The Message Is the Medium…Or Is It?
Just returned from the BPAA Summit in Tempe AZ and, even after years of attendance I always look forward to seeing colleagues, clients, friends and people I consider family. This year did not disappoint.
The seminars have become so good, albeit weighted to the social media side, understandably, but sometimes I think we miss out on basic understanding of consumer behavior and why people buy. One especially good seminar was about The Millennials. I love these kinds of seminars. I can never get enough information about consumer motivation and the psychology, thereof. It’s one of my faves; understanding human behavior and the communication tools we all use!
Here’s a little throwback knowledge that resonates even more true today than it did 50 or 60 years ago
When television was first invented, one of the founders of broadcast TV and I believe one of the founders of CBS, Marshall McLuhan, said. “The media is the message.” By this he meant that the technology we use becomes the message. So TV, Radio, Newspaper and Billboards were the message. Many people have criticized this 1967 thesis.
But here we are in 2017, some 50 years later and we are still talking about the mediums. Websites, Emails, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, Reddit, etc. etc. etc. They’re all mediums. And they all can perform many tricks. Sit. Come. Roll over. Fetch.
Just tell ‘em and they’ll do it.
At no cost, either?
Yeah, right!!
Perhaps today too many people are saying “The magic is the medium!”
Seems everyone is trying to figure out the next magic trick that these mediums will do for us to sell our product. What is the magic bullet?
Better to first figure out why people buy your product than to go looking for magic bullets. IMHO
What do you think?
I also loved the seminar about Millennials. The best part was the speaker is also a Millennial and hit a home run when it came to how as Boomers or better we prejudge the whole group without taking the time to understand this huge generation.
If there is a magic bullet it is exceptional customer service. Word of mouth or mouse is the best medium. People will believe what other people tell them about your establish sooner than they will believe what you say about your own business. Testimonials go a long way.