Media Rules!: Mastering Today's Technology to Connect With and Keep Your Audience

Chapter 12. Be Fresh

In the highly competitive, fragmented world in which we now live, being fresh is a necessity. Innovation is a must. The ability to innovate is what keeps your organization at the top of its field. The faster and better you innovate, the more likely you are to remain a leader and set the standard that the others will follow.

Being fresh is important to almost every aspect of what you do—the delivery of information (is it updated regularly?), the creation of experiences (is it the same ride with new characters?), or the development and marketing of good stuff (is that a new color?). There are so many opportunities for your audience to look elsewhere to have their questions answered or their needs met. Perhaps even more than being able to demonstrate expertise or quality service at the start, organizations must ensure that the information, experiences, and stuff they deliver are relevant and timely.

Most people think that to stay fresh you have to introduce something new. It does not. Fresh does not mean new. Being fresh may be about surprise or change. Freshness can come from improving on, leveraging, and extending old and still-popular elements of what you do, or from producing new ideas. Sameness has its place. The role of familiarity should not be underestimated as a way to get attention. Nostalgia is an important tool—it draws on the memories people have of (hopefully good) experiences from the past and allows them to associate those (hopefully good) feelings ...