We live in a world of marketing buzz and hype, where we are bombarded daily with hundreds of messages all telling us what is or isn’t good for us. Every day, new ways of ‘cutting through’ the volume of advertisements and marketing hype have to be invented to get some sort of traction in the marketplace – even if only for a short time before the next ‘big thing’ arrives.

Our brain takes in each new message we see or hear with a pre-existing mindset – call it a frame of reference, or just a point of view – so that the new messages we take in are either quickly screened out, or allowed to pass, and so can be slowly absorbed.

Trying to cut through the crowded world of marketing with your own message is a daunting one – there’s always someone else, and something else vying for our attention.

So how do you compete in a world of more? Go less.

Less Is More, More Or Less…

• When all else fails, apply the KISS theory, and keep it simple. A straightforward message may not get every last feature or benefit of your message communicated to your audience, but you will get across both a brief synopsis of what you do AND you’ll have given your audience a relatively quiet spot in the great big world of marketing to, well, pause for a moment before being bombarded again.
• The minimalist approach can almost never be taken to the extreme, even the plainest message makes a statement: “I didn’t want to waste your time – so here’s my message”. It’s a very bold move to say very little, but try to resist the temptation to highlight every part of your message all in one go – prioritise your message, and direct your listener/reader through what’s vital, then what’s important, then finally (and only if you really have to) the fine print.
• Avoid clichés. Trying to stand out by using obvious metaphors or graphics generally doesn’t reinforce your message, but instead can reflect a lack of awareness of what those obvious metaphors are. Where possible, try to communicate your message in a fresh way, and make a clear and bold delineation between your message, and that of the world. Many times, a whole organisation uses similar colours and obvious metaphors in their messages – which is a two-edged sword: the only options are to blend in with the crowd and hope for strength in numbers, or to find a unique way of cutting through the messages of your industry. The only saving grace for the cliché is if you’re actually being clever enough to display your knowledge of the cliché in question, and you’re trying to get a chuckle out of flaunting your usage of it… the anti-cliché…? or the Clayton’s cliché…?

Andrew Ballard