What can we learn from Freddie Mercury about marketing?

Short Freddie lessons that can be applied in marketing.

Boldness

Always be true to yourself.

Copy paste — not so ok.

Learning from others and creating your own mix — very ok.

Queen as a band always aspired to take a little bit of every music genre and create their own style which was so unique at that time that their music was even not acceptable (IMAGINE!) by some music producers but they still continued. Why? They were bold enough to believe in their own music and to always stay true to themselves.

In marketing this is a move to be applied at all times (in life also).

If you have a product or a service that you believe in — become a performer on the market. Go live on the market and create your style that will make your audience go nuts. In other words, if you see that there is something working for others but doesn’t fit you — don’t try to fit in but rather create your own path.

People love boldness. People love to follow any kind of move that is bold because they will also feel like that. Years after Freddie is gone I am listening to Queen and it gives me this feeling of boldness that anything can be done and I am thinking hey look at me I am listening to Queen — I can do it. I am bold.

Let’s take for example the Hey email from Basecamp. They totally redesigned the email experience as we know. They listened to people and created an email service that is new. They made a bold performance on the market. This will shock many, some will not like it but others will go to their website — create an account and pay the annual subscription. In my circle I know few of them and they all listen to Queen:)

Give people what they need

Listen to people around you. Feel their needs.

When you listen to Queen music you can definitely feel that their music is written for the people they sing for — I mean they even have a song where the whole crowd participates and there is a minimum usage of instruments (We will rock you). They knew how to engage their audience and how to give them what they need.

Apply this mindset in your marketing and what will happen?

Well, you will move to Internet pages where people share their opinions on everything possible and you will find yourself learning many new things about the market/audience you plan to make a performance for.

Go to Reddit and Quora and you will see a dozens of comments that can peek your interest. You can even create a totally transparent web page on your site like a wall of feedback/wishes where people will write whatever comes to their mind. I am not talking about classic support pages with a hello email and feedback section where they will get an automatic reply from. I am talking about a real wall, use even digital sprays, let people write their comments and do not erase them but do start a conversation with them and see how you can help them.

Go out there. Make a performance for your audience. Meet them and see how you can meet their needs.

For them you will be the Rock star.

Stay honest to yourself

When you are honest to yourself you will be honest to others as well.

Lying is not an option here. Choose your style and live it.

No need to put on a suit if you don’t feel like it. No need to write regular marketing copy because hey everyone is doing it but actually that is not you. No need to copy paste general website lookout because that is trendy now if you don’t feel it.

Be you.

Whoever likes that will be your customer and on top if it you don’t have to pretend to be anyone or anything else. That’s the freedom we are talking about here.

I mean look at Freddie and his performance style. He was himself. People say he was unique, he had his own style and they are right but why? — It’s because he was just simply who he was. He was born to be a performer and he didn’t hide it. He rocked it and the audience loooved it.

There is a couple of people who rock the market. I mean I already mentioned the Basecamp team who engage with their audience by sharing their own stories, by talking against some tech giants — I mean they made a whole performance about the whole App store market deal with their Hey email and people responded positively. They are bold, they perform, they give people what they need and they are true to their own values.

People simply love that.

Let’s take a look at Buffer team and their CEO. Joel wrote a blog post where he shared the last bit of details starting from the first thought of Buffer as a company until the idea became reality.

They even have a Open Culture Blog where they literally share everything from their stakeholders meeting across new ideas to their mistakes and guess again? People love it.

You can check it out here: https://buffer.com/resources/open/

And that’s it. Be bold. be true to yourself and give people what they need.

Note for the end:

Listen to Queens. But more importantly, listen to yourself.

Originally published at https://aminazilic.com on August 19, 2020.