You weren’t meant to be boring as fuck. There’s a shiny uniqueness within you that wants to get the hell out. And it’s not just a line I read in book, it’s actually a VITAL virtue if you want to make your online presence STAND OUT. Read the following cartoon-enhanced post and remember the stuff. Damn, your digital future’s is on the line !
BTW – I’m sorry for the crappy drawings. I didn’t sleep last night (creating too much), so my creativity is below toilet level. Don’t flush me down yet – this post can still edutain you. Time to stand out.
Some people claim that we now have the attention span of a goldfish, which equals fast-forward ADD run on nitro fuel. Cry or die about it, but if you want to reach people today, you have feed your wisdom in quick, digestible bites. And that means: no more fucking fluff ! Pretend you’re a Russian during WW2 – you have limited ammo and every shot MUST COUNT. So, use your bullets wisely.
Eliminate everything that distracts from you core message. Let the most important words speak for themselves, without compromise. Most people have to write blog tomes to get to the point. Getting straight and stylishly to the point is far more interesting.
Create contrast. Lots of it. The secret sauce that makes excitement taste triple as good. Every good image, book or movie has contrast – because we humans luv a good conflict ! Contrast is created by mixing radically different styles: Black and white. Small and big. Soft, Disney-channel language and rough, curse-like-a-drunken-sailor HBO nightlife special comedy. If I curse all the way through a post, it will lose its power. But if I use a lot of fluffy language and smuggle some F-bombs between the meal, it will certainly leave a certain OOOMPH to some of you. Fact is, opposites make (online) life interesting. So use as much contrast as you can possible summon.
Get closeR. And I don’t mean LITERALLY like the dude in the pic. Who in the hell wants to see boogers ? No, what I mean is getting closer to your community by exposing lots of the stuff you DON’T WANT TO SHARE but MAY BE VALUABLE to your fans & clients. The person who only shows success & and the sunny side causes distance, because we know nothing’s always gloriously rainbowy-like ( I know, because I used to be one of them). Instead, share some of the failures, like your personal FUCK-UPS and “wrong-doings”.
Bridge the gigantic online distances by showing the good, the bad and the ugly of your online journey. You will connect faster with your peeps than you can say “super galactic gorilla honey glue”.
Know when to do the opposite. I always hated the cliche “First learn all the rules, then break ‘em”. I thought:”Why the hell do I want to waste my time learning the rules if I’m going to break them anyways later on ?”. But as more experience sneaked upon me, it finally dawned on me: If you just do whatever you want to do, without knowing what’s going on in your niche, you have no clue whether your actions are different and remarkable or not . But if you know the rules of your market, like knowing what everyone else is doing and why there’re doing it, you can STRATEGICALLY do the opposite to get more attention for your brand.
So if every authorpreneur just writes about self-publishing (because authors are shy and like to hide behind their text. WTF) , maybe you should podcast like a prolific pro and stand out like a candle in the wind.
Like the ninja boy in the pic, it will be your secret stealth strike that hits your target’s nerve. You feel like Neo in the Matrix, seeing the code and knowing how to manipulate it to your own advantage. Know the rules. And then break ‘em at the right place. Muhahaha.
Punch it up. The moment you think you’ve gone over the top is the moment you HAVEN’T. In fact, when you create something that makes you want to yellow your pants, you have probably reached the right point: delivering a strong punch that your people can feel with every fibre. I personally try to take EVERYTHING to the next level – whether it’s my writing or drawing style, and I do it DAILY. As the online world gets more crowded by the minute, you have to push harder and harder to reach the same level or attention. And that means punching it up, every single time you create something new.
Invent your own language. Sort of. You don’t have to go crazy and invent a new one entirely from scratch (but it would be cool if you did ;), simply mixing your favorite (and preferably UNIQUE) word combos into the mix can make all the difference. My favorites are “with endless fire inside”, “white magic”, sweet-a-licious” and “punch/puke in my face” among many others. If you do it right, people will recognize your style by just reading a single sentence. And that is pure recognition value my friend. It’s all about owning your place in the brain of your target audience ;)
Lead the way. Like a shiny signal in the ocean. Nothing is more un-interesting than a wannabe leader that doesn’t know the way. The successful online biz builders know where they want to go, and so do their followers. We humans need a sense of direction to survive, otherwise we’d stay in confusion & chaos, and that’s an unpleasant place to be. That’s why it’s so damn captivating to see a go-getter pave the path. Provide it and lead ‘em to the promised land, wherever it may be.
That’s it. I’m done. For now. What important thing did I miss ?
Please share this post with your peeps if you find it interesting.
Join a community of Create & Conquerors
In addition to my best content, you can also get my free comic branding guide and weekly, inspirational cartoons straight into your inbox:
