My son is going through a bragging phase.
He’s really committed to impressing others which is healthy. I think on psychological he’s not getting the praise or reassurance he craves. But that’s an assumption from his dad who remembers his once infant son being classified as a high needs baby and who is also not a Psychologist. Whatever the case or cause, he is who he is.
Idea Bubble
After I caught onto the trend, I initially told him “It’s not good to brag so much, buddy” which is pretty weak as far as advice goes. There’s no explanation of the why, the mechanics — which is what his brain persistently looks for — behind why it’s not good to brag. I thought I could do better.
Later, I suggested he let other people brag about him, because “then you’ll know if someone thinks it’s cool.” (Also, he’s attached to things being cool right now.)
My hope is that this was the right seed for him to grow the rest of the concept in his head. The need for reassurance is innate. It’s hardwired, and it would be futile to try to lecture him outta seeking it. I‘d love to say to him “What you think about yourself is more important than what others think about you”, then poof he wakes up the next morning and is mentally free as a bird.
Surprising Epiphany
This morning during Shower Podcast Time, I had an epiphany about the idea of letting others brag about you and how it can be applied to advertising my digital agency’s work.
Today, the most valuable form of advertising is word-of-mouth. You give more or less weight to one person’s opinion on a thing based on how much you trust that person.
Word-of-mouth is literally another person bragging about you — or your work, product, idea, etc.
In Effect
The beauty of allowing someone else to pay you a compliment is that you find out what they think is cool about you. You don’t have to wonder what they value.
Now, my 6 year old can’t be expected to grasp the concept on that level or sit through a short speech from his preachy dad. So, the challenge for me is to drop the nugget that he’ll run with to prove/disprove.
Applying My Advice to My Thing
At the moment, my company’s website lists some available services with short descriptions. I happen to think the list 6 items is well-written. I carefully attempted to use roughly the same amount of characters in description’s text so they look appear to have an equal amount lines on any screen.
(It should be noted that I haven’t booked a single job or consult via my website, SayMore.media.)
I see two problems with my list of services:
- It’s limiting — I’m telling a client that I offer these 6 things. I’m saying that in these 6 areas, I can help you. It’s limiting the perceived scope of my skill set
- It’s bragging — I’m telling a client they should value about what business offers. Albeit subtle, it’s still a brag. It says ‘Look here. These are the things I’m good at.’
Solution
What’s a better play for displaying my company’s services — bragging on myself?
I think testimonials are a good idea. However, their limitation is they’re based on someone else putting in the work.
A more effective solution is a portfolio.
My company provides digital products and services. Showing representations of my work is a no brainer. You couldn’t sell a painting if no one could see samples!
Since I do love copy so much, I can flex that muscle to briefly describe my clients’ needs and what I did to help them.
BOOM!