You've no doubt heard (and experienced) that last week was a big celebration in America. Seems everyone was involved. Work was suspended. Instead, we gathered in large groups. We laughed and celebrated, while others stressed. Entire families joined forces to enjoy the event. There was travel involved - so much that roads were jammed and crowds formed in public places. Mindsets were changed-at least for a day-to focus on the moment. It was...
Black Friday. (What? You thought I was talking about Thanksgiving?!)
For the 30+ percent of us who despise such crowds and focus, it's a day to sit around the house and wonder why the Internet is so slow. But for millions of others (and the 13+ BILLION dollars they represent ), it's a day of deals and strategy and the challenge of the chase.
For the marketers hoping for a percentage of that economic windfall, it's a once-a-year chance to gain the attention of your prospects. Whether it's a quarter page - or a small book - that makes up part of the five pound newspaper that arrives Thanksgiving day or a TV or Internet ad, it's the ultimate communication challenge: how to be heard in a noisy world. And it's the same challenge you and I face every day.
Perhaps it's teaching a workshop to a group of busy professionals who may want to be anywhere but here (welcome to my world!) or leading a recurrent team meeting of capable people who may not want to be there or pitching a new product to an audience that loves you or trying to get that dream job in a multi-session interview against competition you don't even know. The challenge will always be: "How to stand out in a sea of sameness." I'm not going to give you the marketing angle on this - my new friends at the Triangle American Marketing Association have the corner on that market. Instead, here are three simple ways to make your story, product, or message stand out (taken unabashedly from my networking keynote entitled, "The Three Questions"). Whenever you are competing for the attention of your audience you need to make a message that is one (or all) of:
Resonant
If you can connect with the audience, you've got their attention. Your connection could be based on a hobby (mention aviation and I'll give you my rapt attention), a statistic, a problem, a story, or a shared experience. Regardless, find a way to be RESONANT (with your audience) and you've got the attention you crave.
Repeated
If you have the time (and the money it takes), then just repeating your message over and over will eventually make people remember you. I've often felt that I'm immune to the incessant repeated messages that Geico, Coke, Nissan, and Budweiser send my way during football games, but if it wasn't working, they wouldn't do it (and research shows that people do respond to repeated messages). Parents, take heart: those kids WILL remember what you say, just not during their teenage years! Leaders and mentors, make your message consistent and keep repeating it. The peeps will get it, eventually. The downside is that you can become tired, made fun of, or eventually tuned out. But they'll remember you!
Rare
This is where most of us want to live. Because the mundane is quickly ignored, the ordinary is overlooked, and the common isn't counted. If you're that one-in-a-million, the one that's different, the message everyone is talking about, then you've got the attention (assuming it was for the right reasons) of your audience. Rare is something no one expects or is doing. A Belgian television program used a flash mob at Central Station in Antwerp to promote their recruitment of a leading role for the musical "The Sound of Music." Speakers can use unique ways (special prop, song, magic trick, unique storytelling,...) to tie their message together.
In your next communication (email, speech, presentation, meeting), what can you change to make your message resonant, repeated, or rare? If all your meetings start with a predictable opening, find a resonant beginning. If you're struggling with what to say in that keynote, find a way to repeat that core message several times. If all your emails look the same, change it up (notice anything?).
