The innovators most celebrated by consumers — people like Steve Jobs and Elon Musk — didn't become household names by being the only people in their fields trying something new. Disruptors emerge every day in all different industries.
Sure, these leaders have revolutionized their fields, made life better for people, and pushed entire industries forward. But to build these lasting legacies, they needed to be disruptive.
Within various industries, disruptors upset the status quo and its comforts. From the outside, they're often perceived as heroes — the people and brands who make our lives easier. As such, it's not surprising that "disruptive" has become a buzzword in business — a catch-all term for those brave and talented enough to actually change industry practices and test the limits.
As a marketer, I'm used to my industry being constantly disrupted. New players come into the game all the time, trying to change things up and set the agenda for everyone else. In fact, I think I've watched a thousand different social and publishing platforms form, rise, and fall in the past year alone.
But the constant quality among the disruptors that actually set themselves above the rest is surprisingly simple: effective external communication.
I've seen new companies introduce amazing new things and fail to get the right people to notice them. Before you know it, some new company comes along and takes their place as the next disruptor. It doesn't matter how truly world-changing your product or service is or what cool new upgrade is on the horizon if you don't communicate it to the right audience at the right time.
Without a strategy to communicate to the audience in the industry you're trying to disrupt, you'll set yourself up for failure. Here are four things to consider when you're developing your communication strategy to make sure you're leading not only in product development, but also in successful disruption:
1. Does it make sense to have a face to the company?
If you look at Tesla, Square, Uber, or any other big disruptors, you'll see that they each have a face to the brand. It's not because their leaders want to stroke their own egos; it's because people want to connect with other people. And when you're shaking up an industry, it's easier to connect with people when you're more than just a new name or logo.
Recently, Uber’s Travis Kalanick participated in a video series on the Huffington Post in which he interviewed his own father. It was interesting to see this CEO — this leader of a major disruptive company — display such authenticity and vulnerability. Showing the authentic human side of your company is vital to the success of your communication strategy — and your company.
2. Do people understand what you do?
When you're disrupting, your audience members often won't know what the hell is going on or that there was even a problem with the old way of doing things. They're more likely to become defensive than they're asked to jump on board right away — and that shift never happens overnight.
When we started our content marketing agency, Influence & Co., there were different kinds of marketing and PR companies that weren't thrilled about what we were doing. However, we were committed to developing a better way than traditional PR for companies and leaders to build trust with their audiences. But because we were doing something new, we knew we had to educate people so they would understand what we were doing, why we were doing it, and how it was better than the other options.
For example, as we have evolved, our team has developed custom content marketing software to improve our services, which is still pretty rare in PR. We've had to find ways to educate our audience about how and why we've done this. We’ve seen that doing this has allowed us to get quicker adaption rates and has even made it easier to train customers on the software.
3. What truly differentiates you?
All successful companies know what sets them apart. They know what makes them different, and they've identified and embraced the "why" behind their companies. But when you're trying to disrupt, understanding what exactly it is that makes you different and communicating that to your audience can be what makes or breaks everything.
This doesn't mean that you should just spout off how great you are and how cool what you're doing is and then expect people to suddenly connect with you. In fact, if you're only ever talking about what makes you so awesome, you'll probably end up screwing yourself over. People connect with and relate to why you do something and how what you're doing is valuable to them. That's what differentiates you.
4. Are you trying to create buzz or become a content leader?
Buzz is great in the short term and at specific times, but to be a leader, you've got to constantly communicate with your audience to stay top of mind and remind them that you exist. That consistency will help keep them engaged so when you do need to create buzz in the short term, you not only have the authority built up already, but you also have an army of brand advocates to help you amplify your message.
Buffer did this exceptionally well by publishing external content along with an engaging blog that many people follow religiously. Now, when it needs a press hit, it already has a mass following to help.
Industry disruptors have the potential to change the way our world works. They not only have the power to make life better for people, but they also drive other businesses to innovate. But without a documented strategy that communicates why, what, and how they’re doing the awesome things they’re doing, we’ll never see all that they can offer.
John Hall is the CEO of Influence & Co., a company that specializes in expertise extraction and knowledge management that are used to fuel marketing efforts.
