Practice before you perform — Kelford Labs Daily

Why do standup comedians practice so much?

We’ve all heard stories of celebrity standups doing midnight sets at obscure comedy clubs to workshop their new bits.

But... why? I mean, they’re comedians, so don’t they already know what’s funny?

Well... no. Because, unfortunately for them, the success of their work relies on the reactions and responses of other people.

People who are, at the individual level, somewhat unpredictable. Of course, a comedian would have an idea of a joke that should get a laugh, and ones that should not, but they never know for sure until they tell them.

If they tried to optimize first, planning out what they’ll wear in their Netflix special and how proud and impressed their friends and enemies will be with their success, before they even practice the jokes, they’re bound to fail. And fail spectacularly.

The same is true for marketers:

Optimizing our marketing before we’ve tried and practiced it is doomed for spectacular failure.

Because the output and results of our work as entrepreneurs and marketers depends on the reactions and responses of other people, our prospects and customers.

People who are, at the individual level, somewhat unpredictable.

Of course, we know what should work and what definitely can’t, but we can never know if something will work until we try it out. Until we practice it.

So don’t focus on optimization, scale, and efficiency right out of the gate.

Focus on practicing your marketing on individuals most likely to enjoy and appreciate and respond to it.

So that once you know what works, you can do more of it, you can turn up the scale dial and watch it work.

But until you know what works on one person, you have no idea what will work on lots of people.

Reply to this email to tell me what you think, or ask any questions!

Kelford Inc. shows communicators the way to always knowing what to say.