Default Marketing
As entrepreneurs and small business owners we are all marketers. We’re always communicating a message to our customers.
Sometimes deliberately, often by default.
Too many small business owners (and more than a few large) overlook this critical aspect of marketing; the implied message has far more impact than the explicit message. In other words, how you say it can have far more impact than what you actually say.
Studies show that in verbal face-to-face communication, only about 7% of our communicating occurs through the actaul content of our words.
The other 93% of our message is communicated through other subtle signals such as confidence, posture, appearance, tone, body language, cadence and eye contact, things we are able to sense, yet may not be able to consciously interpret or articulate. (If you haven’t already done so, run don’t walk to Amazon and order your copy of Blink- The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell.)
The same is true for graphic communication. When we try to cram too much information onto a page we’re inadvertently sending a message - a message often more powerful than the message we’ve attempted to spell out with words.
And, all too often, it’s not the message we want our customers to get.
(Before & After Magazine is a great resource that illustrates the power of good design. Highly recommended.)
Look at your marketing materials, look at your website, then look in the mirror and ask yourself: What am I really saying to my customers?
Insights, Exploits And Life-Lessons
