Seth Godin believes Weird, as in individualism is cool, has replaced Mass, which is fitting in. Mass is based on selling average products to average consumers. Godin suggests that making your product remarkable will result in individuals making comments to their friends in almost a viral way. He may have invented “going viral” for all I know. Apple, for instance, proved that having a remarkable product results in word of mouth “re-marketing” your product.
So how does this apply to a ministry helping people find jobs and/or counseling start-ups? After asking everyone in the job search mode what would be a great job with a target company, I had a ‘weird’ thought. I suggested each person run with their ideas as if they were hired to do just that and their employer asked for a project outline of how they would accomplish their job. In essence create a vivid description of what would really fire them up. When I asked an unemployed entrepreneur with years of hiring and interviewing experience what he thought of idea, he smiled. He said it would have blown his mind, in a positive sense, if someone brought in a proposal of how to benefit his company, as their interview approach. It would be remarkable instead of the average approach to job acquisition. And who knows, the plan may spark a new business started by a passionate advocate. The same approach applies to marketing a business in a new market. I suggested some workshops to a commercial painter that were more than anyone would ever expect. The word of mouth would do more to spread his reputation than strictly following mass mailing and email campaigns. The key is creating a buzz about something you do that is re-marketable. We’ll see.
So if weird is here to stay and average is going away, I’m OK!