Stick to the Message
March 28th 2008
One of the biggest mistakes I see companies make on their Web sites and on their advertising is that they try to be everything to everyone. Instead, the Web site and other affiliated marketing endeavors should know who the audience is, and speak to that audience. The audience at a trade show might be very different than the one in a trade magazine, and it probably is very different than those that visit the Web site. Stay focused on who you are writing for and you will see some amazing results.
Picture yourself at some networking event. It is far more powerful to communicate with people one-on-one. As soon as someone else joins your group—and you want to include them in the conversation—the conversation changes. You have to get them caught up on the current topic, and if the new arrival isn’t familiar with it, you will likely have to change the entire direction of the conversation or risk boring them with something they are not interested in. Your advertising message works the same way.
If you can focus on the important part of the message and not have to stop every 10 minutes to get newcomers caught up on what you’re doing, your advertising will be very, very powerful. The more the message becomes diluted for a broader audience, one that may not necessarily get what you are talking about, the more you are sharing your message with no one. Those who would be interested in the message are tuned out, because you are telling them things they already know, and those that don’t know aren’t interested because, well … they were never really interested.
