It’s not about your message

I hate to say it, but it’s true. #

Marketers really like to talk about hav­ing a strong cen­tral mes­sage or pro­mot­ing “that one big idea” or some other such ter­mi­nol­ogy. The prob­lem is that after 60 years of adver­tis­ing, peo­ple see right through it. The gig is up. #

In the inter­ac­tive age, there are lots of mes­sages, and they are dynamic and rela­tional. You can craft a mes­sage or an image or a cam­paign and try to con­trol it as tightly as you want, but the inter­net won’t let you hold onto it. People will send their own mes­sages. People will craft their own tools to usurp your mes­sage and bend it to their own will. #

It’s not about your mes­sage. It’s about you. #

Do you know who you are? Do you know what you stand for? Do you know what you believe in? Firm that up. Be the best you you can be and con­nect with peo­ple and orga­ni­za­tions that are com­pat­i­ble. #

That’s what an inter­ac­tive brand does: it holds true to itself and alters course based on real, hon­est com­mu­ni­ca­tion and col­lab­o­ra­tion with the part­ners in its net­work. #

You are the mes­sage, and the net­work is your metaphor. Take that to heart and run with it. I promise you, you’ll win in the end. #

3 Responses to ‘It’s not about your message’

  1. Thanks David. That’s actu­ally very inspiring.

  2. Incredible post David, really spells out the beauty of the work that you do in help­ing groups fig­ure out them­selves — and the way they inter­act in their net­works. Inspiring!

  3. David,

    Love this post. I’m a huge believer in build­ing rela­tion­ships, and I’m cer­tain my busi­ness would fail if I didn’t pur­sue that with every client. And I’ve noticed over the past few years, that a key part in build­ing those rela­tion­ships comes from really under­stand­ing who *I* am and what my core val­ues are. I don’t want to be a phoney, just to seal a deal.

    I feel this mes­sage is eas­ily con­sumed by indi­vid­u­als and small busi­ness. But I fear larger orga­ni­za­tions (typ­i­cally more set in their prac­tices, read old fash­ioned), will be less inclined to stray from the standard/​dated meth­ods of marketing.

    From a per­sonal brand stand­point, these is a no-​brainer; small busi­ness, makes lots of sense; big busi­ness – harder to con­vince. That’s not to say that some big guys *aren’t*, i just think as a whole, its a chal­leng­ing •mar­ket• to crack.

    Cheers!

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