You're On The Hook

"We seem to be getting closer and closer to a situation where nobody is responsible for what they did, but we are all responsible for what somebody else did.” - Thomas Sowell

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Years ago, I heard Seth Godin speak at the Craft + Commerce conference ConvertKit held in Boise, Idaho.

To end the talk, he told a story about an unexpected experience flying home to White Plains, NY, from his office in Boston. This was before TSA, so he could book a flight and make the trip in just 30 minutes, saving himself the frustration of a three-hour commute.

On this particular day, the flight into Boston went smoothly; he arrived in 29 minutes. But on the way back, his plane ran into trouble. Severe fog prevented them from landing in White Plains, and they had to make an emergency landing in Albany, New York, before running out of fuel.

When they landed, the pilot spoke over the loudspeaker and said, “We’re in Albany, New York. It’s 10pm. We will be grounded here for two or three hours, but I think I can get you back to White Plains by 1am.”

Godin thought this was crazy; White Plains is only a one-hour and twenty-minute drive from Albany. He opened his laptop and did a quick search. He found that the Avis in Albany had one car left for rent that night. It was a four-door car with four seats. He booked it immediately. He then stood up and announced to the rest of the passengers that he had just rented a car and was going to drive to White Plains, saving hours of waiting. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he said. “I just rented a car, and I have three empty seats - who wants a free ride home?” Not one person took him up on the offer.

He awkwardly exited the plane, got in his rental car, and drove home, thinking the entire way about what had just happened. Why hadn’t the other passengers taken him up on the free offer? Weren’t their cars waiting for them in White Plains just like his? Many of them were. So, what was the issue?

Then it hit him: it was the story they were telling themselves about the delay in their trip. As long as they stayed on the plane, it was United Airline’s fault. As soon as they got off the plane, it was their fault - their responsibility.

The hours of wasted time weren’t worth the responsibility they had to assume to walk off the plane.

This is the single biggest problem with marketing in agriculture today: Nobody actually wants to be responsible for it.

To defend it. To stand behind it. To promise a change to a specific group of people who want to hear from you.

Instead, we produce obfuscated messaging that speaks to everyone and impacts no one. We engage in this advanced form of hiding that replaces the opportunity for meaningful, personal engagement with personalized, templated spam.

Last week, I happened to see an example of this when the Irrigation Association held their annual “Irrigation Show and Education Week.” Of all the images shared by friends who attended, one banner in the background caught my attention.

It said, “The Possibilities Are Endless.”

Really? Was that worth posting at the entrance to the show?

No, of course it wasn’t.

Do you know who wrote this line or who decided it belonged on the banner?

No. The decision was probably made by a committee to ensure plausible deniability for all.

It’s safe. It’s stale and it produces a similar response from your audience. It’s forgettable.

We’ve never had more creative - more assets - than we have today and we have never been more starved for true creativity.

Because there is no life in what most of what “marketers” do in agriculture. No one standing behind the brand. No personality reaching through the ether to connect with another human being. The agricultural market today is full of nameless, faceless corporations who keep pushing harder to be heard by an increasingly smaller number of people.

At a fundamental level, it is because we begin with the wrong question: “How do we get the word out?”

• “How can we get more people to tune in and listen to us?”
• “How do we get more followers?”
• “How can we convert more leads to sales?”
• “How can we find more customers?”

So just like our friends at the Irrigation Association, we fall in love with sounding more creative and we create empty marketing slogans which denegrate the work we do.

Because, if it can be for anybody, then the reality is it will be for nobody.

Instead, begin with the question: “How are we different?”

It's a simple, but loaded question because it implies that there is a real choice to be made. You are not just the same as everyone else. You are an agent of change, working hard to deliver your customer - or your audience - a new outcome. It puts you on the hook to build something that matters, to keep a real promise that makes a meaningful difference in the lives of a specific group of people.

And it requires a point of view; a unique frame on our customer's problem, a new lens that makes our company's solution the only viable answer to the customer's challenge. They have no 'why." And because they have no "why," they have a terrible idea of the from-to they're taking their customers on. Then they try to "do messaging," and shockingly, it doesn't work.

- Revenue continues to slip.

- Growth stays stagnant.

- Internal frustration and fingerpointing increase.

- Price wars wage on.

Because there is no messaging that can emerge from the absence of a perspective that will move buyers to purchase. Truly great messaging flows from the unique point of view you have on the problem facing your customers and is tethered to how you solve that problem.

The future of agriculture belongs to companies with a point of view - the organizations that define the problem and design the solution are best positioned to dominate the space. Make something different.

Make people care. Make fans, not followers.

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