All Mission and No Statement

The Dangers of Professionalism

Professionalism. It projects respect, order and dependability. It produces images of firm handshakes, tailored suits and budget meetings and conference calls. Professionalism is necessary in business but if you apply the rules of corporate behavior to your marketing, it can keep your businesses in a tightly sealed box, hidden away from the rest of the world. Businesses quite often make the mistake of being too professional in their advertising.  Professionalism in advertising can be boring and deadly.
 
“Did you feel that? A little part of your soul just died after reading that”
– Dan Heath, Fast Company.
  
Sometimes, professionalism also takes over other areas like the company Vision or Mission Statement. We feel the need to create something impactful and earth shattering yet, in the end, we take something simple and turn it into something very complicated and useless. In the following video, Dan Heath explains how easy it is to get carried away when writing a mission statement.

I am not saying you should be un-professional but leave room for humanity, personality and maybe even a little humor. Don’t be so uptight! Professionalism is commonplace; it is predictable and monotonous and the mind naturally skips over that kind of messaging… and your employees might do so as well.
 
I have said it before; the goal of marketing is to make your business stand out in the mind of the customer. Memorable advertising puts you on the fast track to continued growth. Blend in and you might as well start shredding your hard earned money.
 
Professionalism in marketing is simply “safe” and low risk but it also brings minimal rewards. Nobody will really notice you. Ads that are gutsy have the potential to be memorable and produce much greater rewards. So give it a try!
 
Are you all mission and no statement?
 

Morty Silber, CEO

Mad Strategies Inc.
a Wizard of Ads Partner

2550 Bates Road

Montreal Quebec,Canada

H3S 1A7

514.651.5775 l www.madstrategies.ca

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