There are a million tips out there about how to create effective communication. But there’s not so much on how to create ineffective communication. Because, duh, nobody wants that. But here’s the problem: If we don’t talk about how a message becomes bad, nobody will know. And then we’ll all keep on doing it. Heaven forbid.
So, I’ve written this to help you stop the self-sabotage before it starts. Call it a “to-don’t” list.
It’s the quadruple curse of communication. Your message works against you when it’s:
You don’t want your message to be vain, because nobody likes a bragger.
You don’t want it to be vague, because confusion doesn’t convert.
You don’t want it to be dull, because you can’t bore people into buying.
And you don’t want it to be undisciplined, because erratic behavior is untrustworthy.
Unfortunately, these poisonous properties are rampant in marketing and sales. They always have been. And always will be? That’s what I hope to prevent.
Are we talking vanity? Or narcissism? Really both.
According to ChatGPT: “A vain person might spend a lot of time obsessing over their appearance, and be upset if they don’t get compliments.”
And a narcissistic person “has an inflated sense of self-importance, a lack of empathy, and a need for admiration. Narcissists often believe they are superior to others and have a deep need to be recognized for it. It’s more about power, control, and self-centeredness. Narcissistic people tend to manipulate others and are often driven by a desire to maintain their self-image at the expense of others’ feelings.”
Brands can certainly be vain. Even narcissistic. When they obsess over appearances with their excessive rules and social posturing. When they make exaggerated claims of superiority (“world’s best”). And when they blather on about their offerings and their accomplishments. As if their target audience is going to prostrate themselves: “We’re not worthy!”
Okay, I’m being a little silly. But vanity is a serious condition in marketing. And people react to a self-absorbed brand the same way they would react to a self-absorbed person: “This company only cares about themselves. They don’t care about me. They sound haughty and it turns me off. Pretty sure I can’t trust them to do anything other than act in their own selfish interests.”
These may be subconscious impressions instead of conscious thoughts. But they matter just the same.
Sometimes boastfulness is obvious. Sometimes it’s sneaky. Sometimes it’s entirely unintended. In fact, you might not even realize how your company is coming across.
How can you find out? Here’s an easy place to start: sentence structure. In marketing communication, the subject of most sentences is the company (or its product, service, staff, or attributes). Look for instances of “we,” “us,” and “our.” That’s the primary indicator that you’re talking about yourself.
There’s more to it. Make sure you know what a vain message looks like and sounds like.
What’s the opposite of vain? Customer-centric. Do you know how to make your message customer-centric? You should. That’s one of The 4 things that make a message work™.
If you don’t understand what somebody is saying, you’re unlikely to believe them. If you don’t understand what they’re asking you to do, you’re sure as heck unlikely to do it.
Realizing this risk, you might choose to over-explain. Just to be safe. So you can make doggone sure there’s no possibility of puzzlement. But over-explaining can be just as bad. Because too much detail — even with good intentions — can create just as much confusion as too little detail. This goes for content as well as style. Long words, long sentences… the clutter of unnecessary words makes your meaning harder to get to.
When your message is vague, at best, it’s ineffective. At worst, it turns people off. It might make them feel stupid. It might make them feel like you’re intentionally trying to befuddle them. It might even make them feel like you don’t know what you’re talking about.
But you would never be vague on purpose, would you? Actually you might. Some information changes frequently. SKUs. Staff makeup. Years of experience. So it’s common to use round numbers and qualifiers (“more than”) to prevent constant updates. Understandable. But frequent revisions may be worth the hassle, because specificity increases trust.
Just take it as a general rule: The more nebulous you are, the more negative your impact could be. As my friend Brian Tisdale likes to say, “The confused mind says no.”
The confused mind says no.
There’s more to it. Make sure you know what a vague message looks like and sounds like.
What’s the opposite of vague? Clear. Do you know how to make your message clear?
There once was a guy named Elias St. Elmo Lewis. Way back in 1898, he developed a system for how people could engage with potential customers. You might know it as AIDA, which stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. This, we might suppose, was the world’s first sales funnel.
As marketers, we are on this earth to stimulate Desire and Action. But you can’t get to the DA without going through the AI… Attention and Interest. So when you think about it, every message you put out there is a micro sales funnel.
A message that doesn’t attract attention is dull. A message that doesn’t maintain interest is also dull. Put another way, if it blends in and it’s bland, it’s blah. It’s blah when it doesn’t stand out amid a million other competing messages. When it doesn’t connect with its audience quickly and emotionally. When it doesn’t quickly bring its most meaningful points into focus.
If it blends in and it’s bland, it’s blah.
To persuade someone, you have to engage them. You can’t do that if you’re insipid. And you certainly can’t do it if you’re invisible.
There’s more to it. Make sure you know what a dull message looks like and sounds like.
What’s the opposite of dull? Compelling. Do you know how to make your message compelling?
In the immortal words of Forrest Gump: “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.” That’s fine for chocolates (and true of life), but it’s not fine for your brand. Or your message.
You can’t trust someone who acts one way one day, and a different way the next. I mean, you can trust them… to be all over the place. But that’s not somebody you can rely on. And when people are spending their hard-earned money — when their job or even life is on the line — they need somebody or something they can rely on.
The thing is, until people have the experience of working with you, all they’ve got to go by are the messages they see and hear. Some of which are largely out of your control (word of mouth, reviews). And some of which are entirely within your control — like the perceptions you create with your messaging. If you look and sound inconsistent, that reflects on you and your offerings.
What things make a message feel erratic and untrustworthy? Typos. Exaggerated claims. Asterisks. A website that doesn’t function properly. Just to name a few.
There’s more to it. Make sure you know what an undisciplined message looks like and sounds like.
What’s the opposite of undisciplined? Controlled. Do you know how to keep your message controlled?
Think about it: If your message has no effect, you’re just wasting dollars. But if your message has a negative effect, then you are actively investing in undermining yourself. It’s the best money your competition never spent.
This post is an overview, but the links above and below will give you the fuller picture of each of the four enemies of effective communication:
Please read, so you can prevent the pitfalls that push people away.
And if you need further help, give me a shout. I promise I’m not vain. And I’ll try not to be dull.
