That Won't Work For Us

This is a slide from my Point of View / Customer Acquisition presentation from last year ... an online mattress brand published an e-book as part of their digital marketing strategy.

When I share stuff like this (and in the most recent iteration of the presentation, there are more than 150+ examples), there is a very common response.

Common Response:  "Kevin, that's really neat, but that won't work for us. We're unique, we're different. Please share a specific example that is guaranteed to work specifically for our brand, doesn't cost much, and scales nicely. Kthx."

2017 Tactic:  Let's assume that every example somebody provides "won't work" for your brand. Ok. Could we try something different in 2017? Instead of trying to save the whole business, could we try to save 1% of the business? In other words, why not pick a small product line, and see if different tactics could be tried to specifically grow that one product line?

By doing this, you eliminate the "that won't work for us". You are only trying to save 1% of the business.

Try 20 different ideas on 20 different 1% slices of the business, and you might find two that work. And if two work? Then try those two ideas on 10% of the business. And if 1 of the 2 ideas works on 10% of the business? Now you have something!

We keep looking for "all-or-nothing" solutions.

Was e-commerce an "all-or-nothing" solution in 1995?

Was email an "all-or-nothing" solution in 1999?

Was search an "all-or-nothing" solution in 2002?

Was social an "all-or-nothing" solution in 2008?

Was mobile an "all-or-nothing" solution in 2012?

Let's re-introduce creativity in 2017 - start small, try to fix 1% of your business.

Sound like a plan?