Three Ways Brands Can Combat Information Overload and Skepticism
When conventional advertising can’t cut through the clutter, marketers must get out of their comfort zones.
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In a media environment that’s saturated with content and advertising, marketers face a challenge in attracting consumers’ attention and generating interest. For instance, many potential customers regard ads with skepticism or tune them out as background noise. Strategic brand builders can create a lasting positive impression by crafting relevant taglines and framing discussions around brand relevance; developing compelling content; and engaging with rather than talking at customers.
Brand builders face a hostile advertising context. Confronted with media clutter and overwhelming information overload, audiences have adopted a skeptical mindset and often view advertising as confusing and irrelevant. At best, it’s noise to be tolerated or avoided; at worst, it’s a series of annoying interruptions from profit-driven and sometimes hypocritical sources. Further, in a polarized world, people tend to firmly hold their positions and are less receptive to attempts to change their perceptions and opinions.
Brands are more central to marketing strategy than ever, and advertising remains key to increasing awareness and demand. Given how hard it is to break through the noise and shape — or change — consumers’ attitudes and inclinations, how should brand-building adapt to make its programs effective?
Marketers should consider three routes: find game-changing taglines that enable and control the conversation; create appealing content that distracts from counterarguments; and build brands by engaging with customers instead of talking at them. While each can require marketers to move away from their comfort zones and make a risky commitment to the untested and unfamiliar, not doing so can be an ineffective use of resources. The advice that follows aims to help marketers find the right path and deliver communications with energy, confidence, and execution that stands out.
1. Develop a Tagline That Enables and Controls the Conversation
The tagline can be a game changer, making the benefit or brand characteristic that represents a business’s point of advantage visible and relevant. The big idea is to change the goal from communicating facts and descriptions of benefits in an effort to win the “my brand is better than your brand” argument, to framing the discussion so that the organization wins the “my brand is more relevant than your brand” battle. If the framing is effective, the brand will win by being the most, or the only, relevant brand. As George Lakoff explains in his book Don’t Think of an Elephant, what matters is what the argument is about, not who wins the argument.
Think of the taglines “Because you’re worth it” (L’Oreal Paris), “You’re in good hands with Allstate,” or “Melts in your mouth, not in your hand” (M&M’s) — all brand drivers that, for decades, have framed the discussion around a brand value proposition.