Why Playing It Safe Will Kill Your Startup

The irony of the startup is that while it's born out of
innovation, an entrepreneur can be notoriously guilty of
following trends. Agonizing over solutions to common
marketing problems often leads to following in the
footsteps of mediocrity.
So my question is this: If innovation is the lifeblood of
your startup, why resort to cliched branding?
In his blog post, " Why Does Your Startup Sound Like a
Startup? " hybrid adman-startup guy Patrick Woods
described the cliche of a startup website as one where
the messaging is direct, factually accurate and
ineffective at eliciting desired behavior. The founders'
pitfall is focusing on what's being said not how it's being
delivered.
According to Woods, “They abort the creative process
and opt for the obvious and banal.”
Unless you run a business-to-business enterprise, where
the buying process is streamlined for the purposes of
time and money, emotion not logic converts interest into
sales. And that’s the way you want it.
Woods explained this as follows: When a message
remains at the logical level, users are left to compare
based on tangible features and price.
Would you rather create loyal customers through
messaging that evokes a strong emotional identification
with your message and mission? Or do you prefer to
compete only on pricing and features?
If marketing is an art, keep in mind that the most
effective art is not always the prettiest. It’s the most
memorable.
Related: 7 Home Decor Startup Trends to Watch
The works of Pablo Picasso are recognizable for their
unique and surreal style. Love them or hate them, no one
can argue that they fail to elicit an emotional response.
When designing your website, don’t be a copycat. Be
innovative. Nobody remembers the name of the
reproduction artist -- no matter how skillful the painting.
It’s a physical law, what goes up must come down.
Whether it’s a ball or a housing market, nothing can
continue to grow " to infinity and beyond ," as Buzz
Lightyear says in Toy Story . To that effect, becoming a
trendsetter is not just a nifty ideal but a sound business
plan.
Being ahead of the curve means never being on the
wrong side of it. In a classic moment from HBO’s Sex
and the City , everyone’s favorite Manhattan socialites are
drinking Cosmopolitans at a bar when Miranda says,
"Why did we ever stop drinking these?” Carrie replies,
“Because everyone else started."
Think back to the origins of your business and why you
started it up in the first place. It certainly wasn’t because
it was the safe choice. More likely it was because you
had a passion that you couldn’t ignore and an intention
to pursue it differently from everyone else.
By definition, following a trend is being part of a mass
adherence to a prevailing tendency, which is the
fundamental opposite of a startup. And that is precisely
why you cannot rely on following a trend to move your
company forward.
Related: 10 Thoughts on Tech, Trends and Innovation
at CES 2014
To adopt the safe choice indefinitely is to ride the
bandwagon until the horse dies. Instead, make it a habit
to occasionally stop and ask yourself, Where am I going?
And why am I in this handbasket?”
Riding the wake of a trend can be profitable in the short
term, but eventually no amount of new color releases (in
your logo, blog or overall branding) will resuscitate that
dead horse. Rather than brace for the disruption, be the
disruption. Or at least, disrupt differently.
Marketing-Schools.org uses the release of Apple’s iPad
as an example. After the iPad was introduced, tech
companies scrambled to offer comparable products in
terms of their features and price, with disappointing
results.
Meanwhile, Amazon developed the Kindle Fire, which did
not compete with the iPad as far as features, interface
or capabilities. But it also lacked the iPad’s hefty price.
As Marketing-Schools.org explained, “In a prime example
of low-end market disruption, Amazon found consumers
who didn’t want all the great features of the iPad, but
wanted the basic features at a baseline price.”
As this year unfolds, don’t fall into a repeated routine of
trying to beat the competition to the trend-making punch.
Instead, focus on what makes your company unique and
different and leverage that to become memorable in a
sea of comparables. Authenticity is timeless. Focus on
making emotional connections through your messaging
and building brand loyalty that will outlast any trend.
Related: 5 Benefits of Being a Misfit Entrepreneur