Have you ever bought a brand new pair of white sneakers and thought:

“These are way too perfect. I better scuff them up a bit!”

Well, that’s exactly how you should think about your marketing – and your business, actually.

I just love my recent Marketing Mentor podcast episode with public speaking coach, Gigi Rosenberg, where we talked about how being too perfect can actually make you seem robotic…

And how embracing imperfections humanizes you - making you more desirable in this AI-saturated world.

So if you’re trying to be perfect all the time, here’s your sign to just stop!

Listen to the entire episode (including our very human “scuff-ups”) here.

That’s not to say you should ignore typos in your proposals or misspellings in your content.

But so often, I see the perfection impulse get in the way of people finishing their website, updating their LinkedIn profile, or finally starting a newsletter.

They want it to be "right" (as if there is such a thing). So much so that it’s crippling.

So if you’ve been sitting on a first draft of a newsletter or LinkedIn post, hemming and hawing about whether to publish…

This is your permission to just let go. Let it be imperfect.

Who you are will attract more clients that are the right fit for you than trying to be perfect ever will.

Especially if you’re not putting yourself out there at all!

Need a little push?

Here are three ways to make yourself more desirable to prospects by leaning into your humanness:

1. Embrace Imperfection to Be More Relatable
   
   Instead of striving for perfection, aim to "scuff up" your content so it sounds natural and conversational. Perfection can make your message feel scripted or robotic, but a few rough edges make you more human and relatable to your audience.
   
   
2. Acknowledge Mistakes Instead of Hiding Them
   
   Everyone makes mistakes—especially in real time, in real conversations with real people. Instead of trying to cover them up, acknowledge the moment and move forward. This keeps your connection with the audience authentic and real, showing you're human just like them.
   
   
3. Shift Your Focus from Perfection to Clarity
   
   When you're communicating, whether in an elevator pitch or a presentation, aim for clarity over perfection.
   
   Stop trying to do everything “right” and instead focus on the person in front of you and think about what they need to hear. Speak in simple terms that people can understand and relate to, instead of trying to impress with polished, perfect phrases.

“We tend to want to seem perfect. Oops, we made a little mistake. Then we cover our tracks, but we really can't because everyone's seen the ball drop already.” — Gigi Rosenberg

Being human is necessarily imperfect, and therefore real. That’s one of the things I love about it!

Accepting our imperfections, and maybe even indulging them, is the surest way to set yourself apart from AI.

So don’t be afraid to go out there and be totally you - “scuffs” and all.