I always enjoy Seth Godin’s blog posts. Today’s, Find your voice, struck a chord with me. Godin calls it voice; find your voice, that thing that makes you different, not simply “those things” that seem to be hot right now, and communicate that.
I call it story. Find your story–the thing or things you can say no one else can–and communicate that. Whatever you call it, it has become the forgotten strategy.
Here’s the problem if you don’t find it and communicate it: you chase every new marketing method (email, social media) and continue to have average results because you sound like everybody else.
I sit with business owners far too often and compare their home page to two or three of their closest competitors. With the same result: they’re amazed at how similar they all sound.
Try it. Forget about which site looks better. Look for the reasons each presents for doing business with them and then explain why each is unique (their particular voice or story). Tough, isn’t it?
If everybody’s pretty much the same in the eyes of the beholder, if nobody’s doing a good job telling their story, then “he who spends the most wins.” It becomes a shouting match.
Don’t participate in shouting matches. Find your voice. Find your story. And watch what happens!
I have another website devoted to my work with story.
