This Is Marketing: You Cant Be Seen Until You Learn to See

Better is up to the users, not up to you
Google is better.
It was better than Bing and better than Yahoo!
Better in what way?
The search results weren’t obviously better.
The search itself wasn’t dramatically faster.
What was better was that the search box didn’t make you feel stupid.
Yahoo! had 183 links on their home page. Google had two.
It projected confidence and clarity. You couldn’t break it.
So it was better—for some people.
Now, DuckDuckGo is better. Because it isn’t part of a big company.
Because it doesn’t track you. Because it’s different.
So it’s better—for some people.
“And we serve coffee”
Until a fire temporarily shut them down (actually, it was the sprinklers, not
the coffeemaker, that did the damage), Trident Booksellers and Café in
Boston was one of the most vibrant and successful bookstores in the
country.
No matter how cheap and big Amazon got, Trident managed to do pretty
well. Because they do something Amazon can’t. They serve coffee.
If you run a retail store that competes with anyone online, “. . . and we
serve coffee” is not a bad tagline.

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That’s because coffee is better together.
Coffee creates a third place: a spot to meet, to connect, to dream.
And so Trident is actually a coffee shop that sells books.
The books we just bought are a souvenir of the personal connections we
made today.
The authentic, vulnerable hero
You know this archetype: the woman who shows up with her full self, her
inner truth, ready to withstand the slings and arrows of a world that doesn’t
get her, until it does, and then they celebrate.
This is a myth.
It’s a dangerous myth.
There are a few exceptions that prove the rule, but in general, what’s true
is that we need people willing to be of service.
Service to the change they seek to make.
Willing to tell a story that resonates with a group that they care enough
to serve.
There could be an overlap. It’s possible that it’s the way you feel right
this minute, but it might not be. The version of you on offer might run many
layers deep, but it can’t possibly be all of you, all the time.
A professional plays a role, doing the best possible work, regardless of
the day or the patient or the client.
When James Brown fell on his knees on stage, exhausted, needing to be
resuscitated by his attendants, it was brilliant stagecraft, not an authentic
performance. After all, it happened every night.
When a therapist changes lives all day long by listening patiently, he
actually might be patient, but it’s more likely he’s simply doing his job.
When the barista at Starbucks smiles at you and wishes you a great day,
he’s presenting, not revealing.
That’s fine, because revealing isn’t what better looks like. Revealing is
reserved for your family and your closest friends, not the marketplace.
Protect yourself. You’ll be needed tomorrow.
Service

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Marketing acts (interesting choice of word, acts) are the generous actions of
people who care. James Brown and the therapist understand that
authenticity in the marketplace is a myth, that what people want is to be
understood and to be served, not merely to witness whatever you feel like
doing in a given moment.
And when we do the best version of our best work, our responsibility
isn’t to make it for ourselves . . . it’s to bring it to the person we seek to
serve. We reserve our best version of the work for them, not for us. Just as a
three-star chef doesn’t cook herself a twelve-course meal for dinner, you are
not expected (or welcome) to bring us every one of your insecurities,
innermost fears, and urgent demands.
You’re here to serve.