mobites - ideas, inspiration, insight

In this new, media-bloated, message-fragmented world how do you know when to send what message in what medium to really get through to your customers and prospects? Because when it comes to getting brand buying information they have a lot of choices.

And so do you with your fancy-schmancy automated inbound-outbound telemarketing, movie product placement, data-triggered CRM messaging and push/pull interstitial Internet email bombardment.

Don’t go quietly into that dark cesspool

Of course, the most effective way around all the clutter and fragmentation is to hit them when they are most susceptible to each message. This usually has a direct relationship to when, why and where they are in their purchase decision process.What emerges from such an analysis are unconventional, nontraditional media that are much more effective because they are totally relevant to the audience’s needs for information and help at a specific time in their decision process. In fact, customers and prospects often initiate many of these communications.

More important, each of these contact points must deliver the right message of assistance and opportunity for dialogue when the audience is dealing with that relevant issue. And it must do it in a way that makes that dialogue message engaging and stand out.

Hit them when they need you

What you’ll probably find is that the most effective vehicles are those that are as close as possible to the place where the actual decision is taking place in your prospects’ minds. In other words, if a prospect is evaluating purchase options to make a final decision a print ad probably won’t be as effective at that point of their decision process as say an interactive analysis tool that they can easily get to on the Internet.

But they have to be able to identify and find that tool (through your consistent, highly identifiable communications that stands out not blends in) and they’ll have to have confidence in that tool’s ability to give them the information they need (through your engaging, consistent, highly identifiable dialogue that makes you credible in their minds.)

The slime fighter’s credo

All of which means that fighting the slime of info-glut, clutter, decomposition and disintegration these days means truly integrating your messages across all media, threaded together with a central, unique, compelling, creative buying concept that is executed memorably and consistently in every medium. It means building brand relationships through dialogue.

But it also means making those messages and that brand dialogue stand out instead of blend in. And that requires you to make them more relevant, interesting, engaging, believable and emotionally resonant to the people you want to reach at the time when they need you.

Stand out of the quagmire, don’t sink into it

Because every day, new technology and new techniques are widening and deepening the giant quagmire mistakenly, in my opinion, called “communications clutter.” Make no mistake about it. It is much more than that. It’s more sinister and disruptive than mere clutter. It is really message and brand disintegration on a giant scale.

And unless you develop an engaging, consistent, unique, relevant, impactful, consistent, easily-recognizable-in-every-medium, memorable, consistent, comprehensive and, of course, consistent communications presence out there it’s going to be glug …glug …glug time.

But that’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.