Beverly Sills, America’s best known opera soprano, died yesterday and I was struck by a quote she made during a past New York Times interview.
“I always had a theory that people became a superstar because they could do one thing better than anybody else in the world,” she said. “I think there was an aria in Julius Caesar called ‘Se Pieta,’ and I used to think I sung that aria better than anybody.”
I love that notion - now think about your business. What one thing can you claim to do better than your competition, better than anyone else in the world. You’ve probably got to shed trying to be all things and strip your business down to doing just one thing better than anyone else.
Maybe you already do one thing, maybe you need to figure your one thing out - either way, narrow the focus of your communication to something you can claim to own and own it.
Seth Godin talks about this very thing in his newest book, The Dip.
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007 at Jul 03, 07 | 7:15 pm and is filed under Marketing Strategy, Positioning, Seth Godin. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
John,
I think it’s very sound advice to aim for doing one thing better than anyone else in the world. If you don’t at least aim for it, then what’s the fun?
Seth Godin’s new book is really quite good. He says almost the same thing, though he also spends time explaining how to define “world,” since it will vary based on what you’re trying to do, and who your competition is.
My favorite example of this is Santorini…I’ve blogged about it before…Santorini (Greece), if people don’t know the name, is that island with the white, blue doomed churches overlooking the ocean.
Santorini is THE island to go to in Greece because of those images…outside of the Acropolis, they’re probably the most famous thing in Greece…and they are beautiful.
The funny thing is, that for locals, Santorini sucks, because the nightlife’s not that great, nor are the beaches. There are hundreds of greek islands…yet tourists always start at Santorini.
All because of those churches on the cliffs (which, by the way, are only one small part of a relatively big island). Do one thing amazing, and you’ll beat out Paros and Naxos and Ios and Corfu, even if they are more fun, because when people think of the Greek Islands, they think of Santorini, and white churches with blue domes.
As Seth says…being the best in the world (or at least in tourists minds) is seriously underrated.
Friday 5 - July 6, 2007
Another Friday, another five posts I needed to share.
from Bloggrrl9 Ways Your Dog is Different From You I always like to see a numbered list
used for an appropriate purpose . . . amusing me. Her ending disclaimer
directed at dog people struc …
John, thanks for that quote by Beverly. I have had another quote by her on my bulletin board for years:
“You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don’t try.”
A wise lady, an incredible talent, one who will be missed.
So what is your one thing?
Deborah
http://www.websitespeopleread.com
http://www.bizinformer.com
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