Are You Playing It Safe?

It’s been a rainy few days here, and without really thinking about it, I found myself listening to The National’s “Trouble Will Find Me” on my way to work. Some records just belong to certain weather. Certain moods. I’ve seen The National perform live about twelve times, and I still can’t fully explain why their music hits me the way it does. (I took this photo at The Bank of NH Pavilion two summers ago)

But I think it has something to do with how Matt Berninger writes lyrics. His words are dense, covert, full of specific details and anxiety. Lines that sound like private notes that somehow ended up on a record. They shouldn’t connect as broadly as they do. And yet we National fans can quote them like scripture.

That’s the thing about specificity. The more precisely you describe a feeling, the more people recognize themselves in it. Berninger doesn’t write for everyone. He writes like he’s the only person in the room.

In marketing, we default to broad. Usually safe messaging. Language that’s designed to offend nobody but tries to move everybody. The brands and the voices that actually earn a place in people’s lives tend to do the opposite. They say the specific thing to the right people with enough conviction that it travels.

Vague speaks to everyone. Being more specific moves someone.

What would your marketing sound like if you stopped trying to appeal to everyone? What would happen?