Fire Your Marketing Team and Hire Homeless People

A man holding a clever sign reminded me about the power of great copy.

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By Andrew Medal

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We have cars that drive themselves and eyeglasses that spit Internet onto our freaking retinas, yet there are about 100 million homeless people in the world.

As entrepreneurs, we have a duty and responsibility to use our powers for good. What are we focused on? Uber for dog walking and the next generation photo swapping app? Seriously. What gives?

Related: Daymond John's Top 7 Tips on How to Launch Your Product Like a Shark

Here's a video recap of my nonprofit's latest event, where we gave back to the most notorious homeless community in the world for two days:

I was driving down the street at SXSW last month, and read a sign that a homeless gentlemen was holding that read, "Ugly + Traveling. Need money for both." That's a great example of strong messaging, and sparked the fodder for this article. Click here for more examples of great signs.

Copywriting, calls to action and clear value propositions are sometimes very difficult to execute efficiently and consistently across all platforms. Not to mention, maintaining your company's conversational tone, edge and personality trait that sets you apart from every other Harry, Dick and Sally. Some companies nail it, and some "not so much."

My point is simple. Your ad and website copy, written content and all other content is the voice of your brand. It's a way for people to care about your business. You can have a great team, great product and great service, but if you miss the mark with messaging, you may be sacrificing all other assets. I can't understand how big companies with big budgets miss the mark so frequently. It doesn't take much to be clever, creative and to stand out.

Related: 5 Ways to Improve Your Content Marketing Results Without Breaking the Bank

Here are some action items:

  1. Review your company's content strategy. If there isn't a strategy. Create one.
  2. Review all of your digital and physical marketing assets: websites, ads, social media profiles, marketing collateral, etc. Make sure there's a consistent tone, message and voice.
  3. If you like what you see, make sure the team is all on the same page, and keep pushing content. If you don't, review your direct competitors to see how you can use their success to your advantage and to figure out how to differentiate yourself from the pack.
Lastly, creativity comes in all shapes, forms and sizes. Don't be afraid to take risks on people and opportunities. Just make sure, if things aren't going as planned, to protect your company.
Andrew Medal

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Entrepreneur & Angel Investor

Andrew Medal is the founder of The Paper Chase, which is a bi-weekly newsletter. He is an entrepreneur and angel investor.

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