Stop Trying To Succeed

mlns='> What happens when you try to fail might surprise you [View Message in Browser]( / [Add Us to Safe Sender List]( Weekly News 1.28.22 Connect With CMI [10 Tips To Write Engaging Content Previews for Social Media]( Social media can be an excellent place to promote your full-length content. But don't expect great images to do all the work. Here are some tips to prompt scrollers to stop, click, and read. [Read more]( By Lesley Vos More of the week's best stuff: - [Need a Creativity Boost? Spend Some Time With The Creative Show]( by Buddy Scalera - [B2C Marketers: Make Sure You Are on Stable Ground [New Research]]( by Robert Rose - [17 Books Perfect for Content Marketers (That Aren't About Content or Marketing)]( by Ann Gynn - [How Planning To Fail Can Succeed [Rose-Colored Glasses]]( by Robert Rose  Why You Should (Occasionally) Stop Trying To Succeed An interesting question came up recently in a marketing group I follow on social media: "What content should we create?" The first few comments on the post were what you might suspect. Some people encouraged the poster to interview people who fit their personas to find out what they struggle with. Others talked about getting over writer's block. A few suggested they list every question their potential customers might have and write posts about that. The original poster responded by acknowledging the value of these responses then clarified the question. The poster wasn't asking what to write to resonate with target audiences. They were looking for content ideas that would drive the most reactions. Full stop. They wanted to create controversy, provocation, and a level of virality. The theory: Do something that makes a lot of noise and inspires a boatload of people to react, then the right people will pay attention to your other content that focuses on the things you do. Predictably, the tone of the discussion shifted into a fiery debate of the flawed notion (if not ethics) of that theory. Let's save that discussion for a different day. But it got me thinking. Is there a case where it makes sense to deliberately put out content you don't like, agree with, or approve of – with the explicit goal of failing? My answer is yes. We all know failing can be productive. There are entire books about how people learn more from failures than successes. But this concept almost always gets covered in the context of failing when trying to succeed. In other words, you did your level best to accomplish something – and something in that approach failed. The lesson is that you should have done something differently. I'm interested in what happens when you deliberately try to fail or at least try something the world deems incorrect. You either confirm what you expected or get surprised by the results. According to the book [Brilliant Mistakes]( by Paul Schoemaker, advertising icon David Ogilvy made deliberate mistakes frequently. He would run ads that he and the client team had rejected just to test their collective thinking. Most would fail. But a few, including the iconic [eye patch Hathaway shirt ad]( – would become legendary campaigns. Think about making time, money, or content available to test your core instincts. I don't mean running a simple A/B test to evaluate two good efforts. That only determines which one resonates better. I'm suggesting that you try a content piece that poses an idea you flat-out rejected. Or try [investing in a channel]( that seems to be wrong. For example, later this month, I'm going to try TikTok. I'm 99.9% sure I will fail spectacularly. But what if I'm wrong? There's a famous quote attributed to IBM founder Thomas J. Watson: "If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate." It seems to me there's only one mathematical way to double your failure rate – you have to try to fail occasionally. In this week's [Rose-Colored Glasses]( column, I share some ideas for how (and when) to try to fail with your content. Let me know (in the article's comments section or [by email](mailto:cmi_info@informa.com)) if you've ever tried to fail and what you learned from it. I'd love to hear from you. In the meantime, remember: It's your story. Tell it well. Robert Rose Chief Strategy Advisor Content Marketing Institute You're getting this exclusive article from Robert Rose as a perk of your newsletter subscription. Do you have colleagues or friends who would benefit from Robert's weekly updates? If so, please invite them to [subscribe]( here.   Sponsored Content [Report] The Agency-Brand Disconnect: Finding a Way Forward There's a disconnect between agencies and brands, according to a new survey of agencies and CMOs. Download this report to see the takeaways, including tips for improving the relationship. [Download Report »](  Content Marketing Job Listings Currently on a job search? 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