Strive To Be the Best? Poppycock!

Sometimes someone says something that is so pithy it concisely encapsulates the essence of a philosophy, an artistic movement and occasionally life itself. ‘Do Unto Others’ is life in a nutshell, isn’t it?

Let’s talk marketing.

How many companies have we all worked with or for (there’s a big difference, in case you didn’t know) that talk about and strive to be ‘the best’? Almost everyone focuses on it… some companies are manically driven by the concept, particularly those run by or started by engineers, PhDs, MDs or techies.

So sad that so many otherwise smart people actually believe that ‘the best’ product wins. And all around them, life shows each day that being the best is no guarantee of anything. Is Selma Hayek married to the best looking man in the world? No. Is Warhol’s soup can anywhere near the best painting in the world (by any definition of ‘best’ you choose)? A big, fat it's worth $20 million no.

Anyway, here’s the pithy statement that sums up marketing in a flash of insight: “Don’t strive to be the best; strive to be unique.”

First, ‘the best’ is indefinable for most markets and products. Marketing isn’t sports… there’s no timer or scoreboard or tape measure to tell me that I’m the ‘best’ sprinter or pole vaulter in the world. And when it comes to advertising, even the courts have ruled that saying you’re ‘the best’ is what they call 'puffery' (worthless advertising hype that consumers don’t believe so you can claim it all you like).

“So, what are you saying? That I shouldn’t strive to be the best?” That’s exactly what I’m saying.

Why fixate on being the ‘best’ if the goal can’t be defined? It’s like striving to be ‘splendiferous’.

And even if you could develop ‘the best’ widget, there’s no guarantee even one consumer will by it.

Strive to be, in Seth Godin’s words, ‘remarkable’ and/or strive to be ‘unique’. Remarkable sells, unique sells, life’s staples sell (like food and water and sex)… nothing else sells.

All you techies out there, you engineers, you scientists… use your intelligence and common sense and life’s experiences to get a grasp on marketing realities 101. In the vast, vast, vast majority of cases, marketing success (which translates into sales and fame and fortune) isn’t bestowed upon the best. Think about it rationally for once, will you?

(Isn’t rationality what you claim to be ‘the best’ way of arriving at a decision?)