Form over Substance

🥇 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗪𝗜𝗡. More often than not, they believe the 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗻𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝘁𝗼𝘆 will get them there. Over the past decade, I’ve been on countless calls that start the same way – teams grabbing at whatever the “Toy of the Day” is, e.g.:

👉 Let’s create a client/project-specific website.

👉 We need a graphic scribe.

👉 Video – let’s personalize videos!

It reminds me of the old adage – 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝘂𝗯𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲.

Teams are comfortable reaching for 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗺 (the video/website/scribe) rather than spending time on 𝗦𝘂𝗯𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲. They want to put 𝗟𝗶𝗽𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗶𝗴 (form) – but the problem is... they 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗽𝗶𝗴 (substance) yet.

🔍 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻? From my experience, this behaviour is driven by three key things:

𝟭. "𝗪𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗼𝗻" 𝘀𝘆𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗲

• Teams force lipstick on a pig, even if it’s out of context.

• Sometimes it’s just too much.

• In these cases, lipstick becomes an emotional anchor – teams think: “𝘞𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘯... 𝘴𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘵’𝘴 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯!”

𝟮. "𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗱𝗼 𝗶𝘁" 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗰𝘆

• Imitating other’s lipstick rarely works – it often looks off and adds little value.

• Lipstick here becomes, at best, table stakes and, at worst, a deterrent.

• You risk creating a point of direct comparison – and trust me, it won’t end well.

𝟯. "𝗟𝗲𝘁’𝘀 𝗯𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲" 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻

• Lipstick alone doesn’t make you memorable.

• Lipstick on a show pig is striking and memorable.

• When applied to something of real value, lipstick enhances – it adds to the beauty of a winning “show pig.”

🔑 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝘂𝗯𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲?

📖 𝗕𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹

Your story = strengths + win themes + differentiators and the magic is where these intersect with the client’s pain points/needs.

🔗 𝗞𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗶𝘁 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲

Ensure the flow is logical and aligned from top to bottom.

🧵 𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝗮 𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗲

This keeps the team focused and grabs the client’s attention.

⏸️ 𝗣𝗔𝗨𝗦𝗘

Before jumping into lipstick decisions, ask: Does this fit into the overall strategy for winning?

💄𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 “𝗟𝗶𝗽𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘀” 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝘃𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱?

Let’s hear your thoughts!