How to Stand Out With Substance, Without Needing Stunts and Gimmicks
The great modern philosopher-slash-fictional pop singer Powerline had two hit songs in Disney's A Goofy Movie and also my heart.
I grew up in the '90s, when Powerline came dancing into our lives (stay with me now), Recess and Rugrats ruled, and Doug Funnie and the Fraggles welcomed us into their respective friend groups. But Disney still reigned supreme. Every weekend, I'd rock out to the One Saturday Morning theme, and I'd gawk at any of several shows, before watching another minisode of the genie from Aladdin (voiced by Robin Williams himself) reminding me, "Great minds think for themselves!"
(Is it any wonder my book Break the Wheel is about that very idea?)
A Goofy Movie came out in 1995, and although the writers didn't know it, they gave Adult Jay and Adult (State Your Name for the Record) some much-needed marketing advice, packaged in neon spandex. Because Powerline's two hit singles tell us all we need to know about doing work others notice and love.
(If you're wondering, the answer is yes, I am about to write a semi-serious think piece about the marketing wisdom of a fictional pop singer featured in a fringe Disney film from nearly 30 years ago. If you're new to my writing, welcome! It doesn't get less weird. If you're a loyal reader, thank you! And also I'm sorry.)
Given the actions of most marketers and creators today, it feels like they're obsessed with the lesser of Powerline's two hits (don't @ me). It's called Stand Out.
We want our work to stand out -- nay, we crave it. We crave it more than Pauly Shore's Bobby craves cheese whiz in A Goofy Movie. (You think MY writing is weird? Someone actually wrote this scene.) So there we go again as marketers, grabbing an aerosol can labeled "Be Different” and letting it rip straight to our faces.
Because that's what we crave. We want to stand out, so we obsess over ways we can be different.
But the longer I've done this work, the more I've realized being "different" isn't actually the job. I've always gravitated towards another word to describe how to stand out successfully while serving others with our words: refreshing.
I think of it this way: when you want to be different, you have to answer an implied question next. Different from whom? (Answer: The competition. But that shouldn't be our focus. That's not who we serve.) The obsession with being different is a slippery slope to all kinds of stunt-like, gimmicky behavior -- the "cheddar cheese whiz" of marketing, if you will. (Seriously, watch that clip. I can't believe that's a Disney character.) We all know those marketers and creators who, in their race to be different, resort to tactics that just feel ... icky. Or maybe just unwelcome.
If I give my next keynote with my back turned to you or I wrote my next essay in reverse, so you have to read it from the bottom-up, could you call me a success? I'm different! I'm SO different. 10-outta-10 success at being different. But am I refreshing? Am I different AND welcome? Different AND useful? Different AND valuable to others? Or did my attempts to be different lead me to do something so random, so hollow, so UNwelcome, that I actually torpedoed my chances at succeeding in earning your trust and love and referrals?
I was different, yes.
But I wasn't effective.
No, I think trying to be refreshing makes more sense, because when that's your goal, you ask another, more productive question. You aren't wondering, "Different from whom?" Instead, you're asking, "Refreshing TO whom?"
The audience. The customer or client. The people you're actually here to think about and to serve. Imagine they enter your atmosphere and take a deep breath. "Ahhhh. Just what I've needed. Thank you! How refreshing."
Being different serves you. Being refreshing serves them better -- and when you serve them better, you also serve yourself better. (Don't you just love it when that happens?)
This is why we need Powerline's #1 hit, which is NOT the lesser Stand Out (which, fine). Instead, we need to play the immaculate auditory gift from the gods ... Eye to Eye.
Stylized as "I2I," the song is an anthem for seeing each other clearly, aligning with each other deeply, and moving forward together. It is, in this humble writer's opinion, a song about resonance. No tricks, cheats, hacks, or shortcuts are needed to stand out if you're able to align deeply with others. Substance can be used stand out -- if you see eye to eye.
I mean, just read these lyrics. You're telling me this WASN'T written by a marketing team who, in a fit of Q4 fury, thought it was okay to write a pop song about their work that wouldn't somehow end up super-cringey? It's just too perfect for our work:
I got myself a notion
And one I know that you'll understand
We set the world in motion
By reaching out for each other's hand
Maybe we'll discover
What we should have known all along, yeah
One way or another Together's where we both belong
If we listen to each other's heart
We'll find we're never too far apart
And maybe love is the reason why
For the first time ever we're seeing it eye to eye
This is the missing piece in our attempts to stand out. Alignment.
Long before marketers try to leap out from behind the bushes and surprise their audience with look-at-me gimmicks, those people are going about their lives. If we can't clearly and immediately articulate how we're aligned with the goals and beliefs they already have, then there's no way we get noticed. We won't Stand Out. So we have to resort to shouting at them or peacocking around the internet. We have to disrupt their flow with something abrasive, because we aren't able to get INTO their flow -- to help them get where they’re going faster or maybe to redirect their movement towards something better.
If you fail to meet others where they're at in their own journeys, it's like you come flying out of nowhere, waving your hands frantically, just praying they look at you. I mean are you a marketer, or are you Max Goof dressed as Powerline, swinging from the gym's rafters to try and get the attention of his crush?
(Again: thank you and I'm sorry.)
But effective storytellers understand how to get INTO that existing flow of their audience. They start from a place of alignment, immediately. That's why a great story feels like a jolt to your chest. It's literally an energy transfer. ("Yes! This! Thank you!")
Imagine substance could stand out, not just stunts. I believe it can IF we start from a place of alignment with others. Incidentally, that's exactly how the concept of resonance works.
In the sciences, resonance is an energy transfer that occurs because two systems' frequencies are aligned. Imagine me, pushing my son on a swing. If I match his natural swinging cadence with my pushing, I add energy. He swings further, faster. If I'm misaligned, however, I either miss him (I'm ineffectual) or I slow him down (I'm counterproductive). If I don't resonate, nothing happens -- or bad things happen.
The same is true in our work. Resonance is the urge to act others feel when a message or moment aligns so closely with their own lived experiences, their thoughts, feelings, and abilities feel amplified. From resonance comes action. But we're NOT thinking about resonance as a means of differentiation. We're thinking about stunts -- often, stunts tied to growing reach.
If you want to differentiate easier, learn to resonate deeper.
* * *
As an author and keynote speaker, I've learned there's a method to this magic. More specifically, I learned the structure of highly resonant, big idea-based work from Andrew Davis (be sure to get the book I consider to be the speaker's bible, The Referable Speaker) and Tamsen Webster (her Red Thread method for crafting ideas is genius). Both of them helped me realize the importance of meeting our audience where they're at, then leading them every step of the way to where we want them to be. In other words, they taught me about the power of aligning first, before we try to move others to act.
To help you do the same thing in your work, I want you to imagine you're having a conversation with ONE person in your audience. The trick is that their half is always implied, so it's up to you to anticipate each new thing they might ask you, then answer it. This is what Andrew calls a "dialogue outline."
The FIRST part of the outline is naturally the first question they'd ask anyone arriving to present a new idea to them:
"How's this going to help me?" Well, you say to them, here's your GOAL. This is Moment #1 of the emotional alignment needed to resonate. You're merely acknowledging you know what they want and you're there to help.
"How's this going to help me?" Here, I have your existing goal in mind. It's THIS. (If it's not, we have to get aligned around that. We have to understand them better. That's the only way we can hope to connect.)
Once they understand you have their best interests in mind, they logically think:
"Aren't I already trying to achieve that?" Yes! Here's the STATUS QUO.
This is Moment #2 of the emotional alignment needed to resonate. Like with the goal, you're simply acknowledging to them that you understand where they're at, what they believe, and what they're trying to achieve next.
Next they'll wonder:
"So why not continue doing things that way?" Great question, silent partner in this chat with me. Here are the PROBLEMS WITH THE STATUS QUO.
This makes people go, "Ohhhhh wow. I didn't see that before. We've got some issues." Or maybe they turn to their friend and nudge them. "Sounds like Jay's been watching our company work lately, eh?"
And now and only now are they ready to be moved somewhere. Here, you switch from observing their world (and thus aligning with them) to improving their reality. You're aligned. Now take them somewhere.
Here, they're asking:
"What should we be doing instead of the current approach?" This is where you present the major CHANGE you're proposing. Ideally, it's a mentality shift. It's something foundational. For me, I wouldn't say, "Stop blogging on LinkedIn and write on your own site." I wouldn't even say, "Stop grabbing attention and start holding it." If I dig to the core of my idea, the real change I'm proposing for people sounds like this:
Don't be the best. Be their favorite.
THAT is a bigger idea (or a more foundational concept). It's like handing them a new pair of glasses, through which they can see the world -- and they see it all differently now.
This is the premise. It's the assertion you make. (Mine: If we want to create work that connects, work they love, work that sparks action we need to grow our causes, then we should stop trying to be the best and start trying to be their favorite.)
They're hooked now. They're leaning in. Without pulling stunts or sounding gimmicky, you start to feel ... different. Or dare I say ... refreshing?
Maybe they're on board with your ideas already, or maybe they're skeptical. Either way, they're wondering:
"OK, but what does this look like?" Glad you asked once more. Let me share my LEAD STORY.
The "lead" story is a story told end-to-end in a speech. I consider something a "lead" story when it's relatable to almost anyone. Rather than talk about the founder of some overly technical thing or discuss a celebrity, I talk about a relatable person -- and it's always just one person. (Turns out corporations don't stand up and walk around or really do, well, anything. It's always people. You can't relate to the Savannah Bananas or Death Wish Coffee. But you might relate to Jesse Cole and Mike Brown.)
In the lead story, the main character goes on the same journey as the audience:
They start with the same goal. They want what your audience wants.
They approach it the same way. Their status quo sounds eerily familiar.
They run into similar issues. Your audience sees themselves in this person or team's work or lives.
Then, an instigating moment. Tensions run high, something changes or goes wrong, they face a crucial choice between the old way and new way, and KABLAM-O! They make the change. And it works! Maybe not at first. Maybe you're an adept storyteller who knows how to capture reality and not whitewash it. But ultimately, they model the behavior the audience wants for themselves, with a few lessons you can extract.
"So let me get this straight," they say to you after your lead story ends. "IF I want to achieve this goal I have .... and IF our current approach isn't working ... BECAUSE of all these problems ... THEN I need to make this change ... BECAUSE it might look like that?"
Yep!
"Well then I have just one remaining question."
Hit me.
"How can I do that too?" And KABLAM-O! You reveal to them your METHODOLOGY.
For reference, my current methodology is the idea impact matrix. To get them started moving from where they're at to where they want to be on that visual matrix, I propose a simple first step: tell more small stories with big meaning, using a three-part framework. (May all these ideas help YOU make things that matter!)
Now, the big finish. We retrace those steps and rally them to change:
If you want to achieve GOAL
And you see how STATUS QUO leads to PROBLEMS
Then CHANGE.
Remember that STORY.
Try the METHODOLOGY.
Because remember... (powerful, memorable phrase).
"Don't be the best. Be their favorite."
* * *
What most people get wrong when they try to stand out is they obsess over the last piece of that structure: the methodology. Often, they don't have a powerful framework. They just offer steps -- practical tips and tricks you can find anywhere, aka commodity content. And if you create commodity content, it becomes nearly impossible to stand out. But you already created it, so now, you feel obligated to make it "work." You feel like you HAVE to stand out, because merely presenting the work isn't working. So you shout, hype, and push harder and harder. You resort to gimmicks or leap from trend to trend, but this only ignores the truth: You can't make mediocre work remarkable.
Things get better when we make better things. Then, help others see why your ideas are better. Align with them more closely. Resonate with them. Because while reach is nice, resonance is necessary.*
*(only if you want to see results)
So sure, try to Stand Out. But before you do that, you have to start out seeing things I2I.
If you do, you'll never need to resort to anything goofy.