Friday, February 6, 2009

Be Interesting! Two Great Blog Posts About Going Beyond the Ordinary


Tammy "Grouchy Marketing Lady"
tries hard to be DIFFERENT


by Tammy de Leeuw
Financial Advisor Netzone
Grouchymarketinglady.com

I found two great blog posts about one of the most overlooked client attraction methods around- simply being different. Thought you might like to read them...
Be interesting.”

COPYBLOGGER'S Jonathan Morrow offers this...

It’s good advice, but it’s nothing new. You’ve probably known from the beginning that being able to interest readers is a crucial part of growing a popular blog. It’s pretty obvious that no one is going to stick around unless they find your blog interesting.


But how are you supposed to do it exactly? How can you “be interesting?”


Far too much of what we write about attention and interest is abstract. We talk about differentiation, value, and triggers — all useful concepts, but you can’t point to them. You can’t hold out your hand and say, “Give me some differentiation.” As a result, it’s hard to wrap your mind around what those things actually mean.


I’d like to change that. Over the past few weeks, I’ve paid attention to the things that command attention, both of myself and others, and I’ve made a list of 21 techniques that work. It’s far from all of them I’m sure, but it should be enough to get you started.


1) Be wrong: The world is full of people trying to do the right things. It’s become so common that many of us are bored by it. We long for someone that is willing to do the wrong thing, say the wrong thing, be the wrong thing. If you have the courage to be that person, you’ll find lots of people paying attention to you.


2) Be right: You can also gain attention by being right… but only if you’re more right than everyone else. Run a mile faster than anyone else, explain your topic more clearly than anyone else, be funnier than everyone else. Embody perfection, and people will take notice...


(read the rest of this great post at: http://www.copyblogger.com/how-to-be-interesting/)


And the brilliant SCOTT GINSBERG gives us


30 Ways to become the Most Interesting Person You Know



How much money is being boring costing you?

ANSWER: Too much.



Boring ideas lose.
Boring people fade.
Boring organizations fizzle.



LESSON LEARNED: There is inverse relationship between how successful you are and how boring you are.



Seth Godin talked about this at length in a recent podcast with Ductape John:



"If the marketplace isn't talking about you, there's a reason," Seth says. "If people aren't discussing your products, your services, your cause, your movement or your career, there's a reason. The reason is that you're boring."



This reminds me of the movie American Beauty. Towards the end, Ricky (the outcast) finally shoots down Angela (the popular girl) by evoking her deepest fear: That she’s normal.



“You're boring. And you're totally ordinary. And you know it,” Ricky says.



Devastated, Angela storms out of the room.



Ouch.



What about you?

Are YOU normal? Do your customers perceive you as normal?



Hope not. Your business depends on it.



Today we’re going to explore a list of thirty ways to become the most interesting person you know. As someone who makes a living writing books about "not BEING normal," (as well as being pretty abnormal himself!) each of these practices comes from my direct experience, observation, research and reflection.



1. Avoid the Always/Notice the Never. Find out what people who do what you do ALWAYS do, then do the opposite. Similarly, find out what people who do what you do NEVER do, then do the opposite. Here’s a helpful video module with an exercise you can implement to make this practice happen. What are you currently doing that’s unpredictable?



2. Make the mundane memorable. What do your voicemail, email signature, business card, website and blog have in common? ANSWER: They’re all boring. Keep in mind: Nobody notices normal. Nobody buys boring. And nobody pays for average. So, the secret is to create a seamless predictability among all marketing touchpoints. All of these are underused branding hotspots (and more!) require a unique touch. How many customers is being boring costing you?



3. Don’t be one-dimensional. I once had a boss whose sole interest, purpose and passion in life was sports. That’s it. The guy couldn’t carry conversation like a normal person unless the topic related to sports. Or, if the conversation was not about sports, he’d go out of his way to make sure it slowly became that way...


see the rest at:


http://hellomynameisscott.blogspot.com/2009/02/30-ways-to-become-most-interesting.html


Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Tammy

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