If it is for everybody, it is for nobody
Most businesses today are trying to say too much. They are busy telling customers everything good about their product, hoping to gain a favorable response.
And what happens? The customer responds “Yeah yeah everyone says that.”
Let’s take an example of a staple goods producer, let’s say Brand X makes breakfast cereals. So what does Brand X do to get as many customers they can?
They market everything good about their cereals. The list usually goes like this:
“It’s gluten-free.”
“It’s rich in fiber.”
“It is a good source of magnesium.”
“It contains vitamins B.”
“It is a natural source of phosphorus.”
“It also contains fatty acids, iron, zinc, iodine, and vitamin E.”
Also, it’s the perfect breakfast idea for young kids, adolescents, babies, elderly, women over 50, women under 50, men over 50, men under 50. Maybe even for your cat.
When you appeal to everybody, you end up appealing to nobody.
If you have to say 3 things, try saying 1.
When you concentrate on 1 thing everybody remembers it but nobody remembers if you say 5 different things.
If you can say just one thing, and market it successfully through your mediums, the impact will be much greater.
Noise in the marketplace
The marketplace today is far too noisy. And the customer’s mind is limited. They have things in their lives, their friends, their family, and if their work is not stressing them out enough, maybe they have some children at home. They have their own TV shows and Netflix series to catch up on. All this while being bombarded by ads left right up and down all day. Some are probably by your competitors. According to a recent research, most people are exposed to 5,000-10,000 advertisements a day.
An average person can only remember 3 things. An average person can remember 7-8 digits of numbers strung together. Now you know why your phone doesn’t have 15 digits!
Most people don’t need to go to math class to figure the math out.
There’s no way in heaven your customer remembers your product. Unless he or she is a loyalist, being exposed to 5,000 different ads, with added their own personal lives and hobbies.
If a typical working person that wakes up at 9 am and prepares to wind off to bed by 9 pm will be exposed to 416 ads an hour at a minimum.
How to penetrate your brand in a noisy market
You need one simple message, summing up the entirety of your product.
If you really have a few to list out, make sure they all align neatly behind the simple core message or benefit, and not adjacent to your message because then it causes unnecessary marketing distraction and your customers are more than likely to forget whatever you just said.
Remember, people are constantly getting kamikaze’d by many other ads, in various forms. And many of which are your same old tiring competitors.
The lesson is this: Keep it simple, but unforgettable. If you have to choose between 3 or 5 sentences, make it 3. If you have to choose between 3 benefits or 1 benefit, make it 1. But a smart marketing person might skillfully align the 2 points behind number 1.
So should your core brand message.
