We all rely on our intuition to drive us forward. Intuition is a function of experience, natural gifts, education and maybe even just age. We use intuition to form opinions on just about everything — from who we choose to be with as a life partner to which toothpaste we will use.
Marketing, of course, helps shape our intuition. The Aristocrat is not your favorite hamburger but maybe the Big Mac is. Oh, and if the thought of going to McDonald’s today offends your sensibility as someone who cares about the planet. Yeah, marketing. Marketing shapes culture, culture shapes marketing and together we weave our own narrative about our own identity.
The issue is though when your intuition, your narrative, is just wrong. I am not talking in the esoteric sense of opinion, I am talking about factually wrong. The earth is round. Vaccines work. Climate change exists. The best of us immediately stop and rethink our position if shown our error. The worst of us double down. Most of us are somewhere in between. Your creative business is no different. Except today there is no longer any slack in the system.
What it means is that you are going to have to be willing to question to fundamental tenets you have drawn on to create your intuition, your narrative. The customer is always right? Not if the customer has no basis for intelligent discussion other than a big bank account. Who is going to really do the work to check our prices? Literally, everyone.
You cannot have it both ways — to expect your client to be able to make a great decision while at the same time relying on their ignorance when making that decision. Intuition gone kablooey.
How do you check yourself? Listen to people outside of your bubble. Find someone who knows and cares about your business but is not in it. Tell them about what you do and what you are hoping to achieve with your clients. In the description though you are not allowed to use the words “happy”, “satisfied” or even “love”. What you must do is to describe what you intend when you do what you do. You have to discuss what happens when you fall down (as we all do). Then you have to listen to reactions. If the person you are sharing with does not understand the concept, then it is on you to figure out how to communicate the concept better. Appreciate that communicating the concept comes before nuance. Those that care (your clients) will seek nuance. However, anyone should be able to understand and appreciate the concept you seek to base your process on. They might not agree or espouse your viewpoint and that is more than fine but understand and appreciate it, definitely. Someone might find paying for hand-stitched everything in a car’s interior with the finest leather an incredible waste of time and money but still understand the quality and craftsmanship necessary to do it.
Your intuition will tell you that it is not worth your time to set the foundation well before digging in to nuance. Maybe but that is a lot to ask today when so many are seeking to live in nuance. Your gift to be shared only matters if those who receive it can embrace the depth of its value. That value starts with bedrock not sand.
Edwin Land, the scientist and founder of Polaroid was quoted as saying that the camera should “go beyond amusement and record-making to become a continuous partner of most human beings… a new eye, and a second memory.” He saw the possibility of digital photography, got some of the early patents in the 1960’s and Polaroid even started making digital cameras in the early 1990’s. However, they could not let go of the idea that people did not need to hold the physical image in their hands. Polaroid filed for bankruptcy in October 2001. Do not be Polaroid.
If you have been at this long enough (i.e., pre COVID for a few years), you know how fast the world can change and what was once valuable is no longer. Relying on that value — ask any photographer who prices based on time — is a fools errand. So when you base your intuition on a world that no longer is, you need to retrain yourself to appreciate the best way to communicate so that it is resonant and deeply personal to the art and business you wish to create. Doing anything less will marginalize you faster than you can possibly believe, intuition notwithstanding.
