One's Demise Shouldn't Be Your Marketing Prize
If you wouldn't kick a man when he's down, why are you meme'ing him as your content strategy?
In 2019, one of my best friends went to prison for some pretty bad white collar crimes.
He was in a visible position of trust, authority, and leadership at a prominent local entity in my original home town, and he was eviscerated online by all of the cock-sure big-mouth keyboard warriors.
I know them well, because, up until that verdict, I was one of them: a cock-sure big-mouth keyboard warrior more than happy to pronounce judgment on these dipsh!ts and nitw!ts on my computer screen who were not real to me. They were just bits and bytes in my newsfeed...
...Fools for my entertainment and distraction from my own bullsh!t, which, at least, was not as bad and as public as their bullsh!t, which meant I was better than them.
They deserved whatever mocking and ridicule my caustic wit and fast fingers could muster.
Then I saw my "peers" and "colleagues" unleash on my friend, and I wanted to wring their necks.
Within hours of the news breaking of his sentencing, I had to disconnect from those sources and outlets or I would've gone insane.
Yes, my friend did wrong.
Yes, he deserved to go to prison.
Yes, he and his family have suffered and are still suffering as a result of his crimes, his sins, his shortcomings.
Yes, the keyboard warriors make it worse for his family.
No, the keyboard warriors no longer make it worse for him.
You see, he has been to the bottom and will never be that low again.
He now knows, definitively, who his friends are.
Can you say the same?
You live in fear of losing it all.
He did and it didn't kill him.
He is tougher than me.
He is tougher than you.
That's why I don't use someone's worst day as my marketing gimmick...even if they "deserve" it.*
*Yeah, yeah, sometimes I slip up a bit when it comes to politicians, but are they even human? (I joke...kinda.)
Today is the feast day of St. Mary Magdalene, the first to see the risen Jesus.
When you come face to face with the risen Jesus and He asks to scroll through your iPhone, what will He see from this week?
If it's not some of your best work, commit to doing better this week.
Market like you mean it.
Now go sell something.