Cut through the clutter

Cut through the clutter

I'm tired of hearing marketers and branding gurus speak of ways to "cut through the clutter". We all realize that marketers have created a situation where there is advertising overload and it is virtually impossible to make it through a day in this modern world without being exposed to hundreds of advertising messages. Typically these experts proclaim to have the latest-and-greatest method to be heard or seen by target audiences. Most times, they are trying to sell products or services that put a slightly fresh spin on an old idea. They are also adding to the clutter.

What nobody seems to talk about, however, is the fact that we ourselves created the "clutter". Why do we think that making more of it will help alleviate the problem in the long-run?

The only way to cut through the clutter is to reduce the clutter.

Precise targeting based on knowledge of our customers and relevant communications that speak of customer benefits is the way to reduce the clutter. Let's not just blast our commercial messages out there and let our prospects qualify themselves. That is our work to do. Let's qualify our prospects and then speak directly to them, their needs, wants and desires.

Stop wasting all those dollars on unqualified prospects and help clear the clutter. The more clutter there is the less likely we are to be heard. We have so many direct channels available to us these days that it seems to me that mass, untargeted commercial messages should be dwindling, right? Why are they not?