Transcript
Great advice rarely sounds that remarkable when you first hear it. But somehow it stays with you.
Recently I was chatting with a friend. He’s been one of the UK’s leading tech entrepreneurs since his early 20s with a number of outrageously high-growth businesses and somehow just manages to do it over and over again.
One of his particular talents is in the creation of great messaging, so I asked him how he does it. His reply was absurdly simple. So much so that I barely listened at the time, but now I can’t stop thinking about it.
He said – Look, I may be an entrepreneur, but I’m also a consumer, so I pay close attention to the way that I consume.
We’re bombarded by 3000 ads every 24 hours. Yet each day, I’ll see one that actually makes me do something. When that happens, I’ll ask myself “Why”.
That’s it. Every day, he asks himself that question.
- So he clicked on a Facebook ad because something about the message cut through the noise – why?
- He hesitated to select the “skip ads” option on YouTube, deciding instead to consume another 20 seconds of a commercial rather than the thing he was actually on YouTube to watch. Why?
- He opened the email with the subject line that said “Last longer”. Why? Ooh, he asked me not to mention that one. We’ll cut that out.
Each of these messages has resonated in a way that the other 2999 didn’t that day. And there’s a reason why it did. By identifying that reason he’s adding that weapon into his already nuclear arsenal.
All marketing, irrespective of channel or format, comes down to the delivery of a message. The overwhelming majority are barely noticeable and immediately forgettable. But every now and again, something lands.
And he’s right, we’d should all be in the habit of asking “why”?
See you next time,
Dan
