“Shouting is not necessarily about making you heard. It’s about making you interesting. And getting you noticed.” This quote is by Andy Nulman, and found in his book “Pow! Right Between The Eyes” – the book about surprise marketing.
Shouting – helping you stand out from the crowd – is one of the ways he explains how to build surprise marketing… remarkable marketing.
Andy’s not (necessarily) suggesting screaming at the top of your lungs. He says, “[shouting] is more about context, and the courage to deviate from the norm, than it is about volume.”
Later in the book Andy tells the story of a client that wants to build awareness of their product line of sunglasses with placement on a popular TV show.
But, just because the show’s characters would be wearing his glasses wouldn’t mean viewers would know the brand.
Andy comments… “The problem wasn’t getting them on the TV screen; the problem was getting them on the radar screen.”
I find this line of thinking a great way to reinforce, what I think we marketers often forget…
- Being heard doesn’t mean the audience is listening.
- Being seen doesn’t mean they’re aware.
- Just because they are listening and aware… doesn’t mean what you’re saying is relevant to them.
I remember being pitched by a company that produces commercials for mini-screens that they sell and install in elevators and taxicabs.
One of their key selling features was that you have a “captive audience” that can’t avoid your commercials.
These folks didn’t get it.
I don’t want to choose an advertising vehicle because my target audience is in a ‘near hostage’ situation and physically cannot NOT see or hear my pitch.
And just because they’re trapped doesn’t mean what I’m saying is relevant to them.
To expand on Andy’s idea… Marketing is not necessarily about making you simply seen or heard. It’s about making you interesting, noticed, and relevant.
Is your audience aware? Are they listening? If so, are you relevant to them? Or are you just putting stuff out there for them to see and hear?
What are your thoughts? How do you ensure you’re being relevant?
Andy’s book will be part of a week-long virtual book tour starting Monday, May 18th at Jeff Brainard’s blog Catch Your Limit. Here is the full tour schedule so you can follow along.
Paul, this is really on-point for me. To me it ties in with inbound vs. outbound marketing. If you blast a gazillion e-mails or direct mails to people without their permission, it doesn’t matter what you say. Very few will be listening. On the other hand, if you build a community and become a respected leader, they are far more likely to listen. The trick to that is understanding the “hot buttons” of your community by listening and by always providing useful content based on what you know.
Just wanted to thank you for the great post. You really nailed it, what’s frequently forgotten in marketing is sensitivity to the end users experience. To much focus on making the almighty dollar puts the buyer of goods/services frequently in second place. This is really the difference between interuption marketing as opposed to permission marketing.
Some of the best spread messages are whispered from person to person.
No need to shout if your message is remarkable!
Great post Paul. This is about quality versus quantity. You need to reach the right people with the right message at the right time. Too many companies think mass exposure is the key. It’s all about targeting!