Close Enough to Whisper

Paul McEnany has a short, pithy post on his blog.

We're in an industry where everyone is trying to scream the loudest, when all we ever needed to do was get close enough to whisper.

"Close enough to whisper" is a great metaphor for all kinds of advertising, but it's especially true for the Internet, where for so long flashing banner ads and popups that deceptively looked like Windows error messages ruled the day. Our challenge is that we must not only get close enough to whisper, but in an age when the competition is only a click away, the customers must trust us enough to allow us to get that close.

Getting them to notice you isn't enough. For consumers, it's less work to find an alternative than it ever was. Therefore, it must be easier to buy from you than it is to buy from the competition.

It's not about only usability. It's not about only creative or content. It's about more than just honest messaging--it's about being honest at our core. It can take years to develop a good reputation, but it only takes one act of dishonesty to ruin it.

That is why, I'm convinced, when companies focus their efforts solely on narrowly targeted metrics instead of just becoming a great company, they  are really just losing sight of the fact that their customers are real people who have real concerns about what that business represents, and whether or not they are the sort of company the conumers want to be seen associated with--whispering sweet nothings or empty promises in their ears.

Lose sight of that, and your customers will make sure you're never close enough to whisper. - Cam Beck

Comments

[Paul McEnany]

Well said, Cam. I think you said it much better than me!

Jaffe was talking about this Ogilvy quote the other day, "I notice increasing reluctance on the part of marketing executives to use judgment; they are coming to rely too much on research, and they use it as a drunkard uses a lamp post for support, rather than for illumination," which seems particularly apt. If we get caught up in metic after metric, then the numbers will not only remove the humanity, but eventually drown us.

Good stuff.