Not another metaphor from the Olympics

Yes, but one well worth a few moments of your time, I think. Tom Asacker offers some some marketing insights based on his observations about coverage of the Olympics here that make two salient points, one directly and the other implicitly.

Contrasting marathoning with gymnastics, Tom points out that a focus on the racing metaphor has an unanticipated down site.

Do you compete? Are you like a marathoner or cyclist? Are you trying to “catch” someone. I certainly hope not. The competitive paradigm is an extremely dangerous one in business: it forces you to both compare yourself to, and align your thinking with, others. And inevitably, you begin focusing on the wrong things.

At the start of a race you have a panoptic view, don’t you? You’re aware of everything and everyone. But as the race progresses, you tend to focus narrowly on those few runners nearest to you – your “competitors. And what inevitably happens? You get blind-sided.

His point is that marketing and branding are ultimately not about competing but about excelling and being unique.

Great brands visualize each days “routines,” with the goal being to “stick it” every time. They’re driven by something inside of them; something that pushes them forward and allows their uniqueness to shine through. This notion that brands need an enemy–someone or something external–to motivate them is a bunch of old, white guy horse hockey.

The implicit point comes back to a theme I’ve sounded on this blog a number of times in the past. There is no competition in voiceover. And ultimately it’s Tom’s point about branding that underscores why I see things this way. If you wish to be a generic voice doing “happy” “sad” “upbeat” or “smooth” reads on cue, you’ll find there’s a lot of competition. Tons.

But, if you concentrate on marketing your voice, your unique experience, values and take on things, you’ll discover that you are the world-wide exclusive source for voiceovers by you; just as I am the world-wide exclusive source for voiceovers by Bob Souer. There is no competition because no one else is you.