No Excitement? No Send.

Today's Rule Of Epic Engagement: No Excitement? No Send.

This rule is vital, and just a little controversial. No Excitement, No Send means that if you don't love that message, email, or any piece of content you're about to post - then don't hit send. Period.

Let me take you back in time for a moment.

We'll go to the early nineties, back when phones only did one thing and were impossible to keep in your pocket.

I was working in my college radio station, and being taught about something called "top of mind awareness".

When people are thinking about what to listen on their way to work, our radio station should be the first thing that comes to their minds, they said.

We could achieve this through repetition and offering value to the listeners. People have so much on their minds, so let's make going with us a non decision.

The last statement makes me giggle. Indeed, people had a lot on their minds before the internet, but in was nothing compared to how much we have on our minds today.

Every glowing rectangle we come across is fighting for that top of mind awareness. What's more, everyone who has a business is involved in producing content and broadcasting, not just your local college radio station.

The result is a vicious cycle. We who wish to keep top of mind produce content for our businesses. The more content, the smaller the top of mind awareness space we are all fighting for. The smaller the space gets, the more content we produce.

The truth is that we are all fighting for an increasingly limited space. Conventional marketing tells us to produce more and fight harder. Today, I'm going to tell you something completely different.

Deep recognition is unfailingly superior to top of mind awareness.

We've all experienced deep recognition. It's that moment when you're riding along in your best friend's car or sitting in a coffeeshop. You're listening to whatever music is playing, and all of a sudden, the singer says something that speaks directly to your heart. And time stops.

Maybe it's something you've always wanted to say, but never found the right words. Maybe you didn't know others even felt that way, or had the same thoughts.

In that moment, you are no longer alone in how you think or feel. In that moment, you feel deeply connected.

I don't know about you, but that deep connection is exactly what I want in my potential clients.

Here's how I get that connection: If I'm not excited about a piece of content, I don't send it. If something I write or produce doesn't say something that I stand for, it belongs on the digital shelf.

I don't have a huge brand name with a big bank account that can pay for top of mind awareness. What I do have is a voice. It's my choice to use it in a way that deeply connects with my people.

It also means that I publish less. I take more time to craft a message that I really want to send, not what SEO keywords tell me I should be writing. When I do hit send, I'm excited to see what impact it has on the world.

In the end, it comes down to a choice between feeding the Almighty Algorithm or feeding the people who sill deeply connect with your truth.

Which will you choose, Grasshopper?