Have you ever wondered why certain brands are so successful? It’s because they’ve mastered their specific mode of communication. I’ve recently put this to the test by analyzing the advantages and tactics of certain brands. This is a new skill I’ve picked up from Fascinate. In this book, the author discusses the seven brand fascination advantages: innovation, passion, power, prestige, trust, mystique, and alert.
The “Ramp” brand according to the definitions would fall under the innovation advantage. I took the online test just to confirm my beliefs and the result turned out the same.
The four pillars of the innovation advantage are:
Invent surprising solutions.
Turn something old into something new.
Do the opposite.
Infuse a dose of vice.
Let’s break down each pillar and apply it to my brand.
Invent surprising solutions: Finance can sometimes be repetitive and stale. I don’t envy the folks who work at CNBC or other financial news outlets who are required to come up with creative narratives every day on why the market rallied or sold off. It’s also easy to follow what everyone else is doing—such as posting the same bullish Bitcoin chart that extends to $100,000 by 2020.
One of the ways I try to stand out and invent surprising solutions is to ask some of the most basic questions that can spur some of the most engaging conversations—being forward thinking. I also do this by crafting very specific Twitter polls. Half of them are just to appease my curious mind, but the other half are to appease your own—the third half is to train my A.I. bot. I’m trying to give my audience an opportunity to see the world from a new perspective.
Turn something old into something new: The WeWork story has been covered ad nauseum for the past two months—and rightfully so. It really is an unbelievable story that people will be talking about for decades to come. I can’t wait to tell my grandkids about it.
I knew the story was getting worn out when I started running out of WeWork memes. That’s when I knew I needed to get the creative juices flowing so I created what I believe was the best Twitter thread that I’ve ever put together. I used something old and in my wheelhouse (GIFs) and turned it into something new (telling stories with GIFs). I told the entire story of WeWork using GIFs from The Office.
Do the opposite: This pillar is about standing out from the crowd and going against the herd—but doing it with a specific voice. Finance is inherently too serious. Don’t get me wrong, there are absolutely a time and a place to be serious when it comes to your own or your clients’ finances. But what if it didn’t always have to be that way?
<Ramp has entered the chat>. One of my sole responsibilities on FinTwit is to inject cheeky, funny, and flippant remarks into your timeline. I’ve been doing this for years (for free, you’re welcome) and have received a lot of great feedback from people who’ve reached out to thank me for bringing joy and laughter to their day. When I met Diane King Hall a few weeks ago she said that my tagline should be finance with flavor™—and now I owe her royalties.
Another thing that I see all the time on FinTwit is people taking victory laps or only posting their winners. I’ve gone down the opposite path again. I like to post my losers so everyone can roast me—see $KHC and my 50% haircut. And on the off chance I actually make a good trade or investment and it appears like I’m taking a victory lap, what I’m really doing is being self-deprecating.
Infuse a dose of vice: “The word ‘vice’ comes from the Latin vitium, meaning ‘failing or defect’ because vice reveals our delight with bad behavior or mischievousness.” I like to call this shitposting, but call it whatever you will. This is about pushing the boundaries and norms and flirting with the unexpected. I like to take shots at accepted norms. I like to tag and engage with celebrities, politicians, actors, athletes, and institutions on Twitter and try to get them to respond on hot button issues.
Make no mistake, infusing a dose of vice does not give you free rein to be malicious. It is very easy to put others down or be an asshole on Twitter. It’s pretty obvious when people are tweeting with ill will. You may have also noticed that I run a pretty clean account. I try to avoid using curse words because I want to appeal to a larger audience and also to show that you don’t have to lower your standards to be unique.
If you are running your own business, trying to expand your social media following, or trying to get additional clients, really think hard about your brand advantage and how you can be creative and stand out from the crowd. Combine your advantage with some tactics and you could turn into a successful brand and reach a much larger audience.
Check out how this insurance provider used a dose of innovation to establish their brand in a typically stagnant and saturated market. This was very odd but very creative.
This is post #41. You can follow me on Twitter or Instagram or sign up for my free newsletter here. Also please check out my Amazon page for a full reading list.