Who Cares? vs. Holy Cow!!!
On the art of memorable differentiation
By Jared Smith - Incite Solutions Inc.
I was eight years old, fast asleep, and dreaming of cows mooing in the front yard at the lake. I wasn’t surprised—the night before I had dreamt that I was Aqua Man wrestling a giant Manta-Ray in the Pacific Ocean. Gaining some clarity in the midst of the haze between sleep and awake, I came to realize how focused and vivid these sounds were. Within seconds, I was standing at my window in astonishment.
“Holy cow!” I shouted.
Over 30 cows were mooing and stomping on our front lawn—one of them couldn’t have been more than a foot away from the screen on my window. MOOOOOOO! Lying back down on my bed, I shook my head in disbelief. MOOOOO! Sure enough, this was the real thing. Moments later, my dad and I were being laughed at by neighbours and other passers-by as they watched us run around like wild animals in our Superman underwear—chasing cows off our property. (When the bull decided to charge, things got interesting!)
My family continues to replay this story around the Sunday evening dinner table on a regular basis (the number of cows and the size of the bull seem to have grown over the years). And my point (yes, there is a point!) is this: companies need to start learning from these life experiences that leave strong, lasting impressions. Holy Cow!!! The ones that continue to charge back into our mind’s eye long after the rest have drifted away. experiences.
My cow experience taught me a valuable lesson: memorable, Holy Cow!!! experiences have a few key characteristics:
- They are larger than life
- They are bright and colorful
- They are emotional
- They are way out of the ordinary
- They are tangible
We have been around a long time. We go the extra mile for our clients. We have the expertise to meet your needs. We provide great service. Our products are top quality. We offer customized solutions. We have great people…. We have a nice lobby…. We vacuum every day…. Sound familiar? Do these attributes describe your company? More importantly, does anyone care, and does anyone remember?
It is important not to let the story of your business become common. Instead, ask yourself, “What is Holy Cow!!! about my organization?”
Here’s one way to answer that question: Divide a sheet of paper into two columns and title the left column Who Cares? and the right Holy Cow!!! (Be sure to include three exclamation marks after ‘Cow’.)
Who Cares? Holy Cow!!!
Now take a hard look at your marketing materials, the mediums you use, the promo items you send out, your events, your sales presentations, your press releases, your newsletter, your feature sheets, your business cards, etc. Next, place the messages, the mediums, and the ideas under their proper category: Who Cares? or Holy Cow!!! And then make a pact to stop telling people all the Who Cares? stuff because, of course, clients expect great service and high quality products at a minimum—it goes without saying.
From this point on, focus on developing and putting into practice Holy Cow!!! messages. Larger than life yet tangible marketing pays huge dividends—it’s the only way to go.
Contact Incite Solutions Inc. to help you create and implement a Holy Cow!!! marketing program.
