How Marketing is like Stand-up Comedy: Finding your Voice
Marketers are constantly hearing from digital marketing specialists - content, content, content! Putting out good content on a regular basis is key to becoming the industry expert, a thought leader, and showing Google that you deserve attention in their search engine results. An easy solution to this is to outsource your writing -- just have one of the many talented writers out there write up a piece for you. Yes, that works. But what works better is a piece that is written with your company's personality shining through.
In comedy, we call this finding your unique 'voice' or 'point of view.' Every comic needs some perspective that s/he brings to the stage. That can be a daunting task! I still have a way to go on mine after three years of doing stand-up. Think of some of your favorite comedians: Bill Burr, Joan Rivers, Jim Jeffries, Dave Chappelle, Kathleen Madigan, George Carlin, George Lopez, Maria Bamford, Jerry Seinfeld, Amy Schumer. Do you notice how each of them could tell the same joke, and it would be completely different? It's that uniqueness that separates each of them and makes them what they are.
Now, think of the writing your organization is putting out. Is it unique? If one of your customers was to read it, would they say, "Hey, I know who wrote this!"?
So, how do you find your voice? How do Stand-ups do it? Here are a few things to consider as you find your voice:
Give one or more of those a try and see if your writing starts to take on more of your corporate personality. The outcome will be better engagement with your market and likely more sales or leads. Consider what legendary comedian Bill Hicks says: "If you can be yourself on stage nobody else can be you and you have the law of supply and demand covered." If you can put out content in your own unique voice, your competition won't be able to touch you!
In comedy, we call this finding your unique 'voice' or 'point of view.' Every comic needs some perspective that s/he brings to the stage. That can be a daunting task! I still have a way to go on mine after three years of doing stand-up. Think of some of your favorite comedians: Bill Burr, Joan Rivers, Jim Jeffries, Dave Chappelle, Kathleen Madigan, George Carlin, George Lopez, Maria Bamford, Jerry Seinfeld, Amy Schumer. Do you notice how each of them could tell the same joke, and it would be completely different? It's that uniqueness that separates each of them and makes them what they are.
Now, think of the writing your organization is putting out. Is it unique? If one of your customers was to read it, would they say, "Hey, I know who wrote this!"?
So, how do you find your voice? How do Stand-ups do it? Here are a few things to consider as you find your voice:
- Fake it 'til you make it. In comedy, a new comedian will often imitate the style of his/her favorite comedian until his/her own voice starts to emerge. Find some writing out there that you really like and start emulating it. Look to companies that you feel have the same personality or corporate culture as yours (for example are you more like Southwest Airlines or United? -- ouch!).
- Look at the content that is already getting the best reaction -- likes, shares, comments, mentions, etc. What's in that content that really grabbed your audience? Bill Burr found his voice by messing up on stage, swearing angrily at his predicament, and discovering that the audience loved his true, swearing voice. For a past business, I once wrote a blog on how small businesses are like chicken wings. It got such a huge response that I had to spend time finding out what was so special about it.
- Take a strong hit of LSD. No! Just kidding. But...it did help George Carlin discover that he was a cantankerous rebel rather than the typical goofy stand-up. How can you apply that? Go for a leadership retreat away from the office and get outside of your comfort zone. Force your brain to see things from a new perspective.
- Find out what's behind the rhetoric. When you're communicating with your market, you're trying to persuade them to do business with you. What's behind that argument? I mean, what's your attitude, your unique selling proposition, your bravado and confidence as a company? Get to the essence of WHY your organization does what it does.
- Take this advice from comedian Steve Hofstetter: "Ask ten people who you’re close with and ten people who barely know you to describe you in a few words (without sparing your feelings). The words that repeat are usually who you really are." The same can be done for your company with a simple survey. I've done this for both my comedy and my businesses. It's amazing what you'll learn about yourself.
Give one or more of those a try and see if your writing starts to take on more of your corporate personality. The outcome will be better engagement with your market and likely more sales or leads. Consider what legendary comedian Bill Hicks says: "If you can be yourself on stage nobody else can be you and you have the law of supply and demand covered." If you can put out content in your own unique voice, your competition won't be able to touch you!