Is anybody really listening?
The average American hears 3,000 marketing messages a day. That’s more than two ads, product placements, brochures, catalogs, PPV, online banners, every minute if you don’t pee, sleep or walk away from your media sources.
Increasingly, that’s a conservative estimate. Consider this:
Facebook surpassed 1 billion chat messages a day on June 17. That’s just the CHAT feature.
Teenage cell phone users average 20 text messages a day. (My teen user averages 65, but that’s another story.)
This is one of the 1 million new blog posts today alone.
Email spam ads are at a chart topping level. Interesting side note: replica watches were the most popular spam item over Valentine’s Day. Who knew?
In this crowded media environment, communication experts will tell you how important it is to 1) know what it is you have to say, 2) to say it repeatedly, and 3) to get others to say it for you.
All true.
However, until you can honestly clarify who your audience is, your message is just more white noise being drowned out by chatter.
If your marketing guru isn’t asking you question after mind-numbing question about who your audiences are, start asking those questions yourself. After all, unless you know who you are talking to, there is no way you can tailor the communication messages you need to cut through the clutter.
How well do we really listen? How much do we hear? Do we use our marketing ears as much as we use our mouths? I had the inspiration for this blog a while ago, but I knew I was on to something at Blog Indiana 2009 when Chris Brogan proclaimed, “Listening is the new black.”
Who knew I was part of the latest fashion trend?
I am hearing you.
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