A little while ago I had a conversation with life and creativity coach Dawn Kotzer. I like Dawn. She lives farther out in the woods than I do, appreciates the power of metaphor, and knows her stuff, inside and out—particularly the inside part.
We were talking about being stretched too thin and what that does to your psyche and professional life when she posed a slightly terrifying question:
“What if you did nothing at all?”
Just for a while. To give my team (for those of you with scorecards, I have a team of one—that would be me) some time to rest.
Nothing?
Cue the anxiety train, thundering toward the level crossing. My unicycle has stalled. Personal Armageddon is bearing down on me at 100 miles per hour.
“They’d forget me in half a second.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course not. I didn’t say I was being rational. I was just answering the question.”
(Practicing self-deprecating humour in unanticipated moments of glaring self-doubt is something I highly recommend. Does wonders for one’s perspective.)
Freakout trumps logic
I know how fast the Internet moves. Today’s Big Thing is in tomorrow’s Hall of Lame. But I also know disappearing off the face of the virtual earth for a week or so wouldn’t render me permanently invisible.
An unexpected question in an unguarded moment triggered a response I knew made no sense, but it didn’t stop me from going there. It was fascinating and a little embarrassing to watch how fast it happened and how badly it threw me, even though I got over myself almost as soon as I said the words.
Knowing a reaction isn’t rational doesn’t always stop the fragile human ego from getting tangled up in a trip wire. Not even when ego and trap are both in full view.
Our curious emotional afflictions
We are not rational creatures. Emotion is one of the things that makes us gifted artists, storytellers and inventors. It’s also what turns us into self-conscious, insecure lunatics.
For creatives, being ignored is the place nightmares come from. Not making money is only part of the big ugly picture titled “Failure.” It’s not just about the money. If it was, you’d have chosen another profession, like corporate accounting (not to cast aspersions on corporate accountants, but if you’re in that line of work and decide to get creative, you might find yourself in a fetching orange jumpsuit).
Artists, craftspeople, writers, designers—we want to be noticed. Appreciated. Just like everyone else. But unlike some other professions, necks get stuck out farther, souls are laid a little more bare. The personal stakes are higher, because it’s you on the line. Every time.
You want to leave your mark on the world. If you didn’t, you’d never try for a show or a sale. Being ignored, or forgotten, might even feel worse than someone hating your work.
Sometimes that pushes you to work to the limits of your endurance. Sometimes the desire to avoid that feeling is so strong you become paralyzed and do little or nothing to get your message out.
Obviously, neither of those strategies work particularly well.
Turn the irrational into an ally
The next time you feel like you just can’t face the beast called Marketing, consider this: your potential buyers are just as human as you are. They have quirks and neuroses and when presented with a particular set of circumstances, turn into self-conscious, insecure lunatics.
Your customers like to feel important, too. They thrive on attention, enjoy the occasional compliment, and want to know they’re more than just another face in the crowd.
Your marketing message isn’t just about you getting noticed. It’s also about how you make your buyers feel, from the moment you introduce yourself—online, in print, or in person—to the time you deliver the finished work.
Buying involves emotion. The quality and intensity varies depending on the individual and the nature of the purchase, but it’s there. Always. When you approach marketing with empathy, you can create a space for you and your buyer that changes “us and them” into just “us.” Your customers become collaborators. You can worry less about proving yourself worthy, because you’re more interested in extending a sincere invitation to people who share common ground.
When you shift your thinking from the business of marketing to connecting with people as real as you are, getting your message out becomes a creative act in itself.
What do you think—is no attention worse than negative attention? Do you get so caught up in the business end of business you forget there are real people out there?
Possibly related posts:
The one phrase that kicked me in the gut… you said “Sometimes the desire to avoid that feeling is so strong you become paralyzed and do little or nothing to get your message out.”
Yeah, paralyzed. I’m in that phase right now. I *know* what I need to do.
But seeing it in print in this article is a a wake-up call.
Sh*t or get off the pot.
[Reply]
Stacey Cornelius Reply:
April 27th, 2010 at 10:24 am
One step at a time, Sherri. You’ll get there.
[Reply]
the beginnings of attention are in action. Too many analyze and anticipate themselves into inaction.
If work isn’t completed it shouldn’t be seen or revealed until it is.
If you’ve got work in a completed state it’s time to get it seen.
In a world with an internet, the tasks that used to require a lot of networking and access can be begun with much simpler technical skills.
To answer your last question, “is no attention worse than negative attention?” YES… because there will always be some negative attention if you have any attention, but there’s so much nonspecific or homogenous and/or manufactured stuff in the world that original work is always NEEDED. Most don’t know it’s needed, but it really is.
[Reply]
Stacey Cornelius Reply:
May 1st, 2010 at 2:18 pm
I wondered if anyone would bite on that last question. Being ignored might feel safer, but it’s not.
Nice to see you here, Wil, thanks for dropping by.
[Reply]
[...] great marketing isn’t about getting noticed (and why it’s good to be irrational) [The Studio Source] Written on May 4, 2010 by Bryan Formhals in Creativity « Previous Post Next Post [...]