Over time, meanings of words change.
The English language in particular is dynamic, and a compilation of differinglinguistic influences.
Understanding is therefore difficult, marginalised and compromised. Samewords, differing people: varied comprehensions and intentions. For example,the Macquarie Dictionary nominates 14 different meanings of the word,address.
Little wonder advertising, marketing merchandising, promotional andcommunication campaigns elicit outcomes that are inconsistent.
Detailed and critical analysis is increasingly more complex, often based ondated and unfounded premises. Remedial actions tend to under-perform. Whatexactly is the intent of communication?
The phrase “peace-of-mind” is a case in point. Initially it was intended to berecognition, reassurance, endorsement and celebration of a good and properdecision, with just and attractive benefits, advantages and rewards.
It progressively morphed into an effective means to overcome the fear ofmaking a wrong decision, and thus, delay or extend the purchase process.
New issues have arisen, including FOMO – fear of missing out, particularlyin circumstances of incomplete and imperfect information. Very complex.
An interesting by-product of the COVID pandemic is the presence and extremesensitivity about, unintended consequences.
The demand for ocean cruise holidays has figuratively and literally collapsedbecause of the fear of unintended consequences – COVID-19 infection.
Attempts to repackage sanitised and abbreviated cruise holidays have beencompromised with rejections at ports, for the few who ventured to accept theoffers and challenges. Consequential self-isolation for various periods oftime upon return to home port was unexpected and not scheduled, or providedfor. Most inconvenient and annoying.
Therefore, the marketing, advertising, promotion and the selling of oceancruise holidays have encountered a daunting barrier, filter and impediment –unwelcome consequences.
It is a dominant, pre-emptive and, yes, unwelcome presence in the buyingcriteria. Words alone are not enough to overcome doubts, apprehensions, fearand reservations.
Similar variables are at play in a host of marketplaces for a full spectrum ofproducts, services and applications. Capital outlays have been noticeablyaffected.
It’s enough to totally review and restructure both the content and context ofmany marketing and communication campaigns.
Social media campaigns have unique common characteristics. SEOs (search engineoptimisers) have the capacity to achieve high and favoured rankings on variousplatforms by having texts recognised and responded to by algorithms and AI(artificial intelligence). Progressive exposure to prospective clients andcustomers has not been so successful. Those in the target audiences aregenerally not responding to the offers, promises and enticements because ofinadequacy and inappropriateness of the very key words that are seeminglyendorsed by the filtering algorithms.
That explains in part the typically low online sales conversion ratios, andthe brevity of the clicks which are generated by the high-ranking SEOstandings.
“Failure”, “rejection”, “ineffective” are just some of the dimensions thatneed to be revisited in reviewing performances. At face value, those words maybe meaningless or most likely, incorrectly comprehended in a dynamicmarketplace and lexicon, where understanding counts for a lot, particularlyon the bottom-line.
Barry Urquhart
Communications Strategist
Marketing Focus
M: 041 983 5555
E: [email protected]
W: www.marketingfocus.net.au
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