What Christmas Lights Tell Us About Ourselves

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People tell me all the time that their customers buy based on performance and specs, so it is incredibly important to get those up front. This is where their research misses just a little bit, because people justify their purchase decisions based on performance and specs. However, most people don’t know (or are unwilling to admit) why they selected the product they chose to support with the logic they did.

This even goes for Christmas lights.

Seth Godin believes that Christmas lights show our need to be part of a community. He says it’s the same for most Facebook posts, tweets, and blogs. They’re all ways to share and contribute. I think he’s right.

By nature, we are social animals. Even introverts like me occasionally need to be around people. It has been a key to our species’ survival (safety in numbers), so it’s very much a  part of our social DNA. As such, we subconsciously want to fit in with a larger community, even if we have to do it by standing out. Research has shown that the first person to stand out is rarely as important to the activity becoming a movement as the second person to join. The second person makes it acceptable.

In any neighborhood, the first person to hang their Christmas lights sets the baseline for that neighborhood that year. They are often derided for jumping in too early. However, the second person makes it okay for everybody else to do so. The last person is often derided as much as the first. Both the first and last are too far out on the fringe (especially if it’s by more than a day), and nobody wants to catch the crap that comes with being on the fringe.

For most of us, social pressure plays a much bigger role in our lives than any of us (myself included) are willing to admit. For marketers, this means that success is rarely about speeds and do-hickeys (though important) and much more about making your product or service socially cool. This is true even if the community that finds your product or service is small. Better to be a hit in a small community than largely ignored by all.

Huge success comes when that community consists of a lot of early joiners — the second people in. These are your influential enthusiasts. And they carry the most social impact of all because they’re not so far ahead of the curve that society can’t relate. They’re just far enough ahead that the rest of society aspires to be like them.

Since marketing is all about generating revenue, you don’t want to be the starving artist on the fringe, too far ahead of the curve to be acceptable. There’s a reason that’s called the “cutting edge” or “bleeding edge” — it can be painful. You want to be just ahead of the wave. This is marketing’s sweet spot.

It’s also the coolest place in any community.

Find that spot and as a marketer, you’re golden. Apple does that better than anybody, which is why they have a brand that everybody aspires to be.

Speeds and do-hickeys are still important to help people justify the emotional need to be part of that community. Just remember where they fit in the hierarchy of needs.

 

True Power, True Leadership, and True Joy

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“Leadership is really about serving.”~ Prince Cedza Diamini (Nelson Mandela’s grandson)

I bet he learned that from his grandfather. Talk about a man who acted from his core beliefs, and did not stray from them, even when it cost him his freedom. That’s conviction that’s hard to match. And it’s a power that can topple governments. Leadership is not about being a boss, it’s about being a vehicle to elevate the people you serve — your employees, your family, your circle, your tribe, or your nation. That kind of leadership is truly powerful.

You see, true power comes from within — being and acting in alignment with your core beliefs. However, getting to your core beliefs requires getting past the ego. Not the easiest thing to do. Because for the ego, that is a life-and-death struggle. You have to get to that place where you don’t care what people think of you, you only care about doing what you feel called to do.

The interesting thing is, when you truly come from that place, what you really want to do is serve, because that is what that place beyond the ego (some call it your soul) wants. It wants to elevate the human experience.

And when you come from that place of serving, you have true power. Nobody can take that away from you. They can take your money, your belongings, your freedom, and this life, but they can’t destroy the power that lives beyond the ego.

“Making the world a better place is not only your responsibility, it is your joy, it is your blessing, it’s your gift. It’s your opportunity to make your life mean something. So take it.” ~ Derrick N. Ashong

Have you ever helped out somebody? Given to a noble cause? Donated your time and skill? If you have, and you didn’t do it because it was required or to get something, do you remember how good it felt? Did it fill you with such joy that you couldn’t express it? Did it go so far as to make you want to cry?

If you haven’t, try it. Go out of your way to do something for somebody who needs it. I used to distribute old (but unworn) event t-shirts that my clients had in their storage closets to people living on the street. It didn’t cost me a thing, other than the 15 minutes to hand them out. But the smiles and thanks I got made it all worthwhile. I actually felt so incredibly humbled and grateful for the opportunity.

If you haven’t had the opportunities to give that I have, what about your experiences of giving to a young child or loved one? Can you see the joy and thanksgiving in their eyes? Doesn’t their gratitude light you up?

That’s because giving really is receiving.

Giving is serving. Serving is leading by example. Give, serve, lead. It’s a very powerful place to play.

Cargo Pants or Dress Slacks?

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I have both cargo pants and dress slacks in my closet. While both cover and protect my legs (their primary objective), they serve very different purposes. This makes them the perfect analogy for marketing projects, and a great way to remember to focus not on what you want to say, but what you want to achieve.

Cargoes were designed to carry a lot of stuff – hence the name. They were originally designed for military use. My first pair were British Army surplus circa World War II made from a canvas-like fabric. I’m a big fan because I can put my wallet in a side pocket and not sit on it. But as comfy and practical as my cargoes are, I prefer to wear them for hiking rather than new business meetings, because they don’t help me look like I know what I’m doing in a business meeting.

For new business meetings, I prefer dress slacks. Dress slacks are designed to fall elegantly over my legs, breaking ever so slightly so as to touch the top of my shoe but not drag on the ground. The fabric is usually wool or fine cotton, and it always looks tailored.  The result is that I look and feel more like I’m ready for business.

For the record, I’m the same guy in both pairs of pants, but the impression is completely different.

The same holds true for your marketing efforts.

When you think about your marketing communications, you want to lead with pieces that say, “We’re ready for business.” Even if your brand is casual or technical, you want communications that are elegant, clean, and present you as a good potential partner.

You also want some pieces that are designed to communicate a lot of ideas or specifics. However, these are generally better used to support the dressier communications. You share these when people ask for more information after they’ve digested the elegant pieces, because then you know that they are interested in knowing more.

The challenge comes when somebody wants to overshare in his or her business or vision communications, or skip it altogether in favor of some detailed piece of collateral. Usually this happens when the client just wants to prove that they know the market, or talk about all of the ways in which their product is really cool.

In these circumstances it’s good to think in terms of having a conversation with your audience. How many times have your eyes glazed over during a conversation where somebody tried, even innocently, to impress you with their knowledge or the coolness of their technology? Unfortunately, I have seen it more times than not.

For example, recently I had a client who was trying to communicate that they had a better solution for a very specific group. However, they wanted to integrate all of their research into their vision piece — including the group’s favorite hobbies, where the group draws their value in life, and what they (as a group) like to eat. These are all fantastic things to know (and I wish more companies understood their customers this well), but they don’t belong in a customer-oriented vision brochure. Good writers use research to provide a rich backstory that never sees the light of day. If you really must share this information, save it for your marketing and business partners or investors.

Every type of communication has its place. Start off by thinking about what impression you want to present for your brand. Even a beautifully designed piece, if it contains irrelevant information, won’t position you as an elegant solution. Make sure you are communicating what your customers want to hear, not just what you want to say.

Then engage them in a dialogue. Leave them asking for more and you’ll draw them further down your sales pipeline. Bore them and they’re gone.