Perhaps you’ve heard. Dallas (TEXAS, mind you) has been covered the last 4 days in frigid temperatures and layers of ice. Now, no one knows for sure, but it might just be divine judgment for the Cowboys having a miserable season and missing out on this year’s Super Bowl…

Yesterday, I ventured out to meet with a client taking a drive that normally lasts 20 minutes. More than 90 minutes later I arrived at my destination having seen a picture of everything you don’t want your marketing to be.

Going 25 miles an hour with hands firmly gripped at 10 and 2 gives one ample time to think and clear eyes to observe. Here’s some of what I saw…

People Are All to Willing to Play Follow the Leader
In an ice storm it makes sense to do what others are doing, to follow in the paths they’ve already created. It sure makes for a slow ride, but all things considered this approach leads to minimal accidents. What is good for SnowMaggedon however, is horrific for your brand.

Yet, following the leader is a common practice in business. I’ve sat around many a board room listening to executives lament about their wanting to do what their competition is doing. And unfortunately, given the money and the opportunity that’s exactly what they set out to do! They find themselves advertising in the same periodicals. They brand themselves with the same colors. They position themselves with the same words and phrases. They offer the same incentives.

Here’s a marketing principle: the first to do something will always get the recognition. Doing what worked for others just never yields the results you think it will.

As I was driving the roads yesterday, I was reminded of the many businesses that are trodding along mimicking and following their competitive sets.

The Middle Ground is Preferred
The safest place to be yesterday was in the middle lane. It was the most traveled path and it had the most clearings between patches of ice, because clear inroads had been worn by car after car following the same course. While in this case, staying in the middle lane allowed ample room for a car to veer left or right should it hit an unexpected ice patch, the middle lane should not be the first choice for your brand.

Just think back to last night’s dinner. Maybe, like my family, you had soup or stew or chili in the hopes of keeping you just a bit warmer. How does that meal taste when it’s just luke warm? If you’ve ever had this happen, most likely you choked back the bite and made a trip to the microwave to warm it up. When you’re looking for something hot, luke warm just won’t do. And unless you’re European, you probably don’t enjoy a luke warm soda or glass of water. Middle ground in marketing is like luke warm in your mouth. It gets rejected… or worse yet, it just gets ignored.

It would have been just as effective to do nothing at all.

Risk Takers Are Punished
The right and left hand lanes were the least traveled yesterday. But that doesn’t mean they were empty… No, these were just the people who thought they would be the ONE who could go 55 miles an hour and avoid a mishap. Unfortunately, when dealing with mother nature’s blistery ice storm, racing past the masses simply landed most of these daredevils headfirst into a highway divider or found them doing doughnuts and praying for an empty shoulder to bring their car to a stop.

What may be unwise in icy conditions is often the exact thing that will get your market talking. Of course, I’m not advocating doing risky things for the sake of doing something risky. I’m talking about taking calculated risks and moving out of the middle ground and stepping out of the shadows of your competitive set in ways that make business sense. When you know the desires and drivers of your market, you will be equipped to take a chance and move out of the middle lane and do something memorable.

Nobody notices normal. Nobody buys boring. Nobody pays for average.

Give up on playing the follow the leader game and hanging out in the middle of the pack. Find a differentiator and take a calculated risk to the outside of the pack. When you do, you just might find the recognition you seek.