Snowflake
One of the most complimentary and frustrating requests I’m approached with by new and prospective clients is this wish to have their marketing be “just like yours.”
Before you think I’m even more full of myself than usual, let me hasten to add that this request bothered me just as much (if not much, much more) back in my old copywriter days, when some corporate megalopoly of a consumer products company would declare that it wanted edgy, breakthrough advertising “just like Nike’s.” (Note to those born after 1972: Nike was once the one to beat when it came to noteworthy advertising.)
Because they didn’t really want us to do for their cereal, beer or (ahem) Famous Sports Drink what Nike’s agency of record, Wieden+Kennedy, did for Nike; they wanted us to do exactly what W+K did for Nike—frame by lovingly copied frame, if possible. The irony, of course, is that imitating someone else, even someone awesome, is the opposite of being breakthrough, not to mention uniquely you.
There are a multitude of reasons for missing the boat when it comes to spreading the word of you in a way that’s truthful and compelling. For the big boys, the reason is usually fear: as a wise person (for a corporate tool, anyway) once said, no one ever got fired for saying “no.” (Until they did. Hello, new marketplace!)
Fear exists for smaller businesses, too, of course, but just as often what gums up the works is confusion. We don’t know exactly what we stand for, and so, like someone ordering off of a Denny’s menu, we point to pictures of something that looks good. I get that, and I think that the pointing and clipping and collecting of images, phrases, and other messages can be a good thing…for a first step. In the premiere issue of this newsletter, I spoke of the importance of maintaining a scrap or swipe file, and it’s still one of the first exercises I ask new clients to do.
The problems arise when people stop there in the process. A good designer, copywriter or marketing consultant will poke and prod you to look at the world around you, see what inspires and intrigues you, and then help you use those likes (or even dislikes) to tease out your new, true, external identity. A bad one? Will give you a horse-by-committee cobbled together from these many pieces. (Good designers, copywriters and fellow marketing consultants, you can thank me later.)
It’s easier when you have help, but there are ways you can do it yourself if you’re willing work hard and specifically. Here’s a nice order of things, to help you in your quest:
1. Collect! Collect! Collect! (and review)
The swipe file is a terrific place to start. A hard-copy folder or box is fine, or you can save URLs with an online tool, like Delicious (for bookmarks) and Evernote (for everything from audio to images to text, with taggability!)
Then ask yourself questions: what is similar about these things? What’s different? How do these things make you feel when you look at them? What does the copy make you think about when you read it? Think emotions and feelings: are you happy? Thrilled? Comforted? Inspired? Aroused?
2. Plumb your own depths
Via my friend, the wonderful career consultant Carl Wellenstein, I discovered a terrific tool for sorting through the things that make you “you” and homing in on the ones that mean the most. Make a list of 10-15 words or phrases that describe you, or some aspect of you. (You may need to do 25 or 30 to come up with 10-15 really good ones.)
Then put it away and come back to it in a week (or however long you can stand, snowflake). Now pick the top three that really sum you up. They may be three really different things or three very similiar things, but they are the mighty three which, in combination, cover you in toto, plus make you excited about telling someone else.
When I do the exercise with my clients, there are always—and I mean always—three that pop out. (Well, except for one, and as it turned out, what she really needed more than anything was an extended rest: also good information.) If you’re having trouble, try doing the exercise with someone else for that all-important outside perspective.
3. Let go, noodle, repeat
When you hire a big, fancy communications-helper-type-person, what we are really doing is a lot of #3, with a dramatically collapsed timeline. You pay us to do what you could do some version of yourself, if you gave yourself enough time. Hopefully, we have some native gifts in our chosen area(s) of expertise, but mostly, it’s about how we did and didn’t spend our 10,000 hours. (Hint: don’t ask most of us to teach you tap dancing or fix your plumbing or change your oil.)
So if you’re going the DIY route because you’re on a bootstrapper’s budget, you’re going to spend the bulk of your time repeating the mini-steps of Step #3. May I gently suggest that you not skip over that first bit? Let go of it being perfect, because it won’t be. Let go of your attachment to having it come out a particular way. This is a fluid process, even when you hire a professional: we have to stop at some point so you can get on with your business and we can get on with ours.
*****
Even though I’m a pro who depends on people hiring a pro for my livelihood, I am also a creativity enthusiast who loves seeing people learn from throwing themselves into a process. My favorite part of my own job is not the things I make, but the love of learning and process I’m able to pass on to the people who honor me by choosing me to work with them.
I wish this kind of happiness—that of, as I like to call it “having the lights go on”—for everyone. It’s one of the reasons I blog and write this little missive; it’s also why I made a do-it-yourself version of the Homework I give to new clients. Combine it with the Formula, and, minus me, you’ve got all the tools you need to translate the truth of you into the language of them.
Now, all you need is time…
Colleen Wainwright is the Communicatrix, and she’s pretty awesome. Go check it out and sign up for her newsletter. I said so. — Sheryl, TIS Head Muse
