I was driving to work this morning and laughed to see a car speeding along with a Starbucks cup on the roof. It took me about 30 seconds to remember that today is the worst day of the year for gullible people (like me): April Fool’s Day.
If I’d thought about this in advance, I would have officially decreed this Trustworthiness and Respect day for my readers, customers and community. (And it would have been the perfect day to write the next in my relationship marketing series–Don’t Lie. You can look forward to that one soon in any event.)
Today is a great day to stand out for being reliable
Send a signal that you’re trustworthy by commiting to a reliable publishing schedule for your content. (My self grade: D-, especially for my beloved newsletter readers. I will get you something good soon!)
Show your selflessness by deciding to only do what you’re incredibly good at, and to refer out business that’s not in line with your greatest strengths. (I’ll give myself an A for that one.)
Honor your commitments, keep your promises, and make yourself an oasis of trustworthiness in an April Fool’s world.
April Fool’s Day hasn’t ever been a favorite of mine–I’m much too easy to trick! But I do enjoy a laugh, and genuinely clever tricks earn a tip of my hat.
If you see a truly inspired prank, let us know in the comments. And you might visit Godin’s Squidoo lens and add a link to the "plexo." My favorite this year was Darren Rowse’s fiendishly believable "Pay per Tweet" post on Problogger.
That one caught me, but just for a second. Darren is such a trustworthy, genuine guy that I knew there had to be a catch. Would your customers, readers and community say the same about you?
Flickr Creative Commons image by Chris Breeze
1. I’m glad you posted that the PayPerTweet was April Fools. I read it yesterday and was like, well, there’s gotta be a story there, but I didn’t read the comments.
2. Check out those comments! Some people are livid, and others are arguing with him about his time zone. “It’s not April yet, Darren.” People are insane.
Oh yeah, and your post was cool, too. 🙂