“They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” -Carl W. Buechner
I spend way too much time questioning the sustainability of display advertising. It’s a random topic that I’m always considering, not only because I make a living from it, but also because every digital media company on the web appears to be going after it. The result is that the producers of content strive for mediocrity on a regular basis. I’ve even done so myself and when I attempt to produce mediocre results, that’s exactly what I get. Every morning I’ve decided to switch my routine. Rather than starting with email, a blog post, or something work related, I search for inspiration.
On the web, there is inspiration all over. In blogs, in music, in content being shared by our friends. As I sift through the content, only exceptional information stands out. Why then do we compromise on a daily basis when we produce information? Many of those limitations are a direct result of budgets and deadlines, or our perception that the market is fine with average.
Yesterday at Ignite DC I listened to Justin Thorp who spoke about “Doing Epic Stuff”. It’s a common thread that I’ve been hearing regularly and it’s an idea that I’ve been watching spread throughout the creative class. Seth Godin regularly talks about ideas that stick out, such as the “Purple Cow”. My friend Ryan Moede recently posted a quote from a Nike marketing director, “We don’t do advertising anymore. We just do cool stuff. It sounds a bit wanky, but that’s just the way it is. Advertising is all about achieving awareness, and we no longer need awareness. We need to become part of people’s lives and digital allows us to do that.”
Whether or not you agree with the argument that Nike doesn’t do advertising anymore, the point is clear: do cool stuff and people will notice. In a world of limitless content only awesome things stand out. We share that content on a daily basis via Twitter, Facebook, delicous, and FriendFeed. While advertising is always useful for building initial awareness, as the Nike marketing director stated, truly awesome products, services, and information, spread on their own.
So seriously, next time you get ready to hit the publish button (as I do multiple times a day), ask yourself if you really love the content that’s getting published. Did this mediocre article inspire you? 
Do you think it’s necessary to always hold people to high standards? Do you think mediocre content is sufficient?
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I actually prefer the offbeat stuff, because content is just boring most of the time, because everyone is following social guidelines, web guidelines, and trends, and so to me exceptional content is stuff that can be found all over the place, making mediocre to me - but that's just me.
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So this topic is acute nowadays as i can posses...Like your style, besides!
Thank a lot for sharing!=)
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I love his saying:
They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” -Carl W. Buechner
that's really really true.
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Being a critique of one's own work is fine but I tend to leave it to my readers.
You can please some of the people some of the time and most of the people most of the time, you can't please all of the people all of the time.
Do what you do and let your readers criticise.
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Liza Sperling
http://www.lizasperling.wordpress.com
http://www.lizasperling.com
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