If You Can’t Say Something Interesting – BE QUIET!

If there is one thing the world is not short of, it is people and businesses that love the sound of their own voice. Yes, I know – mea culpa – me too! Nine times out of ten however, the content is not original, interesting, funny, entertaining or stimulating in any way. It is just noise for the sake of noise – adding to the wall of sound incessantly attacking the senses.

For the ‘broadcasters of noise’, their addiction to merely making noise over-rides the ability for self-analysis. Many have little insight into what they are trying to achieve with the noise they are making and no evaluation of whether it is successful in helping them achieve that goal. Increasingly this compulsion to soak up bandwidth is causing consumers to pull in their antenna and turn off their receivers.

Since the 1950’s – and the advent of mass-market television – noise levels have been increasing and mutating to the point where, in order to maintain sanity, consumers have sub-consciously reduced their attention spans and developed a complex filter system. An in-built 10-second timer and a spam filter, which lacks the ability to discriminate between good and bad messages.

As the consumer behavior shift has become apparent, ‘broadcasters’ have reacted by turning up the volume even more. More noise. Louder. Faster. Multi-channel. 24/7. Surround-sound.

Is it any wonder that while we exist in the richest period in history for the average household in this country, our stress and anxiety levels have correspondingly gone ‘off the Richter scale’. Multi-sensory overload now affects mental and physical health – not to mention the damage it is doing to the ability of good businesses to be heard.

Promotion is an important part of the retail mix. It is also incredibly misunderstood by many that use it. Noise for noise sake is not only a waste of money, it can undermine your credibility with those you seek to influence.

Do us all a favor.

If you can’t say something interesting – BE QUIET!

But better still, think about what you need to say that will make consumers want to go to your selling environments – physical and/or virtual – to experience what you have to offer. Make it interesting and compelling. Better yet, tell it in a way that is stimulating and different. Make it yours and yours alone.

This is not just a community service. It is a fundamental requirement of a retail business that wants to be successful in the 21st century.