This morning I was writing about writing, as I often do. Today, though, my mind and pen wandered to writing for my own business. The last few months, I’ve fallen out of that practice too. At least on the blog. I still post regularly on LinkedIn.
As I dug into this on the page, I realized that it wasn’t just that I’ve been busy — though I have been. It was also because my heart hasn’t been in it. When I dug into that, something glorious happened.
I discovered it was because I had a deep desire to create something unique.
I’m in a season where writing about the same old marketing stuff isn’t doing it for me.
How many founders, marketing managers, and copywriters reading this are feeling the same way?
Tired of writing to an algorithm.
Tired of passing on dispassionate advice.
Tired of being strapped to metrics.
So. many. metrics.
Marketing is measured. Marketers are judged on those measurements. Decisions are made against those measurements.
But what’s important can’t always be measured.
Relationships can’t always be measured.
In fact, I’ll argue that relationships mostly can’t be measured.
How do you measure a memory?
How do you measure an epiphany?
How do you measure a moment in your customer’s day when they see your brand for the umpteenth time and just then realize you have a solution to a problem that’s plaguing them?
The answer is: You don’t.
Relationships are built brick by brick.
And the memories we keep in long-term memory are those tinged with emotion.
In this season, I want to create for those reasons.
And … I have that luxury here on this blog.
Not everyone does. For a marketing manager working in an enterprise tech startup, their job is dependent on hitting certain KPIs, and I acknowledge this reality.
But what if we sprinkled some more creative, deeply relationship-focused content into the mix?
What if we brought more life to the assets and campaigns being measured?
Last week, a client reached out to me in a panic. Her internal team had written a series of email invitations for a webinar, and “they weren’t compelling.” I have known this woman for years, and worked with her at multiple companies now, so I knew what she was looking for was originality and voice. She begged me to help if I could, knowing she had only about 24 hours before the emails had to be turned over to the marketing operations team.
I schedule my weeks tightly, and I work with clients who understand and respect this. So this client was aware that she was asking for a miracle. Luckily, sometimes I have a miracle up my sleeve.
I rewrote the invitation emails in time for her to get them over to MOps. She sent me a gushing message back about how much she loved them.
The emails had the same information in them. The difference was that, 1) I wrote the new ones with a narrative arc to them, so the whole series would be an experience, and 2) I wrote them with originality and voice.
The emails would do their job of driving registrations for the webinar — but they would also be memorable and help build the relationship between the company and the reader.
My point is, it’s not either or.
I think we can continue to focus on the marketing activities that we can measure, but do it with more creativity and heart. And I think it’s worthwhile to sprinkle in some less measurable assets and activities along the way — because relationships can’t be put in a KPI box.
Can you spot opportunities in your own marketing programs to bring more life to the copy or content?
To find out how Horizon Peak Consulting can help you create high-quality content at speed, connect with Jessica Mehring on LinkedIn.