The Spaghetti Slide.

To All Communi-Creators:

This is, no joke, an actual PowerPoint slide depicting the complexity of U.S. military strategy.

It first appeared in Kabul during a presentation to General Stanley A. McChrystal - who was at the time leading American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, and who upon seeing it commented, "when we understand that slide, we'll have won the war."

The New York Times just ran a great article about the use of PowerPoint in the military, and the program's overall shortcomings when dealing with complex ideas.

THE POINT: Some concepts just can't be "PowerPointed".

This Niche is My Niche.

To All Communi-Creators:

Niche communication is a powerful thing. By identifying a narrow, but viable, target audience and orienting all communications toward that audience Communi-Creators best position their business as an expert on that niche's needs. If the goal is to sell Widget 2.0 to Lawyers - the company website should be "LawyerWidgetsOnly.com", the license plate on the company car should be "WIDG4LAW". By consistently positioning the business in all ways,as an expert in a thing, and only that thing, one finds the message soon dominates the niche.

To achieve niche marketing success the niche must be well-defined - for example, take a company who says they work with small business people. Well, the woman who owns the 50-employee factory making B2B equipment and the guy who is my dentist are both small business people - but no one can be a true expert on the unique needs of each. If the messaging is even this well-rounded it won't cut through anything. Instead the messaging needs to be sharp, honed to a point and ready to penetrate the chosen market. The company in the example above is better served avoiding the broad "small business owners" category and instead have their communications state repeatedly they are, "an expert on the needs of business owners operating manufacturing companies with 50-150 employees". That's a narrow, but viable, niche we can work with and become an expert in.

Now, being a niche communicator does not mean one sacrifices opportunities which may come along but are outside the niche - and this risk is feared by many. Which is too bad. So many businesses sacrifice the tangible, measurable benefits of niche marketing because they are afraid they will miss out on some grand opportunity which is outside the scope of their communication plan.

First - if the niche is truly viable and the communication program is both well-conceived and well-executed the business should have no problem generating traffic. Second, a business can orient their communications around a narrow niche, and still capitalize on unique opportunities when they develop.

To this point consider. . . "The Duck Hunting Story" (borrowed, by the way, from the mind of Phil Buchanan, CEO at the Cannon Financial Institute).

Four hunters are duck hunting. They are sitting in their duck hunting blind, with their duck calls, wearing their duck hunting hats and their duck hunting clothes, their duck decoys are in the water and their shotguns are loaded with duck hunting ammunition. They are fully prepared for a day of duck hunting, and are thus far having a great deal of success. One hunter needs a break and leaves the blind to take a short walk down a near-by trail. A few minutes later shots ring out and the rest of the hunters coming running to see what happened. When they find their wandering friend he is standing over a huge deer which he just shot. Amazed, because duck hunting ammunition has all the killing power of harsh language and would not bring down such a large animal, the hunters asked how he did it.



"I had a few slugs with me".

"Slugs?" the friends asked. "Why would you bring slugs when we're duck hunting?"

"'Cause you never know when you might need to stop hunting ducks," the wanderer responded.

"Stop hunting ducks? When did you need to stop hunting ducks?"

"The minute I saw that big deer walking down the trail."

THE POINT: The benefits of niche marketing don't require surrendering opportunity. A business can be 100% successful duck hunting, and still be able to bag the big deer when it comes along.

Evolution.

To All Communi-Creators:

After a recent email discussion with some readers of this blog, I am evolving the content presented here. This blog is relatively new and still finding its voice. As there is a growing readership, I find it valuable to incorporate your feedback as the site grows.

To wit . . .

The term "Presenter" has been used to define the audience, and the audience finds the term limiting. After much discussion and vigorous debate, I hereby christen thee "Communi-Creators". This is a term born from the merger of "communication" and "creativity," and one which better defines both you and your goals for coming here.

You have told me . . .

. . . stories about how Santa Claus became a global cultural icon as a byproduct of an advertising campaign, or how the availability of multiple font-types on PCs are the direct result of Steve Jobs’ lackluster college experience - are of interest to you, as they demonstrate what happens when creative communication impacts culture;

. . . tips on public speaking or interpersonal communication - are of interest to you, as these tips help improve your "Performance Skills";

. . . and stories about design and visual communication (this one seems to have been a favorite as well) - are of interest to you, as they get your imagination engines pumping.

I will endeavor to provide more of this content in the future.

You also told me you enjoy "THE POINT" - included at the end of each post, so this feature shall endure.

You also told me going to LinkedIn to contact me was a bit of a pain, so I’ve created a “Contact Page” with my email address, this way we can more easily have discussions in the future. Also, please feel free to use the comment section at the end of the posts – this way we can share the power of our growing creative community, and welcome others to the discussion.

Folks - I'm glad we're working together to make this resource valuable for all.

Thanks for reading.

THE POINT: I hear you, and I appreciate your feedback.