Success in Sweatpants

I never thought I would title a post like that –ever ever ever. But a post by Seth Godin has reminded me to never say never.

Here are the two excerpts from his post that got me thinking about how conforming can be the right thing to do when planning our marketing moves:

Marketing storytelling is not about doing everything differently. You do many things the same, intentionally, because those 'same things' aren't part of your story. It's the different stuff where you will be noticed, and the different stuff where you tell your story.

If you're not telling a story with some aspect of your marketing choices, then make sure that aspect is exactly what people expect. To do otherwise is to create random noise, not to further your marketing.

Conform in all the areas that have no bearing on your core marketing message, do things differently where there is a connection to that message.

Wait, you might say. Shouldn't we ONLY do things that connect to our core marketing message? Why do marketing activities that don't?

Here's an example: Having a business card is generally a necessity, but it may not be connected to our core marketing message. Ditto a web site (meaning the design of the site, not the content). Ditto a blog. If these collateral pieces aren't a part of your story, keep them simple simple simple.

Go through your marketing program–or make a list of what you do to market your business if you can't really call what you do a "program"–and identify which initiatives or activities are truly connected to your core message (you DO have a core message, don't you?).

How do those initiatives and activities support your message, make it stand out? Do you need to make some changes to make this happen?

Now, what initiatives and activities are needed, but do not need to razzle dazzle? Are you overdoing these? If so, how (and how soon) can you tone these down, make them recede into the background so that the activities that matter will stand out more?

There is potential money savings here: When we conform, we can take advantage of commodity pricing. And when we are only spending extra on the few things that really matter, our market budget can probably shrink.