perception

Because We Never Failed

As children, we have unbridled aspirations.

We dream to be astronauts. We dream to be explorers. We dream to be princesses. We dream to be the world’s greatest sports star.

We dream.

Looking back at our childhood dreams, we rarely feel we failed because we didn’t become the astronaut. Or marry the prince. Or found new lands. Or had stadiums cheering our name.

Instead, we look back and remember a time when dreams had no limits and anything was possible, even if, in reality, it never was.

Yet we never use the fail word. Because, in truth, we never failed.

Just because something didn’t happen doesn’t mean it’s a failure. Far from it.

That failed astronaut? Perhaps he became a scientist and found a cure for cancer.

That failed princess? Perhaps she became a politician and ended global hunger.

That failed sports star? Perhaps he became an author and wrote the book that changed the world.

Failure is simply a word. A perception of what might have been versus what is. Another path on an ongoing journey.

Something that exists because we allow it to.

If we allow failure to exist, we can also disallow it. And if we disallow it, we can think the way we did as children. Where one dream not realized becomes another yet to happen.

Because if something can still happen, it hasn’t failed. And if failure hasn’t yet happened? Perhaps it never will.

Why Mediocre Blogging Can Still Be Great

Recently, I was chatting with some friends about blogging, and how it’s changed over the years.

From social media to richer forms of content creation like videos, podcasts, story-driven blogging, etc, it could be forgiven to think that blogging as we know it (writing a post, publishing, hoping others read it either on the page or vie email/RSS) is about to disappear.

One of the reasons that came up was the fact there was so much mediocre blogging on the web. And, to a point, this is true.

With so much emphasis placed on eyeballs and clicks, quality can often be forgotten or eschewed for some other metric.

It led to a nice discussion on what was really important when it came to blogging.

Killer Content or Kill the Content?

One of my friends mentioned that the most important part of a blog post was the headline. I countered that?the headline didn?t matter if the content sucked, while my second friend’s take was a killer headline can help guide the post.

This then led to the question of the post itself.

I mentioned that it?s not always possible to post killer content every single post, as much as we try to as bloggers looking after our readers. My second friend asked?if the reader learns, then isn?t that killer?

I responded yes, which means that in that respect even mediocre can be killer.

This turned into a great follow-up discussion about whether you should post at all if your writing is just mediocre, with my second friend suggesting that instead of regular posts, only publish when and if you?re going to knock it out the park every time.

I don?t disagree with him that mediocre posts shouldn?t be published (it?s why I used to have about 25 posts always in draft mode, waiting on some tinkering with content).

Where I do differ is that it?s down to interpretation.

Your Bad is My Awesome, and Vice Versa

As a blogger, I go out of my way to try and make sure that whatever I publish has both relevance and information that will help my readers. I?m pretty sure every single blogger out there is the same.

Yet the relevance and ?brilliance?, if you like, is down to the reader.

Say I write what I think is a killer post about social media monitoring tools.

To some readers, it could be the greatest thing since sliced bread. To others, it could be, ?Meh, I know this, this post has no value to me. Next.?

To that person, the post is mediocre because of the information (or lack of) inside the post. Yet to the reader who never knew this information, the post may be killer because it?s opened their eyes to something they never knew.

As I mentioned to both friends, no-one sets out to deliberately write a mediocre post ? but sometimes some posts will always be better than others, that?s just natural.

The point is to be happy that what you wrote doesn?t short-change you or? your readers. Unless you have that confidence, don?t publish.

Thoughts?

Sunday Shorts – Businesses Doing It Right Edition

Anyone that reads this blog regularly, or knows me on Twitter/Facebook, would probably say I do my fair share of questioning (or criticizing, depending on your take).

It’s probably a fair statement – because we all should question and criticize when something seems off. Otherwise, we’ll live in a world of unicorns and pixie dust where no-one is held accountable. Meh to that!

Anyhoo… As much as there are people and companies doing things “wrong” (subjective to your thoughts), there are also companies, people and businesses doing things right.

Here are just three.

Whyte & Mackay

In my last post, I shared a great video on how Scottish whisky maker Whyte & Mackay are connecting with their customers through the power of empathy, storytelling and humour.

Following that, both Whyte & Mackay and Richard Paterson were on Twitter and showed why they’re winning over so many people online.

By reading the post itself, they knew that it was Phil Baumann that instigated it and made sure to thank him too, and not just the referring source.

By doing so, they immediately raised the “fan” level of both Phil and myself, along with a lot of others we’ve shared the story with.

Takeaway? The bigger picture isn’t always in front of you. Recognizing the various arms of a conversation makes you a far smarter business.

Canadian Pet Connection

I love the guys at Canadian Pet Connection in Oakville, Ontario (disclaimer – we’re friends). This is a successful father and son team who’ve built a great reputation in the area as a business doing things right.

When you visit their store, they’ll take the time to chat with you as a person and not just a customer. They’ll offer expert advice on how to look after your beloved pet, as well as recommend products that might mean you going to a competitor, because they love animals so much.

They take that offline experience online, where their blog shares advice on healthy pets, safety concerns and more.

On Twitter, the son Brandon often looks for conversations of pet owners talking about their pet’s birthday, and offer to ship them a surprise birthday pack. Cool, right?

Takeaway: If your customer has an awesome experience with you offline, transfer that online and expand it to a wider audience. The results will speak for themselves.

Seth Godin

Earlier this week, marketer and author Seth Godin sent out an email to promote the release of Steve Pressfield’s new book, Turning Pro. All well and good – except when the pitch was used in reference to the death of Ray Bradbury.

At best, the tie-in was misplaced (citing the similar thinking of Pressfield and Bradbury) – at worst, it could have been seen as using someone’s name to shill a book.

Clearly others felt that way too.

There were other updates across Facebook and Google+ that followed the line of thinking that the pitch was horribly misplaced. Something Seth clearly heard.

Takeaway: We all make errors in judgement – that’s human. How we deal with these errors defines the perception people have of us. Seth showed that taking responsibility, not making any crap excuses and apologizing is the smarter thing to do.

These are just three examples of businesses and people doing things right – there are many more. The important thing is, we recognize them and the reasons why they’re the right and smart approach, and how that benefits the person or company in the long run.

Something we can all learn from, no?

How to Maximize Breakage (conversationagent.com)
Ray Bradbury (justkickinit.ca)
Putting Social Business Into Action (socialcrminfo.com)

The Problem With Perception

In public, people say and do things to build a perception of them.

Some of this is calculated; some, natural. After all, perception is everything. It gets you work; clients; a promotion; a date; a raise; and more.

No-one wants to be perceived as anything but awesome, so they build the perception about them carefully. Others buy into it, and the perception crafting reaps its reward.

The problem is, perception – by definition – is fragile. All it takes is for one slip, and the house of cards that is your perception comes crashing down. And the funny thing is, it doesn’t even have to happen in public for it to start making a difference in public.

All the more reason to be consistent across the board, no?

Everyone is a Customer

One of the things we’re always advised to be wary of is that social media puts us in the spotlight 24/7. As businesses, we need to be focused on our customers and their needs, and as customers we now have an “in” to the businesses that provide us our goods and services.

This have been a double-edged sword in many examples, with customers taking out their grievances in very public places whether the grievance was warranted or not. Yet it’s also allowed business to respond to grievances, and be seen to make things right in the same public space as the original complaint. This has led to haters turning into fans, and everybody wins – customer and supplier.

One of the things we’re often advised to be wary of is that social media puts us in the spotlight 24/7. As businesses, we need to always be on and aware that our customers have an “in” to airing their views in a public place.

Wise words. It works both ways, though.

Customers – or potential customers – are also always on when it comes to thinking ahead and making decisions. We check companies out; we see how they position themselves in public; how they react and deal with queries and situations that we, as future customers, might encounter.

Which made this exchange today (highlighted at the end of the post) really stand out.

Reading through the exchange, two things came across. First, whether information is incorrect or not, lambasting a customer (and therefore a stakeholder in your business) never comes across well. Second, would I want to be a customer of a business that responds this way to a point of view (misled or not)?

Since potential customers don’t wear signs over their heads that say they may be interested in our products or services, we can’t tell who is and who isn’t just a passing visitor. Especially online, where there’s no physical store to walk into and grab a salesperson to talk to.

So, if everyone is a (potential) customer, how are you presenting yourself?