Categories: Articles

Pushing Past The Marketing Noise

When was the last time you walked down the strip in Las Vegas? Can you remember which ads you saw? Which billboards stood out in your mind? Does one hotel stand out or do they all sort of stand out when you think about one of them?

I spent the weekend here in Vegas (business, not pleasure). During my only short break, I walked along the Vegas strip. Without question, I saw more ads in that short little while than I have seen all week. Las Vegas is advertising overload. The ads are bigger, brighter, more compelling and had a lot of tech attached to them, but which ones were truly memorable? Which ones were truly remarkable?

It’s advertising overload.

That is the main reason why consumers push back when asked about advertising. They’ll say everything from, "I wish there was less advertising" to "ads don’t work." That’s a myth, ads work fine (just ask the many brands and agencies responsible for placing ads everywhere from the bottom of the plastic bin where you put your shoes to get through security at the airport to the top, back and sides of the cabs). If you ever think that mass advertising doesn’t work, just stop and stare at the many passer-buyers in a Las Vegas hotel lobby who look at the shows, the restaurant menus or make a mad dash for the people with the free samples.

Advertising is not just a 30-second spot on TV.

What’s even more interesting is how those that convert the gazers into buyers are the ones who engage. The ones who try to create some semblance of a real interaction between real human beings. Countless people stare at the show posters, but the ones who take out their wallets are the ones who are then asked by a concierge what type of entertainment they’re looking for.

Think about that the next time you try to market your business (or yourself) using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or your Blog.

Unless you are really engaging and creating those interactions, you’re simply going to go unnoticed. Unless you provide value, connect and share, you’re simply going to go unnoticed. No matter how many lights, no matter how big, and no matter how blatant your message is. It simply won’t push through.

What really works in Vegas also works in Social Media: a personal connection with something relevant to a group of people (or even an individual) who are already interested in connecting. Everything else is simply more noise.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.