Henry Ford, Celeste Barber, and Faster Horses

You know that quote attributed to Henry Ford?

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

It means, "Don't give people the product they say they want. Give people the product that actually solves their problem."

Right?

The other day, I was thinking about how this applies to what we write when we're marketing our businesses. I talked a bit about this last week as well. The idea that we should be creating content that is "OF VALUE."

Next time you feel like you really SHOULD post something that's "OF VALUE" to your audience, because that's what content marketing is... I want you to ask yourself... What would Celeste Barber do?

Who is Celeste Barber?

That is Celeste Barber. She's an actress and comedian.

If she had asked people to tell her what she should post to show off her skills as a comedian and actress, do you think they would have responded with... this? Uh, no.

But she started posting dumb send-ups of pictures of celebrities and models because she knew that was funny. She had an idea. It was a lark. And she went with it. 

And people connected with her posts in an insane way, to the tune of millions of followers.

I'm not saying you have to be funny.

What I am saying: you know how once in a while you'll have an interesting idea that feels like it came out of nowhere? And you just ignore it for a while until it goes away because you don't have time to execute on it?

STOP.

Stop ignoring it. Write about it. Take the time you have and just write until you're time is up. Share that piece of writing somewhere. 

Every post doesn't have to be a perfect nugget "free value" wrapped up in a bow, before you share it publicly. Sometimes you can post just... what YOU FEEL LIKE writing. It's your platform.