Pile of stock photos and gibberish
No: 1123
There’s this client of ours we just love to write for.
They build great software, are really smart, and let us run with creative ideas. But that’s not why it’s fun – and, importantly, easy – to write for them.
It’s because they have a point of view.
That means:
They know, specifically, how the world becomes better if they realize their ambitions.
They know the problem they are solving (and have validated that this problem is, in fact, real).
They know what is causing that problem, and have a plan for replacing it with something better.
They possess biases, grievances, opinions, high-minded ambitions and searing competitive energy.
They get excited, worked up, and pissed off.
You would think these qualities are common. Most companies have some sort of mission statement, or a vision statement, after all… right?
That’s not what I’m talking about. These airy confections — usually spun up at off-sites, painted on walls and then largely ignored — are extrinsic. A point of view is innate. You wake up with it.
A point of view is a way of seeing the world that is, by definition, unique (no one else can stand in your shoes, or your company’s).
A strong, clear POV makes creating good marketing and advertising a great deal easier. I can tell you this from experience. It is hard to channel indifference and difficult to inspire people with the incremental.
Ask yourself this
It is possible that you had a strong point of view at one time, but let it become occluded by success, inertia or a desire to appeal to everyone. It happens. We here at 1000WATT are vigilant to sustain the “1000WATT perspective” on things, even when expressing it sometimes hurts us in the short term.
If you feel like you’ve lost clarity, ask yourself these questions:
If our company were to vanish tomorrow, what would the world miss?
What is our company inarguably (be honest) better at than any other company in our market/category?
What are we willing to say that no other company in our market/category is willing to say?
What competitors must be destroyed in order for our world/market/category to be as we wish to make it?
We put these (and many more) to clients when we begin an engagement. Sometimes the answers come easy, sometimes it takes poking, prodding and reflection. But answering them is always worthwhile. It makes everything that comes after much easier.
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