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The Monday Morning Memo

Self Definition

May 31, 2010

| Download
https://podcasts.captivate.fm/media/8cabe7c2-10a3-42df-8396-d1376f5bce06/MMM100531-SelfDefinition.mp3

The Secret of Self Definition

Corporate mission statements all sound alike because companies stand for pretty much the same things: “We believe in honesty, quality products, a positive work environment and a fair profit.”


Yawn.

You and I write mission statements because we want people to like us. Our pattern-recognizing, touchy-feely right brains see a newcomer and ask, “How are we alike? What makes us the same?”

But the deductive-reasoning left brain looks for discrepancies and anomalies, “How are we not alike? What makes us different?” Consequently, we cannot set ourselves apart according to what we stand for since we stand for pretty much the same things.

We set ourselves apart by what we stand against.

I’m not suggesting you become a complainer, a picketer or a self-righteous prig. I’m suggesting only that you make clear to the world what you don’t do.

What you exclude – not what you include – is what defines you.

1. There’s a nationwide fast-food chain that refuses to be open on Sundays. Can you name it?

2. BeautifulPeople.com – a dating site for narcissists – excludes anyone who is overweight. (Gasp!) This January they kicked out 5,000 members whose post-Christmas photos revealed they had gained a few pounds during the holidays.

3. A fitness center became the fastest growing franchise in history by excluding half the population. They opened their second location just 15 years ago. Curves – for women only – now has more than 10,000 locations in 70 countries.

4. “No drinkin’ –  No dancin’ – No smokin’  – No spittin’ and No cussin’. Now if you don’t mind what we Don’t have… I’m sure you’ll like what we DO have…. good, clean, family entertainment, every weekend, year ’round.”
– Kentucky Opry

5. The Heart Attack Grill excludes from their menu anything that might be good for you. But they’re happy to bring you a Quadruple Bypass Burger with Flatliner Fries and unfiltered cigarettes. “Taste Worth Dying For.”

6. Martin – that most highly revered of guitars – won’t make electric instruments. Acoustic only.

7. Geppetto’s Workshop is a toy store that excludes anything made of plastic or requiring batteries.

I’m not asking whether or not you agree with these companies. I’m not even suggesting that we debate whether their exclusions are ultimately good or bad for business. (I’m fairly certain that Chick Fil-A would make more money if they opened on Sundays.) My point is merely to illustrate that an organization’s exclusions define it far more clearly than its inclusions.

Does your company exclude anything?

If so, what do you exclude… and why?

Take a moment to answer these questions and you will have stepped onto the path that leads to Corporate Differentiation.

Let the journey begin.
 

Roy H. Williams

PS1. Become one of the world’s great ad writers.
 
PS2. Exclusion is a self-imposed Sacrifice of Opportunity, one of the Six Currencies that Buy Credibility determined by my partner, Tom Wanek (WAYnik.) Tom recently launched his new Carlin Ad-Speak Calculator. Use it to test your ad copy. It’s free.

“We tend to remember people as much better or worse than they really were. And thus we create the mythologies that haunt us the rest of our lives.”
– Roy H. Williams, Memorial Day 2010

 

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Random Quote:

“Beautiful people know they are beautiful.
Smart people know they are smart.
Rich people know they are rich.
You don’t need to tell them.

If you speak about surface qualities, your words are superficial.

If you speak about inner qualities, your words are deep.

Flattery is an attempt at superficial bonding. It is the pickup line of a creep in a bar, hitting on a pretty girl.

Has it ever occurred to you that creeps talk to women about the ‘features and benefits’ they see on the surface of the woman? And then they describe their own ‘features and benefits.’

Transactional ads are written to entice you to buy a product; “Give me what I want, and I’ll give you what you want.”

We settle for sex when we cannot find love.

I am talking to you about advertising.

Most advertising focuses on ‘features and benefits’ because most marketing is created by morons.

The woman in the bar is your customer.  She is standing alone on a tiny island surrounded by an ocean of ‘features and benefits’ but it is an ocean only a few inches deep.

What do you think would happen if you advertised what your customer really wants? What do you think would happen if that woman realized that your only goal was to rescue her from that tiny little island?

In your advertising: Bond with your customer. Connect with your customer. Care about your customer. And then don’t be surprised when they call you.”

- Monday Morning Memo, November 6, 2023

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