Wouldn’t it be nice if our businesses could run smoothly all the time? Unfortunately, mistakes happen and plans fall apart. Have your packages ever been late? Have your tools failed you? Have you posted to the wrong account? I can definitely relate to that last one!

Pratfall Effect

According to Elliott Aranson, a psychologist in the 1960s, competent people are more likeable when they make mistakes. This is called the Pratfall Effect.
If you think about it, would you like or trust someone who appears to be perfect? Or would you assume it’s a facade?

Many businesses, including KFC and Oatly, have used their mistakes to their advantage – and so can you!

How to include your mistakes in your marketing strategy

► Don’t hide from your mistakes.
► People expect businesses to have faults. Flaunt yours and you won’t leave potential clients wondering what might go wrong.
► Are you still working on a solution? Make a story about it, get people involved and they will check in to see how you are doing.
► A negative comment might be the inspiration for your next post. Oatly got a comment saying “This tastes like sh*t! Blah!”. Rather than ignoring it, it became their next marketing campaign. They explained that it tastes like oats, and if you don’t like oats, you won’t like their drink.
► Have a laugh. You might want to move past your mistake as quickly as possible and forget about it, but what if you drag it out? What if you turn it into a way to bring people together and laugh?

My recent mistake

Ironically, my recent mistake was during the writing process of this article. This is actually my second attempt.

I sat down at my computer on Saturday with a few ideas in my head. Although I wasn’t satisfied with what I’d written – it was missing something – I decided it would have to be enough.

I had promised my web designer, Eric, that I would have a go using the guide he sent me to add an article to my website. So I copied what I’d written off Hemingway Editor and went to log into my WordPress account. Of course, the password Eric sent me was a long string of random letters, so I just copied and pasted it. You know where this is going, don’t you? That’s right, when I went to paste all the words I’d written for the article, a long string of random letters appeared instead. And, of course, I hadn’t copied the article, I’d cut it.

At least I found the missing something.

Quick note

Are you wondering what the Hemingway Editor is? It’s an online editor that I use to write most of my articles and posts. It helps to insure my sentences are short and easy to understand. It’s an easy way for me to keep my posts as accessible as possible.