Is Your Marketing Brave Enough?

Is Your Marketing Brave Enough?

Marketing that makes people feel outperforms marketing that doesn't. This has never been more true than it is today.

I've heard a lot of gnashing of teeth among marketers that AI is going to make their jobs redundant. 

The problem isn't that robots are acting too much like humans these days. The problem is that humans are acting too much like robots. 

Robots are great at execution. They are less adept at unique ideas. 

If you want to set yourself (and your business) apart from the ocean of robot-built marketing mediocrity, you must be willing to zig while they zag. The difference between you and them must be BRAVERY.

I was the closing keynote speaker recently at the B2B Marketing Exchange in Scottsdale.

In my talk, I reminded attendees that "B2B" doesn't stand for "Boring-to-Boring." Yet, most companies are festooning their marketing with life preservers and risk-limiters. 

This won't work. 

Marketing cannot truly succeed unless the audience FEELS something. 

Yes, creating marketing that makes people FEEL requires more bravery than marketing that doesn't. Because maybe you'll be wrong this time. Maybe they'll feel the wrong thing. Maybe your competitors will make fun of you. 

But in this era where disproportionate likes, shares, comments and similar dictate whether most marketing gets seen at all, the audience IS the algorithm.

For your consideration, here are the five ways to succeed with marketing when you're willing to be brave and break out of the pack:

Generous and Brave: Give the audience WAY more value than they expect. 

Useful and Brave: Solve more and bigger problems with your marketing than the audience expects.

Fast and Brave: Solve problems more quickly than the audience expects. See my The Time to Win research for a lot more on this angle.

Empathetic and Brave: Talk to the audience about what they REALLY care about. And it's not your product or service. Dekalb Seed running a series on Facebook about great farm dogs (targeted to farmers, obv) is a perfect example. 

Feisty and Brave: This is for the weirdos. The irreverant marketers. The marketers that hired ME + a saxophone-playing forest monster to run a virtual event. 

For reasons both economic and technological, marketing is hard right now. Which is why we have to remember that competency doesn't create conversations. 

The audience IS the algorithm, and they won't take action unless you first make them feel. Happy. Sad. Mad. Disappointed. Wistful. Excited. You choose. 

But one thing I know after 30 years of doing this: Playing it safe is the most dangerous thing you can do for your brand. 

The Books Report

Jonah Berger is one of my very favorite researchers and authors on customer behavior. 

His new book is Magic Words: What to Say to Get Your Way and it is supremely useful. Not just for how you approach customers and prospects, but how you communicate to friends, spouses, children, the mail carrier, and everyone else in your world. 

A single word change can make all the difference. You'll love this book, and I'm already buying more copies to give as gifts to colleagues.

Jay's Faves

My sense of humor is admittedly dry. 

My favorite movie is This Is Spinal Tap. 

And I love to learn, mockumentary-style.

Which is why I ADORE the Netflix show Cunk on Earth. 

It's a five-episode British series that briskly reviews the entire history of the world, with fictitious (and clueless) hostess Philomena Cunk as guide.

If you liked Da Ali G Show (or anything from Sacha Baron Cohen), you will adore this one. I LOL'd 6+ times in each episode.