From You, Not About You
Five words for every top-of-funnel content and marketing strategy
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There may not be a better five-word encapsulation of how to make successful content at the top of the marketing funnel than “From you, not about you.”
From you.
The content is coming from you. The same way Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Last of Us come from HBO. The same way Squid Game and The Queen’s Gambit come from Netflix. The audience knows where great content comes from and who produces it.
Implied in from you is that it can come only from you. It can’t come from anyone else. It’s in your voice. It reflects your values. It shares your unique point of view. It’s fueled by your passion. It’s filled with your expertise and experiences.
All this adds up to being instantly recognizable.
And if it can come only from you, it means that it can’t come from anyone else. This builds and widens a competitive moat around the unique traits that differentiate you.
Not about you.
If you want to earn attention, you don’t talk about yourself. You don’t sell. You don’t brag. You don’t splash a giant logo everywhere that overshadows everything else.
You don’t ask for anything from the recipient of your top-of-funnel content. Again, if you want to earn attention, this is not the place to be transactional or to design everything for your benefit alone.
Instead, it’s a gift. Gifts are “from you, not about you.” It’s “from you, for others” - for your intended audience.
How does it feel when you get a gift from someone that is actually more for their benefit than yours? It feels a lot like this bit from Anthony Jeselnik, where his girlfriend is creating value with her gift… but Anthony is giving a “gift” only with his own needs in mind:
If you embrace it, “not about you” can be an instant and transformational mindset shift for marketers.
When to Check Yourself
There are two different stages of any marketing or content creation process where it is helpful to ask yourself, “is this from us, but not about us? Or is this from us and 100% about us?”
The first stage is when you are generating ideas. Whenever you brainstorm new top-of-funnel content, marketing concepts, or projects, use “from us, not about us” as a filter. See how many you should toss out because they are primarily about you. See how many you can evolve and improve by focusing on executions that can only come from you and will be highly valued by the recipients.
The second stage to check yourself is in the editing and feedback phase before publishing or launching. Whenever you review, edit, and get feedback, ask yourself and others: “is this uniquely from us, but not about us?” Did we sneak in any messages about us? Are there ways to make it more strongly from us in a way that differentiates us from our competition?
It’s a great gut check before you publish to ensure you’ve stayed on track.
It’s so easy to slip backwards on this and start talking about yourself, getting transactional, or giving gifts for your benefit and not the recipient. So, remind yourself regularly and get your team to hold each other accountable.
If this really resonates, you might even want a more permanent reminder 🙂
What’s Earned My Attention Recently
This new book from Chris Anderson, the head of TED, is deeply aligned with “from you, not about you,” gift-giving, building relationships, and most importantly, creating change at scale.
Unconventional Strategies for Brave Podcasters
I’m doing a talk at Podcast Movement Evolutions in LA on March 28th, sharing many of the ideas from this newsletter and a forthcoming book for marketers. (This will be me personally practicing “from me, not about me”!)
If you’re seeking to create a differentiation strategy for your marketing and content, have you considered Competitive Differentiation Strategy™?