Remember that game we used to play as kids called “operator”.
You know, where one kid would tell the first kid, “Mommy told me to go to the store for milk.”
Then the next kid passes the statement along to the next and when it finally gets back to the kid that started the whole thing and the sentence has turned into “Mommy Monkey sells a torn pink silk”.
How’d you get that?
This reminded me of a valuable lesson in marketing messages.
It isn’t what we say. It’s what the audience hears.
Let me say that again because it’s very important.
It isn’t what we say. It’s what the audience hears.
And in this day and age with social media, the audience can easily pass along your message (and you want your advocates to do so) but the message can get distorted.
So you need to be tracking your messages – searching for them on the web and via social media channels – so you can correct it if it gets out of whack.
In fact the FTC wants to you to know that you need to be correcting misinformation.
And when your message is seen by people who are skeptical, you really need to make sure you are available to them if they have questions about your message.
Their interpretation of your message and how it made them feel is the most important thing. So when you get feedback on your message through conversations take it seriously.
You definitely don’t want that Mommy Monkey on your back.
Have you experienced a message that got out of control or was misinterpreted? Want to tell me about it?
Leave a Reply