Category: Format of post

There’s no “Jack of all Trades” section in the phone book

Spotlight pitch problems: wanting to have it all

For the past week, order Beg to Differ has been collecting and commenting on the great  Spotlight Pitches you’ve submitted  – so thanks, cure and please keep them coming!  And so far, even though the pitches ranged from Big Oil to bicycles for Africa, from electricity to social work, we’ve started to see a few common problems. So we’ll deal with a few of them over a couple of posts. Today: the temptation to be all things to all people.

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Pick a section, any section

One of the awkward parts of finding yourself in a spotlight moment is not deciding what to say: it’s deciding what to leave out.

But listen up Jack: nobody’s goes looking for “all trades”, and nobody ever pays for flexibility – not even your employer. People give money to other people to solve a problem.

We all want to be seen as flexible, capable, multi-talented, able to do many wonderful things. And yes, being flexible is important. I’ve built a career on being able to apply my expertise in many different ways, in many different industries. But nobody ever paid me to be flexible. That was a bonus.

Respect what they expect

You have to understand that the human brain is organized like a phone book. As we learn about products and companies, we group them into categories, which we use to frame our expectations when we go looking for something new. So when someone asks you “what you do”, you’ll be doing them a big favour by by associating yourself with a recognized category in their head, then getting to the special qualities that make you unique.

It feels limiting. And it doesn’t feel fair. But it works.

So if you’re a social worker, start by saying so. If your company sells software, tell me that before you launch into your “solution bundles” routine.

We need more pitches!

We’ll be collecting  and offering free advice on your Spotlight Pitches all this week, so please leave your pitches comments below or  check this post for ideas on refining your pitch.

Beg to Differ wants to share your Spotlight Pitches

Give us your best short statement about yourself or your company

Yesterday, discount we got a few great Spotlight Pitches – responses to a spotlight question like “so, viagra order what do you do?” or “what’s your company all about?” Today, cialis 40mg we got an idea from Mark Dykeman’s Broadcasting Brain post:  how to start 2010 by doing better work. Great thoughts, fantastic choices, and what’s better, the format inspired us: we want to publish your “Spotlight Pitches” on Beg to Differ!

Spotlight 2
The spotlight pitches we pick will be published in a format something like the one above. Broadcasting Brain was looking for work habit advice. We're doing Spotlight Pitches.

This is NOT an “elevator pitch”

Every time I work with clients on an “elevator pitch” for themselves or their company, three things happen: 1) they ask for time to prepare and make notes, 2) they try to figure out how much information they can cram into 30 seconds, and 3) they almost always end up sounding robotic – like they’ve memorized lines for a grade 3 class play.

And as for content, inevitably, the “pitch” that results leads to a long-winded, jargon-laden tangle of insider words that we then have to untangle, prune, and tune for a human audience.

Now there is absolutely value in nailing an elevator pitch, and my clients are always happy with the results. But it takes a lot of time, and you have to acknowledge up front that it’s an artificial construct. The truth is: you may never get your 30 seconds!

What you do get all the time are spotlight questions.

So your answer has to be:

  1. Conversational: it needs to sound natural, non-pushy, non-threatening. In other words, not like a “pitch”.
  2. Grade three reading level: use simple sentence structure, not too many modifiers or adjectives.
  3. Short: we’ll say 100 words or less, but you’ll get extra props if it’s “Twitter ReTweet friendly” – say 110 characters or less.
  4. Universal: it has to be clear enough to help someone who is not in your industry understand your thing. Think long lost cousin at a barbecue.
  5. Leave ’em wanting more: yes, answer their question, but in a way that also invites further conversation. Choose ideas that have legs.
  6. Take a few tries: Yesterday, people gave a few short bullet points – which helped us play a bit with possibilities.
  7. Open source: this is the Internet folks, so if you put it out there, it’s because you want comments, criticism, even remixing, etc.
  8. Open for re-publishing: unless you tell us not to, we’ll assume you’re cool if we publish,  ReTweet some examples, or (with extra permission) discuss your pitch in more detail in future posts.

Here we go, the spotlight question:

So, what do you do?

So what are you up to? Your spotlight pitch please.

Beg to Differ on how to answer “spotlight questions”.

Yesterday morning, symptoms while doing client work in my “second office” (the local Bridgehead), buy I ran into a friend, an acquaintance, and a former colleague. In all three cases, I  gave them a “spotlight moment” by asking:  “so, what are you up to these days?” Trivial question? Not at all. The answer to that question – or others like “what’s your company all about?” “how does your product work?” or “what do you do?” – is something I call a “spotlight pitch”.

SpotlightSpotlight on… and… GO!

When I asked my coffee shop question, in all three cases, the answer was initially a vague “oh this and that”, or “getting by”, or “the usual”.

Sound familiar? That’s certainly what I want to say when someone turns the spotlight on me (and I’m a performer in my spare time). It’s like a moment of stage fright: uncomfortable, vulnerable, it makes us feel exposed, and we want to get it over with as soon as possible.

But those awkward spotlight questions are some of the most valuable opportunities any of us ever face. Because in that one moment, a person is asking you: “How are you relevant to me?” How can I remember you?” “How can I help you?” Or one step further: “How can this meeting become more than just an exchange of pleasantries?”

That’s a lot to pack in a short encounter I know. But essentially a spotlight question is the quintessential branding moment for products, ideas, or professionals. It’s your chance to either shine or be ignored.

Intrigue them. Wow them. Don’t settle for jargon, cheese-ball marketing speak, or pat answers. Most importantly: start a conversation.

In my coffee shop encounters, after probing a bit, it turned out that in all three cases, there were synergies between what they were doing and what I do for a living, and it turned out I could help each of them out. But that’s only because I kept asking questions. Most of the time, one spotlight moment is all you get.

So how about you?

Think about your answers to simple questions like that? The spotlight’s on. What’s your pitch?

I’d love to hear examples of Spotlight pitches that worked for you, or completely failed, in the comments below.

Out of the Woods? Branding the decade that was.

So what do you call a decade like that one?

So far Beg to Differ has resisted the urge to comment on the Tiger Woods scandal. But a friend posted a story on Facebook today that seemed like a great way to wrap up the year, advice and the decade. Her four-year old asked her out of the blue if he could take down his Tiger Woods poster – after two years on his wall. When asked why, he said “it just seems like time.”  Indeed.

As they say: it's hard to see the tree for the Woods with a driver in the rear view mirror: just one of the many brands that have decided not to invite the Tiger into their new decade.
As they say: it's hard to focus on the tree - or the Woods - with a driver in the rear view mirror: just one of the many brands that have decided not to invite the Tiger into their new decade.

The rear-view mirror: out with the old

The end of the year, or the decade, is of course a great time to reflect, dream, plan, concede defeat, or maybe just take a break from whatever little white ball you were chasing.

But one question burns brighter than any faded Tiger in my mind right now: what do we call the decade that was? Other decades have great names like “the Dirty Thirties,” “The Roaring Twenties,” or my favourite: “the Eighties” (the teenage rugby-pants, new-wave, drama-geek decade doesn’t need another descriptor – at least for me).

A few suggestions for branding the decade just past:

The Woods

Or “the Woodies” if you prefer. Oh those halcyon days when the Tiger was young and seemed infallible. Before we learned the awful truth: that he was all too human… er, actually a major sleaze-ball in his private life. And while that shouldn’t matter, we learned that when you build a brand empire around yourself, that brand is vulnerable to all the same failings that you are – particularly if your brand is built on a false perception of super-human purity.

But the thing I like best about “The Woods”, is that it implies we’re out of them now…

The Naughties

Or “The Naughts”, “the aughts”. Of course “aught” or “naught” are words for zeroes.  My blog-buddy Nancy Friedman favours “the Naughties”. But apart from the Woods, there wasn’t really that much decade-defining naughtiness when you compare it to the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, and the “Bill Clintons”. Martin Bishop tallied some more here, but I’m not convinced.

The Zeros

Or the “nothings” Nope. Just too depressing.

The Ohs

Not bad. Positive spin on the zeros, with a touch of surprise and wonder, and perhaps a nod of the head to my old Denim Blues cast-mate Sandra Oh – but that was the eighties again…

The Terror Years

September 11 2001 cast a massive pall over the decade – as did the subsequent war-faring, drum-beating, and hysteria.

The O-amas

This one has a nice hopeful ring to it: we went from the evil of Osama to the fresh hope represented by (and hopefully fulfilled by) Obama. Time will tell on this one.

The Bloggies

Surely the emergence of social media and the democratization of the news cycle – for better and worse – is one of the defining themes. Or at least to the millions of us who blog about such things.

The Happies

Okay, this may just be for me again. But I have to say that this decade – whatever we call it – has been the happiest of my life. I started my branding business in 2000 and have had the privilege to help many dozens of companies, charities, and government organizations humanize their brands. I also got married to an amazing woman, bought a house, had three incredible kids (the diaper decade?), and started a little blog called Beg  to Differ.

It wasn’t all sunshine. I made some people angry, and didn’t always dot all my i’s or even deliver 100%.  But as I look back, I can’t help but feel great about the next decade – whatever we call that.

So as you take down the old posters from your wall, think carefully about what the next decade could become for you, your brand, and your tribe.

My four-word prescription for the next decade:

Keep making it better!

Happy New Year!