Market Your Message

"Information overload" sounds all too familiar in our society. In fact, Basex, a business research firm, has projected that information overload will be the “problem of the year” in 2008. Basex studies office workers and professionals and specifically how their work is accomplished with technology, and has concluded that this particular problem will compromise American productivity up to $650 billion in unnecessary interruptions.

From multiple forms of communications being used simultaneously, to different views on one topic getting sent instantaneously to a single consumer, the information bombardment competes to grab the attention of your target market too. In fact, sitting at a computer for even an hour can be overwhelming with a number of messages being transmitted in a matter of minutes.

According to an article from the New York Times Technology page entitled, “Bits,”* the lost productivity is due to workers grappling with the growing tide of e-mail, instant messages, cell phone calls, wikis, blogs and the like.”

As humans we see the stress in this overload, yet as marketers we must be aware of the competition. Marketing experts know the fierce rivalry to get the market’s attention. Standing out amongst the clutter of messages is getting more challenging than ever.

It is imperative for marketers to be selective in creating their marketing messages. Create a message that gets attention and stands out from the information clutter. Sounds simple, but how?

Yes, there are many contributing factors to creating a breakaway message, but the following are a few basic ideas to help create a break away targeted piece of information.

Create a message that evokes emotion (humor, amazement, etc). Relate to your target market on a human level.

Offer a valuable discount.

Include worthwhile and relevant information to your target market. Provide an incentive for readers to forward your message.

Clearly state a call to action. Even if the sales process for your product or service is lengthy, provide a call to action that starts the process, such as visiting your company web site.

Support your call to action visually.

Offer premium services or special offers to the message recipient.

Make your message visually appealing. Make it pop and stand out. It may be simply using more white space than any other message.

Standing out from this information overload to net your target market’s attention is the first step. Getting and keeping their business is next.

*Steve Lohr. (December 20, 2007). Is Information Overload a $650 Billion Drag on the Economy?