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The year's about to end.
It's list time.
Mine consists of three pretentious phrases everyone in business should retire.
Across the enterprise. Romulans fired torpedoes across the Enterprise. Throughout the company is clear enough.
Take offline. Employed by teleconference leaders to quash unwelcome discussions. If drop it is too brusque, hold that thought would work.
Go viral. Shared content shouldn't be likened to SARS and Ebola. Become popular sounds just fine.
Which phrases would you ban?
Word derivations say a lot.
The English word trust comes from the German word Trost, which means "comfort."
It's no secret marketers face a comfort deficit of Biblical proportions, as betrayal feels like the new normal.
Without warranties from their friends—and even with them—customers aren't comfortable doing business with us any more.
How, as a marketer, do you narrow the trust deficit? How do you build a comfort zone where customer engagement and conversation can begin?
Not by erecting a facade, a put-on Seth Godin calls trustiness.
Four years ago, Godin said, "Building trust is expensive. You can call it an expense or an investment, or merely cut corners and work on trustiness instead."
Marketers who labor at building trustiness go for the cheap fix. Trust, on the other hand, takes time and money.
"Trust is built when no one is looking, when you think you have the option of cutting corners and when you find a loophole," Godin says. "Trustiness is what happens when you use trust as a PR tool."
While a minority, the Real McCoys are patently obvious, Godin says. They are "the people and institutions that will do what they say and say what they mean."
Godin points to the "perverse irony" in masquerading as trustworthy: "The more you work on your trustiness, the harder you fall once people discover that they were tricked."
What are you working on?
Pity the poor cereus, which blooms but a day.
Marketing content's a lot like that.
When measured by clicks, most content flowers but a day or two.
And deservedly so, when marketers are conditioned to think news.
But after all the work of content creation, you'd hope your effort enjoys more than a moment in the sun.
That's why I like evergreen content.
"Evergreen content answers your customers' most common questions, and rarely goes out of date," Mark Schaefer writes in The Content Code.
You can, for example, Tweet once every month about an old evergreen blog post, and receive new rounds of likes, comments and shares from people who missed it, Schaefer says.
You need to stop worrying the content is old and "view evergreen content is an investment in an asset for your business," Schaefer writes.
"If you bought a new tractor for your farm or a new truck for your plumb business, you wouldn't let it just sit around not being used. An investment in content is no different."
The Creative Revolution inspirited marketers in the mid '60s.
Will the Creative Comeback do so again in the mid teens?
CMO predicts it will, in a year-end roundup of expert opinions.
The technicians have had their day.
The results?
One in three campaigns fizzle.
Perhaps the creatives' time has returned.
"Blow up any process that isn't dynamic and collaborative," Darren McColl, SapientNitro, told CMO. "Creativity in a world of technology takes constant collaboration, not process."
Here's what others had to say:
Marketers, please come out from behind your tech and data and start acting like humans. You’ll be amazed at what can happen. — Jeff Pundyk, The Economist Group
Do something unexpected, launch a breakthrough, challenge a leader, 'wow' consumers, make memorable moments, engage in new conversations. — Ed Vlacich, National Brands
Effective creativity now requires pairing shrewd psychology with showmanship. In 2016, I resolve to channel, daily, Daniel Kahneman and P.T. Barnum. — Marsha Lindsay, Lindsay, Stone & Briggs
In an age where brands know more than ever about our customers, embracing creativity and fearlessness should no longer be seen as risk taking but instead as smart, innovational thinking. — James Earp, Razorfish
Be bold, be creative, but be human. Think beyond getting attention; design for engagement. And design beyond impressions, think expressions. — Brian Solis, Altimeter Group
Next year, we’re daring to go from being valued to being loved. We’ll be showcasing the power and value of creating an emotional connection. — Susan Ganeshan, Clarabridge
Every week, my two-year-old granddaughter dashes past another developmental milestone.
She's unafraid to ask questions or state her observations.
For their part, the googly-eyed adults around her make a willing audience.
Of course, it does't hurt to be adorable.
Eighteen years ago, designer Bruce Mau wrote his 43-point Incomplete Manifesto for Growth to inspire the designers in his studio in Toronto.
Point 15 of the Incomplete Manifesto reads:
Ask stupid questions. Growth is fueled by desire and innocence. Assess the answer, not the question. Imagine learning throughout your life at the rate of an infant.
Were it possible to learn for a lifetime at my granddaughter's present speed, we'd all be geniuses.
Unfortunately, brain physiology holds us back.
In fact, most minds fossilize before their owners turn 30.
But destiny shouldn't deter you from asking stupid, innocent, childlike questions.
Who knows?
Once in a while, you might get an adult answer.
Disclosure: Bruce Mau is now my employer's Chief Design Officer.
