Reminder: There are 4 things that make a message work™: When your message is customer-centric, clear, compelling, and controlled. The opposite of these are The 4 ways your message works against you: When it’s vain, vague, dull, and undisciplined.
Dull means a message that won’t stop anybody or move anybody. In a word: lifeless.
Definitions of dull:
Merriam-Webster:
American Heritage:
Being dull in your messaging can be the same as being:
You’ve experienced dull before. That person that drones on and on about a subject you couldn’t care less about. That salesperson who mindlessly recites all the bullet points on their script. That ad you saw this morning about… wait, what ad? You didn’t even notice it, did you? Exactly. In these situations, what did you feel? Likely nothing. It’s all white noise — just like your bedside sound machine. Zzzzz…
A dull message makes your audience feel:
Simply put, if you’re dull, you’re not winning anybody over. You might even be turning people away. That’s why dull is one of The 4 ways your message works against you. The good news is, it’s a sin you can avoid.
“The cardinal marketing sin is being boring.”
Dan Kennedy
Dull communication is communication that suffers from a lack of appeal. Maybe you’ve never thought about it, but you’ve probably witnessed the causes and the effects.
I’m sure you don’t mean to be dull. Nor do your colleagues. Still, be on the listen-out for these Uh-oh Utterances:
“Better tone it down some.”
“White space is wasted space. We’re paying for every pixel, you know.”
“There’s no reason to hire a photographer. Just use stock photos.”
“Great products. Great service. That’s all we need to say.”
“People don’t have time to read a story. Just be straightforward about it.”
“Peace of mind. That’s what we’re selling. Just say that.”
“This ‘active voice’ or whatever sounds too promotional. We need to sound intellectual.”
“A commitment to quality. Yes! That sums it up perfectly.”
“I don’t think we need to pay for color. Black and white is fine.”
“Here’s the headline: ‘Our name says it all.’”
“Don’t you think those colors are a little bright?”
“This doesn’t look like other ads in our industry. We might not be taken seriously.”
Following are some dull messages… and how a customer might react to them.
Impressive. Who needs benefits when you’ve got no features? This is a throwback to the pioneer days when you were the only game in town, and all you had to do was announce your presence. It’s kinda charming actually. To me. But probably not to anybody else.
Pretty easy to get that headline approved, huh? Management be like, “Yay innovation!” But there’s nothing innovative about this message. Implied benefit? Sure. But it’s wrapped up with a classic corporate cliché. In a sterile design. This is everyday advertising and nothing more.
“Reliable” and “great” are two of the softest, emptiest adjectives in marketing. Plus, it’s poor practice when you don’t let readers draw their own conclusions. Just give me the price and let ME decide if it’s great or not. That’s a headline-sized redundancy for a small space that already has way too many messages.
There’s that word again: Reliable. To be fair, this is a template. But that’s the suggested language, and I bet some users won’t even change it. Talk about blah. Relia-blah.
Templates are great in a lot of ways, but just remember that you and a million others have access to the same stuff, so you’re taking a big step toward sameness unless you do some heavy customization. (I have seen real live websites that didn’t change the obviously fake testimonials that were placeholders in the template. So embarrassing.)
A dull message is the antithesis of compelling. It’s easy to ignore. Unoriginal. And has no effect on you.
A message that’s dull:
These are the keys to achieving comms of no consequence.
Verbal signs that your message is dull:
If you’ve got the following, you’ve got some well-camouflaged communication.
Visual signs that your message is dull:
Not really. But some traits you might consider dull can be good if used the right way. For example, dull is bad, but straightforward is good. Dull is bad, but minimalism is good. Dull is bad, but repetition is good. So yes, there are exceptions, and there are esoteric judgment calls. A good reason to ask for help.
Sometimes dullness represents a benefit. Consistency, for example — getting the same result over and over. Or peace and quiet. That’s when creative can turn pallid into positive.
Deciding if a message is dull isn’t always easy. There are esoterics and exceptions. Sometimes, you need an expert judgement call. That’s when it’s good to ask for help.
The opposite of a dull message is a message that’s compelling. One that’s stops and moves.
Compelling is one of The 4 things that make a message work. If you want to know what makes a message effective, find out how to make your message compelling.
Being dull is the opposite of what makes a message effective. Do you agree or disagree with these assertions? Hit me with your cheers and challenges.
Ready to prove or disprove the notion that dull is a message-strategy nemesis? Send me some examples.
Your input can help me refine the principles of message strategy, which in turn can help others.
Are you creating sales playbooks? An ad campaign? A tagline? How would you rate your own messaging in terms of being dull?
Need to ensure adoption of your sales program, new product offering, or company strategy? Let’s talk.
