Don't be afraid of taking risks

The best artists are the ones who understood the rules of their artform and then broke the rules.

You can't break the rules without understanding the rules first.

But once you know the rules, you have to do something that doesn't follow the rules to stand out.

This thinking is true for creating content and building your brand.

I talk a lot about the rules of content creation and what you "should" do as a brand, but if you want to stand out as a brand, it is time to break the rules.

If you don't break the rules, you will just be average.

You didn't start a company to be average.

I won't let you be average.

You might have the correct type of content, and you might grow your brand, but you won't be rememberable.

I want you to not only be above average but also rememberable.

This newsletter is a call for you as a brand and marketer to break the rules!

Where do you take risks?

Before you click off because I am some crazy artist, let me explain how this could work for your brand.

Contrary to popular belief, Word-of-Mouth is more potent than Paid Media and Direct Response advertisement.

You might get a direct sale, but you don't build community or connection to your customers with a direct response ad.

Word of mouth has trust baked into the interaction, leading to a better community and connection to the customer. The hardest part about word of mouth is that you can't track the impact, so it can be hard to justify marketing spend.

I know this is hard to wrap your head around because I get it - you need to make money, so why not get "guaranteed" transactions through paid ads instead of spending money on building your brand to get word-of-mouth referrals?

In the short term, you make money.

In the long term, you have no brand and no connection with customers.

Just for a moment, I want you to think about videos and photos that would distinguish your brand and tell your story instead of focusing on your ROAS.

If you could create a special project to create content with no strings attached or expectations, what is that idea for you?

I know you have an idea; we all do.

That idea.

That scary idea.

The one that is just an idea, and you have never told anyone about it because it feels like you are breaking the rules.

Do it.

The best commercials and marketing broke the rules

Casey Neistat took a risk when creating a video for Nike when he spent the whole video budget traveling around the world with his friend.

When you think Nike, you think about athletes training hard and doing epic things.

Casey took a risk and told a crazy story of traveling around the world while still portraying Nike's campaign, Make It Count.

The video has garnered over 31 million views organically and has been shared worldwide through word of mouth.

This one risk allowed Nike to tell a story globally, and you can still watch it today.

This organic video continues to tell the story of Casey every day.

No paid channel could do that.

Once you stop spending, the ads are gone.

The storytelling is gone.

It is time for you to be bold and make a video that pushes your team to the limits.

Surprise your audience and make something that takes the rules of marketing and flips them upside down.

Give people something worth talking about

Word of mouth is so powerful, and to get people to talk about your brand, you need to strike them emotionally.

You need product feature videos to teach people about your product, but the thing that people will share is not a product video.

People share great art.

Great art does not come from a meeting in a boardroom.

It comes from taking risks.

Create a video and photos that make people about you with their friends.