I’m often asked what I think makes a great blog post, so I thought I would share one of my all-time favorites. It’s unlike any digital marketing post you’ve ever read – and that’s one of the reasons why I think it’s genius.
I discovered it as a guest post on a blog I follow about entrepreneurship and the internet (AVC - musings of a VC in NYC). The title of the post is Minimum Viable Personality, which is a play on the tech startup acronym MVP (standing for Minimum Viable Product). So far, so serious. It’s when you notice who the guest author is that things get interesting.
The post has supposedly been written by a giant robot dinosaur, who goes by the name FakeGrimlock. Now if you were a fan of the Transformers franchise (the original toys and cartoons – not those Michael Bay movies), you’ll know exactly who Grimlock is. He’s the brutish, powerful leader of the Dinobots (robots that can transform into dinosaurs), he looks like T-Rex, and he has a rather prehistoric way of expressing himself.
What does the "Grimster" have to tell us about the essential elements for building and marketing a successful product? As it turns out, he’s a brilliantly incisive marketing thinker – he just doesn’t mince his words when it comes to expressing those ideas. The result is fantastic. It’s hugely entertaining, but it also leaves you with the tempting idea that you really should have a power-obsessed, no-fools-suffering, robot monster in the corner of the room for your next marketing team meeting.
Here’s a quick excerpt from FakeGrimlock’s unique take on marketing:
PERSONALITY BETTER THAN MARKETING
WHEN CHOOSE PRODUCT, HUMANS ONLY CARE ABOUT DOES WORK, AND IS INTERESTING.
WORLD ALREADY FULL OF THINGS DO WORK. MOST BORING.
PERSONALITY = INTERESTING. INTERESTING = CARE. CARE = TALK.
EVERYONE CARE AND TALK ABOUT PRODUCT? YOU WIN.
The entire post is a perfect example of how to use text, images and personality to create a very special piece of content. You can read it all here, and I highly encourage you to do so.
Why do I love this post so much? Because it includes all of the elements that make up a fantastic piece of content. Including:
- It’s a guest post, which is one of the most under-used strategies for adding new voices and new interest to your blog
- It’s easy to read and contains no fluff (GRIMLOCK EAT FLUFF). A great blog post has just enough words to make its point and leave you wanting more.
- It has personality. If you can't figure out how to inject personality into your blog, that's a huge problem. And if this doesn’t inspire you to be creative about how you do it, I don’t know what will.
- It has fantastic visuals – and they prove that great images don’t have to cost a fortune, they just have to add value. The visuals used here are priceless. Scroll down to the last one – it’s a message to live by!
- It's incredibly useful. This is something that I have printed out on my desk and celebrate daily. It's a constant reminder on how to be relevant and connect with your audience.
- It’s inspiring, which in my opinion, is the most important element of all. This post makes me want to be better at marketing and to share this advice with my network of fellow marketers. If your content can't inspire anyone to take action, then it is not doing what it's supposed to.
For more genius content from FakeGrimlock and Fred Wilson you can follow them on Twitter @FAKEGRIMLOCK and @AVC. It’s well worth doing so.
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