Get Alone With a Vegetable

The other day, I came across this tempting 21-day challenge to become a vastly better person.

In a tidy little calendar, this program promises to make you a flosser, a reader, a networker, a volunteer, a cultural expert, a budgeter, a daily exerciser, a journal-er…the list just goes on and on. Every noble, data-proven habit to make you happier, healthier, more productive, more creative.

Seems guaranteed to fail though. We just can’t move all those needles at once.

Our aspirations can be far bigger than our bandwidth. Yet, aspirations are the cornerstone of marketing. It’s a forward-motion, progress-making discipline.

But if we really want to improve something – anything – we are far more likely to succeed if we narrow the focus and try to move just one needle.

Moving Just One Needle

Here’s an example from my own humble kitchen. Last year, I had a thrice-daily face-off with a picky eater. My three-year-old refused to eat nearly everything I put in front of her, unless it was dairy- or berry-based.

This is not how I envisioned our family table.

So I did a research blitz. I learned that nearly all tastes are acquired, and many of us have to try a new food 7-12 times before we like it.

How was I going to get my toddler to try something 7-12 times? She wouldn’t allow a single bite of a foreign food to pass her lips.

I had to narrow the focus. Instead of trying to get her to eat many new foods, I focused only on vegetables.

Instead of having the battle at every meal, I chose to only worry about dinner.

And as the research suggested, it was more likely to succeed if we limited snacks in the afternoon, and if the vegetable was the first thing in front of her at dinner.

I narrowed even more: just one bite per day. And I decided to stick with the plan for three months, no matter what. Thus began the Summer of Vegetables.

How the Summer of Vegetables Turned Out…

The outcome: wild success. For the first few days, it was gridlock. But when she saw that the plan was here to stay, she started to get her bite over with as fast as possible.

Soon, we graduated to a three-bite policy. By the end of the summer, she declared that broccoli was her favorite vegetable. More importantly, we got over the hump of “just try it” – she would now take at least one bite of almost anything. (Note: turns out this approach is supported by research, and it has the excellent name Get Alone with a Vegetable.)

What does all of this have to do with using content in financial marketing?

The marketing teams I work with are always being pulled in many directions at once – they are responsible for too many needles. Better content. More content. Longer form. More interactive. Wider distribution. Higher engagement.

Of course everyone wants more out of marketing. But when you can gain consensus on a narrower focus, you can dazzle your stakeholders with how much progress you can really make.

7 Steps to the One-Needle Method

The truth is that we can’t move all the needles at once. Could you apply the Get Alone with a Vegetable strategy to your content marketing? Here’s a simple 7-step outline.

1. Do a brain dump of all your “needles.”
2. Highlight the one thing you and your team agree to put above all else.
3. Pick a time period for your first round of efforts.
4. Pick a metric that measures your progress.
5. Blitz the best practices to see how others have successfully moved that needle.
6. Tackle the top priority first, every day.
7. Stick to the plan with the devotion of a mom and her vegetables.

Then just stand back and watch that needle move.

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