How ‘Perfectly Imperfect’ Marketing Makes Your Business Relatable

Nobody’s perfect, and neither is your business. While we all may try to be the best version of ourselves, our flaws are what make us human – and relatable. Same goes for your business; people are more likely to connect with your marketing efforts if they relate to them. 

How can they relate to them? By seeing that your marketing is perfectly… imperfect. 

Stay with us, we’ll explain.

Trying to be Perfect is Exhausting and Causes You to Overthink

You’re writing a blog, a social media post, or making a video you want to share to Twitter (X). But you’re obsessing over every little thing being absolutely PERFECT! You’re building tension in your shoulders, you’re getting a dull ache in the side of your head, and your eyes are drying out from staring daggers into a screen. 

You’ve “perfected” the content, but it took you twice as long to get it out there, and you agonized over the process. It makes you NOT want to be an active participant in your own marketing efforts because it simply mentally drains and exhausts you. And you know what? That’s no way to market. 

Listen, we’re not telling you to publish content with loads of spelling errors, but what we are telling you is that by relaxing and being OK with “good enough” over perfection is freeing. You may even find that you get more done in a few hours by easing up on the perfecting process.  

Besides, seeing that you’re human helps your customers relate to you. Think of it like posting a slightly unflattering photo of yourself. Sure, you don’t look perfect, but everyone has a bit of a double chin at a certain angle, or their belly folds in when they crouch over.  

People appreciate someone who seems like a real person, not a perfect model. Your customers will feel the same. Sure, maybe you could have done 10,000 more edits on that blog – or you could edit it once, maybe twice, and be happy with what you created.  

Doing this allows your personal tone to come through, rather than a piece that seems like it was AI generated to be “perfect.”  

Besides, overthinking something is a good way to miss out on the simple things that work. Instead of trying to be unique and perfect, you can make the content that people relate to and care about.

Let’s Consider an Example:

Imagine writing a cooking blog. There are millions of them, so trying to stand out and be “different” is nearly impossible. Instead of overthinking it and trying to iron out every wrinkle, you write the content you enjoy.  

You share a fun recipe about taco dip and write it from the heart, maybe even including some of the pitfalls and oopsies you had when you developed the recipe.  

Maybe your blog has images of the process that aren’t perfect; the bowl has smears on it, there’s cheese on the countertop, and you can see a few dishes in the background.  

Who cares? You post it anyway because going back to take new photos would be double the work. Besides, who doesn’t make a mess when making taco dip? 

Your client base reads it, and rather than scoffing at your lack of inhuman perfection – they LAUGH. They RELATE. They SHARE THE CONTENT.  

Your client base grows because your efforts are relatable. This is also true in marketing.

As the Saying Goes, Comparison is the Thief of Joy… and Success

Did you ever consider that trying to be perfect is getting in your own way? Not likely, but it’s true. You could be blocking you from great success because you’re spending more time trying to be perfect. 

Ask yourself this: when did I start putting all my efforts into being perfect? It isn’t serving you, and perfecting every little conceivable thing doesn’t make your content any more relatable. You’re creating more work for yourself, you’re doing things over and over, and you’re stressing yourself out to the max.  

Just like your mum or dad when you were young, we’re going to give you some schoolyard advice: stop trying to be like “the others” – AKA, your competition. You can take notes, but just like school kids, it’s easier to make genuine friendships by being yourself. Not trying to be someone else. 

The same goes for business. Comparison is the thief of joy – so stop trying to emulate everyone else just as much as you shouldn’t stress about being endlessly unique. Just allow your business to be your business and highlight the things that you think make you valuable to your customers. 

Humanizing commerce by being perfectly imperfect makes people want to choose you over your competition. The over-produced and perfectly polished marketing is difficult to trust, because it just doesn’t seem personal or real.  

Being TOO PERFECT is actually obnoxious, and people don’t trust those who seem disingenuous. And yes, being perfect all the time doesn’t translate as genuine. It seems scripted, developed, planned – not real.  

Consumers are smart, and they have little tolerance for “b/s” (bad scripting). The last thing you want is for them to go to a review site and leave remarks on how unrelatable and obnoxious your marketing is. Even worse, they don’t trust you because your over-produced and polished marketing seems fake.

Being Imperfect Gives You Opportunities to Interact

Have you ever been on LinkedIn and seen a representative of a business posting these long, diatribes about their business that just sound… 

Phony? Phony bologna?  

OK, maybe not phony, but just way too polished and frankly obnoxious. They post constantly, and every post is perfect, so it seems like they must have worked on it like an essay. Only you don’t receive grades on LinkedIn posts – you get interactions. 

And you know what I noticed? A lot of these posts get minimal genuine interactions. Maybe they get likes from other business moguls who follow them, but you don’t see many people in the comments having conversations. 

Do you know what I see getting LOADS of interactions on LinkedIn? People who post about themselves and subjects that actual people care about. This could be issues they face in their profession, personal experiences, or even just their general thoughts about their business.  

They discuss with people in the comments and engage with their audience.  

Humanizing yourself to the people you want to do business with makes them feel more comfortable talking to you. The more discussion they have, the more they interact, the better the marketing.  

If you’re posting over-processed, perfected posts – people aren’t going to be compelled to interact. The content seems like it either wasn’t written by a real person, or the person who wrote it isn’t relatable enough to have a conversation with.  

It’s like trying to have a conversation with a “know-it-all” – sure, they’re knowledgeable, but they’re boorish about it. They almost make you feel stupid for asking questions or trying to engage.  

Over-polished marketing can feel the same way very much, where someone won’t engage with you because your “perfected content” is standoffish.  

If you seem like a real, imperfect person or business, people will want to talk to you. That interaction boosts your engagement and creates a level of trust.

What “Perfectly Imperfect” Looks Like:

• Don’t oversell your product as a fix-all, that’s unrealistic. Instead, highlight elements of it that integrate seamlessly into everyday life.
• Show real people doing real things. Posts with people are a lot more relatable than just product image after product image.
• Own up to imperfections. This is big for new businesses especially. If your product has minor hiccups and you receive a complaint, don’t be afraid to talk about it and own up to it. This is how things get better – by acknowledging inadequacies and not making excuses.
• Keep it real. Write your content in a tone that is authentic to you and your voice. Just like we do over here at Traffic Soda, you can tell that a real person is behind the words on the page.
• Keep it consistent. Don’t be quick to drastically change things up, especially once you find something that works. It can be read as disingenuous if your client base is used to a certain kind of content and then that content is suddenly unrecognizable.
• Have discussions. Talk with your client base, engage with them regularly. See what they have to say and if they have suggestions. Find out what they like and what they don’t like.
• Trial and error – everything is trial and error. Be open about your hiccups and don’t stress yourself out when you make mistakes. To error is to human, and people find other humans relatable.

Stop the stress and ease up, perfectly imperfect marketing is the new-age way of relating to your client base. No need for filters, scripts, and over-polished content; just be your perfectly imperfect self.