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Words worth their weight in gold

Let’s sing an old refrain: ‘online news sites will make traditional newspapers obsolete’, ‘google and yahoo are creating an army of people who search for the news they want to read when they want to read it’. ‘No longer can big television networks and publishers force their views on what is newsworthy, down the publics throat.’

Step back a few years when advertising stopped working. If you were born in the 90’s, you probably missed the party, but believe me when I tell you there was a time when advertising executives and creative directors of big advertising agencies were rock stars of the corporate world. This was the time advertising was at its peak and brands were created from nothing to must-have lifestyle accessories.

Yes advertising has stopped working but the pundits are wrong. Advertising is ineffective not because there is a smaller audience with a short attention span or a decrease of disposable income. The decrease is because of the meaningless, uninspired, repetitive drivel that is churned out daily. There is no need to point fingers at the agencies or the clients or the people working on these communication pieces. What has this got to do with Words – editorial content is also going the way of advertising content – drivel laden.

As mentioned at the outset of this article the decline is not due to technology because if anything technology i.e. the World Wide Web has increased the need for good editorial content that is informative and creative. However, the double-edged sword that is the Internet has also done two things:

A)    overloaded us with information which has forced us to ignore meaningless words – drivel

B)    improved focus which has resulted in us choosing what we want to read or listen to – sifting

From the days of the gold rush when gold miners waded into a gushing stream (information overload) and only stayed if their patient sifting out the drivel flowing by them resulted in a Gold Nugget. The resultant effective – gold miners staying for longer and more miners joining them to get their nugget.

Want your communication to be that nugget?

  1. Only deliver a message if there is substance – nobody likes fluff
  2. Be factual and  specific give details not generalities – numbers not statistics
  3. Unless everyone knows you are number one don’t claim it, Unless your idea is truly ground breaking do not say it – the reader is smart he/she will figure it out and appreciate that you have been modest
  4. Always remember the customer approaches any communication with the question – What’s in it for me? Or derivation of the same idea – so tell them in as few direct words as possible
  5. Honesty is the best policy and if you have evidence to support your communication by all means use it.

It is great to be creative and keep saying the same thing over and over again but it is the message that matters. A message which communicates to the customer what is in it for them in as many words needs no special effects to be effective.