Forget what wisdom everyone's blogging about. There's a better way to stand out and get the recognition you need to grow.
Long before the book “Good to Great,” there was the idea: “good was great.” Especially when you’re in company with a bunch of OK alternatives. In that setting, good is great.
This type of scenario with “a bunch of OK alternatives” is known as “noise level.”
In very competitive spaces, the noise level is very, very high — such as:
products in the weight loss category,
“quick energy” products
coffee beverages or
iPhone apps.
Dyson vacuum cleaners did this successfully when that industry was content and asleep with the same unchanging product for some 50 years. Yet overnight, they introduced their turbine technology, their unique see-through design and their no-loss-of-suction technology to turn and stand apart in a sea of mediocrity to overturn that industry.
Why does this happen? I’ll explain.
Any category that gets 1) overpopulated and 2) content with how things are, innovation will sooner or later disrupt that space to offer something new because any brand or category will eventually arrive at a level of mediocrity since people’s needs evolve.
Now these “content with how things are” products or services are the OK alternatives you’re in competition with.
For example, a new company asked me to help them brand their premium jerky product. Why? Because the beef jerky space was primarily dominated by one company, so the consumer had only shades of different spins on essentially the same beef product. And like any industry that reaches stagnancy, something will surface to disrupt that stagnancy. The solution for them couldn’t be, “we’re the better premium jerky product.” Stating you're "better" isn’t good enough.
The solution that crushed it? “Nature’s Original Protein Bar.”
Why?
It separated the product from other premium jerkies and eliminated a contest of out-promising one another and driving themselves (and consumers) into a confusing war of words. It's simple. In our greatly accelerating world, the number of options people have is greater than ever. And we’re all one Google search away from seeing all of those options at a glance.
Just search for whatever business you’re in, and look at how many results and the number of seconds it takes to collect those findings.
“Good” Is The Problem
That worst piece of branding advice?
“Do (or create) something good and customers will come.”
After 36 years of helping build large, brands, small brands, and startups, the ugly truth is: good simply means you and your brand don’t suck.
Good in a restaurant means the food was warm, was edible and had some taste. The problem is that we expect those things.
Good customer service is someone who offers some help, is timely and has pleasant manners. The problem? Those are the bare minimum, not something to celebrate.
And these subtle shades of difference are something your competition can easily replicate — which means the difference between you and your competitor is too slight to be meaningful.
And that is the problem.
So besides simply meeting expectations, if you are not differentiating your company, brand or service and proving that your value is clearly more than your competitor is offering -- you are merely good.
Meeting Expectations Is The Kiss Of Death.
If you only meet expectations, you would be:
predictable
monotonous
repetitive
A Strong Pattern Emerges
Every strong brand has a great balance between predictable and familiar and a certain level of discovery and innovation. From Airbnb to Apple to Nike to Starbucks, you will discover a strong balance between these two ends of the spectrum:
familiar and new.
Have you ever you ever gone to a store or a restaurant and each time, they simply gave you what you expected, never surprising you, never giving you a chance to discover something new, never exceeding expectations?
That would be -- at best boring -- or a living hell (remember the movie, Groundhog Day?). How soon before you started looking for anyplace else to “shake things up”?
Imagine a spouse or friend you saw every day who:
always gave the same greeting
always followed the same pattern
always talked about the same game, concert or TV show episode they loved
always uttered the same expressions and gestures
always gave the same gifts
After a while, it goes from “good” (assuming it was good at one point) and becomes monotonously maddening.
Yet, businesses of all types (especially retail these days) are doing just that and wondering “Why isn’t everyone excited over our perfect dance interpretation of a Valium buzz?”
A Boatload Of Good Can Kill You.
Here’s how:
Give Me One More Good and I’ll Punch You in the Mouth
Too much of a good thing?
Damn right.
More Good Doesn’t Become Great. That’s A Quantitative Misstep.
Shoveling a bunch of good actions (those that merely meet expectations) does not make a single one of them great.
Maybe the sheer quantity might impress some, but it doesn’t raise the bar. Only doing great raises the bar.
So What’s Great?
Something you didn’t expect.
Something that helps the customer increase the value (or enjoyment or efficiency or access).
Something that amplifies what good they might already have, beyond a foreseeable next step.
Why?
It shows observation.
Interest.
Looking to the future.