HOW HIGH YOU TAKE US

When we see your STUFF for the first time, we know so much less than you. You've understood the purpose and benefit of every feature. You know it inside out. You know how obviously helpful your STUFF would be and how it can enrich our lives.

But we can't see any of that. All we know is a picture of your packaging on our screen for a few seconds. Then it's gone. We know nothing of your STUFF or what it could do for us.

You're flying so fast. You've made it to 30,000 feet and still climbing. But we can't get on board unless you take time to come all the way down to where we stand. Make the complete stop, and give us time to climb aboard.

And once we're aboard, you know how to share. You know how to teach. We'll be dazzling ourselves with your very own words as we listen and learn. And now we're patient, because we can't wait to see how high you decide take us.

Keep us Roped In

Few understand storytelling better than Hollywood.

I'm sure you've noticed, at the movies we never see the entire story. Surely these main characters also spend plenty of time bored at work, eating lunch, running errands, or waiting on their date to check out the clearance racks at TJ Maxx.

But we don't of hear these boring bits of life at the movies. They jump straight to the adventure, the argument, the worry, the intergalactic space battle.

Your life is sprawling. It covers too many events and ideas. We can't take it all in and you don't have time to tell it either. In fact, your audience doesn't want to hear it all. Jump straight to the adventure. Tell us about the crises, the conflicts, the struggles you overcame, the proposal you lost.

Tell us every detail and we quickly grow bored. Jump to the action. Don't skip to the triumphs, give us your heartaches too. Keep us roped in. We can't wait to hear how you've managed it all.

BIGGER THAN HOLLYWOOD

Luke Skywalker's story is one of the most successful of all time. If any movie ever had the It Factor, Star Wars was It! With just a story about a boy from a little planet of sand, George Lucas built an empire (no pun intended!).

The Star Wars story captured imaginations so well, Lucasfilm sold countless spin-off products. And it kept growing until Lucas was able to sell it for several Billion dollars. Imagine paying Billions just for a story!

Lucas's story wasn't created in a fit of inspiration. He carefully crafted it. He followed a secret formula.

Ironically, he's made no secret of the secret formula. He's several times credited a book called "The Hero with a Thousand Faces' by Joseph Campbell as the source of his wisdom.

Campbell's book outlines a string of common elements running thru the world's most famous stories. From Homer's Odyssey to Prometheus, the Vedic Hindu texts to Noah's Arc, even Cinderella and Gone with the Wind all follow this same formula.

Pick your favorite character of all time. Whether its Odysseus, Cinderella, Harry Potter, or Jerry Maguire, we can see these elements in their tale. What Campbell discovered has, with Lucas's help, become Hollywood Gospel. You might even now call it the Hollywood Formula.

HOLLYWOOD'S FORMULA:
ACT I: The hero begins their story flawed and somehow stuck in an inadequate life. Suddenly, an unexpected turn of events tosses the character into a new adventure, with experiences they're not sure how to handle. 

ACT II: A mentor or spiritual guide helps the hero find deeper meaning in these new challenges. A series of trials test the hero's ability. We see them grow as they're forced to learn new skills.

ACT III: The hero makes great progress, but as the challenges stack up, they can't keep up. All appears lost. Just as things seem hopeless and ready to crash upon them, somehow they manage to beat the odds in a way that liberates them from the problems forever.

Hollywood's Formula has generated trillions in ticket sales. A Disney consultant has even re-written the formula in a less academic book called "The Writer's Journey".

What's this got to do with us? We don't write screenplays - at least most of us don't! ;).

But we do have our own story, and we'd like it to be big! Is there a way we can give our story the same It Factor that helped Star Wars blow up the box office?

Keep in mind, we're going to need a slightly different formula. Hollywood is in the business of selling stories. We need to sell our companies and our selves. Hollywood sells the story itself. We have to actually sell something more.

And we don't have the same freedom found in fiction. Your business lives in a real world, with facts, figures and real events in history. But this reality, and the power to put reality on your side is exactly why you have the power to become even bigger than Hollywood. A fiction can never compete with the walking, thinking, flesh and blood miracle that is the real you.

Traction Your Effort Deserves

Invention often becomes easier if you first Adopt something new yourself.

Chinese alchemists Invented gun powder in the 8th century, and used it to make some beautiful fireworks. Local Armies quickly Adopted the new technology to make bombs, mines, then cannons and firearms.

George Beauchamp Invented the electric guitar in 1931. Musicians immediately Adopted the technology, Inventing Chicago Blues in the process. This in turn allowed the Invention of Rock n' Roll.

Barnes & Nobles Booksellers Adopted the concept of a giant bookstore with in-store amenities like coffee and information Kiosks from Powell's Books in Portland, OR. They Invented a behemoth business model that changed reading across the country for decades.

By Adopting MySpace.com's concept, Facebook Invented one of the fastest growing websites in the world.

Adopting Apple's app store and iPhone platform allowed for the Invention of Angry Birds, Evernote and many other successful games and apps.

We all hit walls. We all slide onto rough patches from time to time. True grit and determination are powerful things. Sometimes a simple Adoption can offer the traction your effort deserves.

INVENT OR ADOPT

We all strive to stand out, to gain attention, to be recognized for our most interesting qualities. The moment you can offer STUFF the competition doesn't have, you leap ahead. It's just a matter of telling the right STORY so we all can see it too.

But let's set STORY aside for a minute. Before you craft STORY, it helps to have some truly unique STUFF.

You could Invent new STUFF, it's true. But it's not always necessary. Sometimes new STUFF is just waiting for you to Adopt. Find someone who's built something unique. Adopt their idea. Do it quickly, and you can gain advantage almost as strong as the inventor themselves.

Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), founded in 1970, invented the first Graphical user interface, laser printer, computer generated imagery, WYSIWYG text editor, and Object-oriented programming. They built the world's first personal computer, complete with keyboard and even a mouse. They did it in 1973, almost a decade before Apple and Microsoft, calling it 'Xerox Alta'.

But Xerox executives didn't see the opportunity. They didn't go to market. The computer sat in a closet, unseen by the world. In 1979 several bright young computer geeks were offered access to the Alta project, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were among them. Neither Invented the personal computer, but both were able to build empires Adopting Xerox's technology as their own.

Adopting is not only easier, it's often faster and cheaper than Inventing.

Henry Ford Invented neither the automobile, nor the assembly line, but he Adopted and combined these two ideas to make both famous.

The Beatles spent years in tiny bars, Inventing their new sound for radio. Two TV producers, Bert Schneider and bob Rafelson, Adopted that new sound to create "The Monkee's" which became a huge sensation, almost overnight.

Simon Fuller Invented Pop Idol in Britain in 2001. The FOX Network Adopted the concept, buying the rights to Adopt American Idol as their own, creating one of the biggest TV shows of all time.

Early filmmakers, mostly in NYC, invented many tricks for building scenic indoor sets with halfway affordable lighting. But in 1911, filmmakers realized Los Angeles offered these even better lighting practically year round, for free. By Adopting L.A.'s endless sunshine and scenic variety, they were able to make more films with less money than anyone else in the world, quickly becoming the film industry's global epicenter.

Jeff Bezos didn't Invent the internet or online shopping. He Adopted these technologies to create Amazon.com, making mail order faster and better than ever before.

In the end, it doesn't really matter whether you're Adopting or Inventing when you're able to offer the STUFF we love.

Out of this World

differentiating via features part 5

The Sony Libre was released in 2004, 3 years before Amazon's Kindle. The Libre was amazing but few cared. Even fewer bought it. The Kindle has since blown it to dust and left it for dead.

Because Kindle offered two features Sony didn't. First, cell transmitters were built into the Kindle so you could buy books without ever plugging it to a computer. Second, they actually made books available, crafting deals with major publishers to make ebooks available on their online mega-site.

I still recall seeing Jeff Bezos speak at Book Expo 2008 in Los Angeles. His Kindle demo blew me away. To be able to purchase and download books to a reader while at the airport, in a restaurant, or coasting down the highway got me craving it. He called it 'Whispersync' technology. I was on the hook, came home and bought one the next day.

And 'Whispersync', we must admit, is a pretty cool word. They coined it. It told their STORY well. But it only worked because their STUFF was out of this world.

WHY HOLLYWOOD

Differentiating Via Features Part 4:
Why does one city flourish while another dries up? Usually because of features and benefits.

In 1908, filmmakers in New York City needed lower rent and better sunshine, so they left the city and struck out for Jacksonville, Florida. Jacksonville actually developed a bustling film industry, even before Los Angeles had a single studio.

It wasn't until 1911 that Al Christie opened California's first film studio, in Hollywood.

As you know, Hollywood went on to become the world's greatest mecca for filmmaking while Jacksonville, FL, in quite the same way, did not. Why?

Both had lots of sunshine and temperate winters, but Los Angeles offered temperate summers as well, making shoots more comfortable and efficient. But more importantly, Southern California offered incredible scenic variety, perhaps more scenic variety than any other place on earth.

Need to shoot your film in a desert, beach, mountain, farm, city, valley, a snow storm, or even an odd, alien looking landscape? These features are all right there, in Southern California. But in Jacksonville, NYC, Toronto, Chicago, or London, not so much.

With so many locations available, filmmakers in LA could shoot more scenes at lower cost than anyone else in the world. So they flourished. Their success in attracting so many cinematographers, writers, actors and directors, only increased their competitive edge, which attracted even more talent in turn.

When it comes to movies, there are now more ideas, opportunities and aspiring worker bees in LA than anyplace else in the world. And you can tap into it, simply by choosing to move there.

Of course, filmmaking isn't for everyone. If you dream of farming, or figure skating, or firing rockets to the Moon, Los Angeles probably isn't for you.

This is why you've taken so much time for reading and travel, to find features you like and features you need. Since you can see what's out there, you know where to go. And that's how you get to be who you become.

Catching Your Vision

Differentiating via Features Part 3:

When it comes to automobiles, the most important feature is mobility. A car must continue moving us all the way from point A to point B every time we need it.

Throughout the 80s and 90s, Toyota consistently had the most reliable cars on the road. Consumer reports gave their models top reviews over and over. Honda also developed quite a reputation for reliability. It's no wonder these two manufacturers came to dominate the auto industry. They remembered the most important feature any automobile can have, the ability to move us wherever we want, whenever we want.

When the Prius hit the global market in 2000, Toyota did it again. No other car on the planet could carry 5 people so far on so little gas.

Once again, Honda was their only real competitor, but Honda made a crucial error. Their hybrid, the Insight, had only 2 seats. Remember, both companies built their brands on reliably moving people. Toyota's hybrid moved 5. Honda's moved 2. Try moving 3 people and the Honda breaks down. The Prius was simply more reliable in more situations.

At this point, no one can compete. By sticking to their core values and offering a new feature no one else had, Toyota quickly gobbles up market share to become the world's largest automaker.

Of course Toyota has incredible resources. My guess is you will too. Remember, Toyota did not become the world's biggest automaker overnight. They spent decades building a reputation for reliability.

Pick the one thing you're going to become. Keep at it. You don't have to do reliability. Lamborghini does fine without it. Be excitement, or luxury, or quirky, or offensive, or insightful, but be whatever you'd like to do best and stick with it.

Stick with it for decades, and I guarantee we'll take notice. And years down the road, when you finally find the world catching up with your vision, we'll be amazed to suddenly see a power you've known all along.

IRRATIONALITY BECOMES INGENIUS

Differentiating via Features part 2:

When Google's search engine hit the market, no one else could do what they did. Remember Altavista? Webcrawler? Infoseek? Google hit the market and just obliterated the competition because their search engine helped you find what you wanted faster. No one else could compete with this basic feature.

To say they won marketshare is a severe understatement. They became the market and had no serious competition for years.

What can you do that no one else can do? What can you build that no one else has built? What would you like to practice more than anyone else has ever practiced before?

When friends and neighbors see you toiling away at some distant dream, they'll call you crazy. They're not really comfortable with change.

And this is good. No one notices normal. But with the craziest and most ridiculous dreams, you become notorious. Just like Google, your name's creating conversation. And when your efforts begin to pay off, revealing polished results, we will gasp to see the many ways your irrationality becomes ingenius.

How 2 Get Richest

Differentiating via FEATURES part 1:

Before 1837 farmers had to lead horsedrawn iron plows through hard packed dirt just to get seeds in the ground. In the Midwest sticky clay soil gummed up the process. Farmers had to stop every few feet to scour the plow again and again. After hours of hard, gummy scouring each day, a farmer just might begin loathing the land.

Then a blacksmith moved from Vermont to Illinois. Quickly seeing the problem, he builds a solution. With stainless steel sides, his Scourless Plow can cut quick through the acres. A farmer buys it.  He tells his friends. They buy and tell their friends in turn. This plow, the first of its kind, becomes a runaway hit.

Smartly, this blacksmith files a patent to become the only guy in the country who can build and sell these "scourless plows". Saving hours each day, his plow offers a Feature his competitors don't have.

This blacksmith's name was John Deere. His plow and its profits became an empire, making his grandchildren's grandchildren still rich indeed. Even today, when it comes time to till soil, you'll still hear his STORY as we all are reminded, "Nothing Runs like a Deere."

Even though the scourless plow is no longer relevant, and Deere's original STUFF has all rusted away, this STORY has outlived the patent by a century and a half. It's likely to go much longer. The STORY is so well crafted, and the STUFF such a well drawn part of it, they're still building wealth.

Differentiating via FEATURES is powerful and allows for global growth. Don't worry if it takes time to create. You've got time. And once your STUFF offers Features the competitors can't, you get to smile and coast for awhile. And as you coast, craft a STORY they'll never forget.

STUFF B4 STORY

The best marketing is like a waterslide. You've got to help your AUDIENCE glide easily from their own platform right down into your prospect pool.

If your marketing is not getting enough people into the pool, you'll find the problem resting in one of three places. You've either got the wrong STORY, the wrong STUFF, or the wrong AUDIENCE.

Your STORY is the waterslide itself. It includes your logo, brochure and website. Every ad, tweet and conversation are part of the STORY too. The STORY'S job is to convince your AUDIENCE they might want your STUFF. The entry point to your STORY must sit right in front of them, easy to see and understand.

You've got to make the opening so enticing your AUDIENCE actually likes the idea of going for a ride. Make it fun, simple and necessarily watertight. You've got to know exactly where your AUDIENCE stands and what it is about your STUFF they'll find interesting.

So, before you build the story, know where it starts and how it ends. As Dr. Stephen Covey suggests, let's "Start with the end in mind."

1st, KNOW YOUR STUFF: Can you clearly articulate the problems your product or service is solving and how you're unique from all competitors?

Your STUFF has 4 primary sources of differentiation:

1. FEATURES: Your product can do something your competitiors can't.
2. LOCATION: Your product (service) is available someplace your competitors aren't (**note: you don't need to be best in the world, you just need to be the best your AUDIENCE can see at the moment of purchase)
3. SERVICE: You offer a buying experience that sets yourself apart from competitors
4. COST: Your product is cheapest, or perhaps most expensive. Both draw attention for opposite reasons. (If you do most expensive, you'd best also have an unbeatable Feature, Location or Service.)

2nd, KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE: Can you clearly describe your AUDIENCE? Are you able to articulate, in detail, who they are and what they care about?

If you are B2C, you should know the following about your AUDIENCE:

1. Where do they work and what kind of jobs do they have
2. How do they dress
3. What kind of music, movies, and TV shows do they like
4. What are their favorite apps and social media
5. Where do they go to relax (ie - a bar, the couch, church, a brothel, a resort in Tuxcany, etc...)
6. Who do they prefer spending time with (ie - family, friends, prospects etc...)

If you are B2B, know these as well:

1. What does your ideal customer build or provide
2. Who do their products serve
3. Why do they do what they do
4. What are their goals
5. Who in this business would make the decisions to buy your STUFF?
   • Do you understand this decision maker
   • How do they dress
   • Music and movie preferences
   • Where do they relax
   • Who do they enjoy
6. Why would they prefer your STUFF
7. What is their buying process

Once you've got all of the above nailed down, you know you've got great STUFF and a clear understanding of your AUDIENCE. You're ready to build the STORY of their dreams.

And once you've built that perfect waterslide, with the mouth of your STORY opening directly in front of your AUDIENCE and leading directly to the STUFF you sell, you're set... Oh yeah, and don't forget to turn the water on. :)

SET THE FUTURE DOWN

Sometimes the world seems too heavy. It's so big. Our problems simply weigh too much.

But is this real or an illusion? Yes, problems are real. The world is filled with stumbling blocks, many of them huge. But they can't really weigh you down unless you pick them up.

You're right here, right now. Everything we worry about is out there, in the future. It's only when we pick the future up and start carrying it around that things get heavy. A problem on the path in front of me weighs nothing. It's only when I pick it up that it gains any power.

So for now, just set the future down. You don't need it yet. It'll come when it gets here. Save your incredible strength. The future will get here eventually. And when it does, you'll find it so much easier to hop, skip and jump right over your problems when you're no longer carrying them around.

Marketing vs Innovation

Marketing in 3 Stages:

#1 - STUFF: WHAT have you got to offer?

#2 - AUDIENCE: WHO will want your STUFF?

#3 - STORY: HOW do you show WHY they care?

*Note that innovation requires a slightly different order:

#1 - AUDIENCE: WHO has a problem?

#2 - STUFF: WHAT can you offer to help them fix it?

#3 - STORY: HOW do you show WHY they care?

Much luck!

GRAB THE SPOTLIGHT

Had a great time visiting the Richmond Rotary Club last week. We had a spirited brainstorming session. I left inspired and excited to see their growth getting under way. I suspect we'll see many more members next time we get down that way.

I suspect you might enjoy this video of their session:

Leave us Talking

Your marketing is like icing on a cake. It's the first thing we see. It draws us in, and makes the entire cake taste better.

Icing can do so much for a cake, adding flavors, flowers, frills and lace. With its power you can transform ordinary confection into a party fit for princesses, superheroes, birthdays and more.

But when it's over, no one goes home talking about the icing. They talk about the cake. The icing covers cake with personality, and is then forgotten. It's become part of something bigger.

You know you have great cake. It's taken years to perfect the recipe. You have time to decorate it well. Can't wait to see it.

WHEN BEST IS WORST

You know you've got the best products around. That's why you went into business in the first place. But if you just tell us they're the best, we have a tough time knowing what you mean. To call something "the best" makes a very big claim on a very vague space.

Imagine you bake and sell cakes. They're likely magnificent. But if you advertise them as "best cakes in America",  It's hard to know exactly what you mean. The criteria is too vague.

When budget is an issue, the cheapest cake is best. If I'm trying to keep up with the Joneses, a lavish cake is best. If I'm trying to lose weight, the lowest calorie cake is best. If I'm trying to feed 100 people, the biggest cake is best. Well... You get the idea. Best can mean so many different things it winds up meaning nothing at all.

You know you've got quality stuff, but it's hard for us to be sure. Give us time. We'll figure it out. A little help along the way with a few specific words is all it takes.

Inspiring Income Disparity?

For actors in Los Angeles, most struggle many years without ever being admitted into the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). Too bad to, because SAG membership is a necessary step to top studio auditions and higher pay.

Depressingly for actors, even for the 120,000 who do get in, their average income still hovers around $10,000/year. Yet countless no-namers flock to join the struggle every year, chasing that dream of becoming Hollywood's next big thing.

You see the same pattern reflected in the music business where thousands struggle to even earn a dime while a select few get rich.

Visit a university and you'll notice poverty stricken grad students far outnumber tenured professors. The grad students, many with doctorates in hand, labor for less than livable wages in hopes of one day gaining a tenured position with that fat salary and almost unlimited intellectual freedom.

From a marketing perspective, this makes a lot of sense. Tom Cruise's success appears very inspiring. Watching him on the big screen and seeing his pay check discussed in Forbes gets us dreaming big.

What would happen if, instead, every working actor in LA earned $60,000 a year, regardless of their popularity. If that wealth were spread out, it'd be much easier for practical parents to send their kids to acting school. But it'd also become difficult to get the child to care.

Is this why the average CEO's salary is so astronomically high? Could it be that paying the top person $20 million a year makes it easier to inspire those below? Could an insanely high CEO salary actually attract more talented workers than giving those same workers a modestly better salary themselves?

A living wage does sound a bit boring. It's not much of a story. Marketing-wise, it's hard to sell. But you have deeper questions to consider. Do you go for a SAG type organization where the chance of success is very small and the rewards of that success are huge? Or do you go for a more practically minded company, walking a path more likely to help you enjoy things like eating out and having kids?

And once you've built your own company, you have to ask, do you want to attract the dreamers, who may cling to unrealistic expectations, or would you rather build a more rational, down to earth team?

There are no easy answers. Perhaps it depends on your products and the kind of team you want.

Luckily, you were granted with inordinate power to grapple with deep thinking. There's something special about fleshing out those amazing decisions within your mind. You can see and choose it everyday. Your mountain is out there. We watch with curiosity. Your path is waiting.

Getting Recognized

There are only 6 major film studios.  They are Sony, Warner Brothers, Walt Disney, Universal, 20^th Century Fox, and Paramount.

Without using Google or Bing, relying only on your memory and imagination, see if you can you match each studio to their films below:

“Top Gun”

“The Lord of the Rings”

“Snow White and the 7 Dwarves”

“Star Wars”

“The Lion King”

“Forgetting Sarah Marshall”

“E.T.”

“Transformers”

“Eat Pray Love”

“Jerry Maguire”

“Night at the Museum”

“Mary Poppins”

“Sleepless in Seattle”

“Hunger Games”

“Four Weddings and a Funeral”

“Lady and the Tramp

“Gone with the Wind”

“Finding Nemo”

There’s likely only one studio with films you can identify. I’m willing to bet you were able to do it easily. That's the value of building a consistent brand.

You know who you are and why you matter. You know how to stick to your guns. You know it's so easy to stand steady in the spotlight and you're Getting Recognized.