- October 2, 2018 -
“If people aren’t talking about you, there’s a reason. You’re boring – your products are boring, your services are boring, your message is boring, your marketing is boring...”
Blame Seth Godin for this nugget of truth.
I get what he's saying...coming from the man whose trademark look is a pair of round yellow glasses on a bald head.
As Jerry Seinfeld has pointed out, for no good reason, folks treat people with glasses as if they’re smarter (and they treat people with hearing aids as if they’re dumb.) Stupid but it’s true.
Maybe that's why I feel smarter at night when the contacts come out, glasses go on, and wine is uncorked!
But I digress...
In Godin's book Purple Cow, he says that the key to success in your business is to find a way to stand out...to be the purple cow in a field of black and white Holsteins.
To be remarkable.
Unforgettable.
Think about the most boring of commoditized products: insurance, coffee, airlines, mobile devices, donuts (these maybe aren't so boring) and personal grooming stuff.
And then ask yourself what company do you think of that's taken the "boring" out of selling these commodities?
I'm coming up with...
...Geico (who can forget a talking lizard?)
...Starbucks (expensive caffeine shots that create cult-like followings)
...JetBlue (in an industry notorious for pissing people off, this economy air carrier uses social media and humor to stand out)
...Apple (another cult - we all succumb at one point)
...Krispy Kreme (Hello!)
...and then you've got the Dollar Shave Club.
A brand that sold razor blades that paled in comparison to what giants Gillette and Schick were selling.
Heck, they bought the razors wholesale from China and repackaged and resold them.
A brand created by good storytelling has a pretty interesting backstory itself.
Back in 1990, a bunch of young unknown comedians (Amy Poehler being one) created an improv group...and it wasn't long before that group grew and became a talent pipeline for Saturday Night Live.
Ten years later, one of those young creatives was Michael Dubin.
Between hustling jobs in the television industry, Dubin found himself at a Christmas party and...
...found himself in a conversation with a guest at the party...which led to another conversation where Dubin was asked to help sell 250,000 razors the aforementioned party guest had acquired from Asia.
That conversation would have weirded out a lot of people. Not Dubin.
Are you getting my drift here?
The path to greatness is never straight. Opportunities don't just fall into laps or smack you in the face.
Entrepreneurs see opportunities where most don't...or don't want to tread.
Anyway, Dubin was then faced with how to sell a boatload of cheap razors.
So he bet BIG on what he does best...he created a hilarious video to connect with his target audience and cast himself.
Brilliant marketing...90 seconds of absolute irreverent absurdity.
...a toddler shaving a man’s head, polio jokes, a machete, a giant American flag, and perhaps the best “make it rain” scene of all time.
The rough cut version of the video convinced former Myspace CEO Michael Jones to sign on as Dubin’s partner.
When the video was released on March 6, 2012, it went viral. The startup got more than 12,000 orders in the first 48 hours.
BOOM!
Look, companies have used storytelling to sell before...that's nothing new.
But the sheer ease of pushing out digital content has created a very noisy and crowded space.
And that means you simply can’t create mediocre content and expect to stand out.
Half-baked content has very little chance of breaking through on social or search.
Are you a Purple Cow or a nice but standard Holstein?
We can help you get your purple on.
Later!
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