Tag: growth

The first reader

FabrizioLeave a comment

Three things to keep in mind when you are writing a marketing message.

The other person does not know. Even when they share your same background, even when they face similar challenges, even when they have already tried similar products, even when your name is known and celebrated. Who reads does not know what you mean, what you care about, why you are good for them, why you are interrupting their day, and a whole lot more. And if they are left doing the effort to figure that out, they are gone.

The other person does not care. You might have the most brilliant invention of the past two decades, a flawless and unmatched technology, a fantastic company culture, and the most talented people working in each of your teams. Who reads cares literally zero about all of this, they have their own inventions, technology, culture, people and agenda. And if they are left building the bridge on their own, they won’t even start.

The other person is a human being. When you enter a room full of people, you most likely will not talk about “future-proofing”, “streamlining”, “best-of-breed”, “capabilities”, “artificial intelligence”, and so on. The mind of who reads gets fuzzy when they are faced with inflated jargon, they stop focusing on the message and they start thinking about what they should do instead. And if those are the words you are building your message around, they will find someone who treats them as a person.

Of course, the most important thing to remember is the fact that you are the first reader of your marketing messages. If something does not sound right, if something is unclear, if what you are producing is not what you would read in your own time, reasearching a product, seeking a solution to a problem. Then others will probably not find it more compelling.

Find and nurture

FabrizioLeave a comment

Communities are built because of the active commitment of a small number of people.

Starting something, anything, with the masses in mind is nonsensical and counterproductive. Only a small fraction of the full potential audience is going to pick up your message, use it as trait to signal their identity, and spread it.

Your job is to find them and nurture them.

The most important moment

FabrizioLeave a comment

There is a time, in every marketing story, when the things you are working on do not deliver the expected results. Perhaps you have overpromised, perhaps the campaign is not effective as you imagined, perhaps a pandemic unexpectedly changed the rules of the game, perhaps your team is not as good as it should be, perhaps your leadership is not as good as it should be. One way or the other, pressure mounts, your job is on the line, your team is on the line, and people around you start to question everything you say.

I believe this is the single most important moment.

Because what is easy to do in such cases is to start blurring the boundaries between urgent and important, following shiny objects that can deliver short term results, draining your team to exhaustion and demotivation, putting more weight on opinions and less on facts, limit communication to a restricted circle of trusted people.

And the difficult thing to do is stay the course, spread your message wide, understand what is happening and involving people in finding solutions, expand beyond your team to tap into new knowledge, measure, defuse the situation, learn from the whole process and repeat.

Nobody forces you one way or the other. It is a choice.

The greatest failure

FabrizioLeave a comment

Sheer logic and numbers struggle to convince people that they need to act.

When is the last time you have done something because of a wonderfully illustrated argument? When were you last impressed by the architecture and technology beyond a new piece of software? When have you last felt you belong in a percentage?

If you are anything like me and most of us, you are rarely moved by logic, rationality and utilitarianism. What instead changes our minds and makes us feel as if we want to do something right now are stories and feelings.

While the majority understands this, very few practice it. And this is the greatest failure in businesses nowadays.

Now

FabrizioLeave a comment

It is pretentious to frame your marketing messages with the idea that all is the same, nothing has changed, and your product is as relevant as it always was (if not more). People have (momentarily?) shifted their assumptions and priorities, it might very well be that what was worth 100 two months ago is today worth 0. If your message sticks to 100, you are out of the game.

It is also pretentious to take out your crystal ball and assume you know what people will care about two months from now. The new reality, the new normal, is out of your understanding, and picturing your product at the center of it is tantamount to gambling.

Now is the only thing that matter. And the message(s) you are sharing in this moment will define your brand for years to come.