wish I’d had a copy to Seth’s new book to give to Don on that flight. I know it would have helped him and his colleagues reach the place they wanted to go. I know it will help you too.