How do we make our conversations matter?

Photo by Jason Rosewell

I work in the industry of conversation creation. Some call it marketing, others public relations, or oftentimes campaigning. It just depends who you ask, and what jargon they lean upon.

At the end of the day, the goal is always the same, to reach people with content and tell them about something. Whether it is a cause, a product or a political idea.

I actually think I stumbled into this arena out of pure curiosity. I have never understood why people follow such patterns, moved in mass or often in circles. So I arrived here as an avid observer, well before I was given the carrot, the stick or the algorithmic sheepdog.

I daresay for the first half of my career, I was merely trying to keep up. To adopt the conduct of the constructs that I was within, and to re-create. I tried to push things out into the choking ecosphere of content, that was appropriate and recognisable to the people around me. I was decent at shepherding those with whom I stood shoulder to shoulder. As many marketers are.

Recently however, I have started lifting my head above whichever herd I find myself in, as to keep an eye on the cliffs ahead. I have intentionally begun trying to conduct conversations that will resonate, not replicate. I am no longer looking to talk with the perfectly packaged consumer, but with the human-being.