TOO MUCH INFORMATION?

I recall reading a recent article in the Straits Times by William Reed, a master trainer in Guerrilla Marketing techniques, who talked about gaining mindshare in the eyes of the customer.

I was intrigued by a few things he mentioned, even though his references were US-based:

- in 1996, the average consumer was exposed to 3,000 messages a day; by 2007, that number had jumped to 30,000, a ten-fold increase in just over a decade;

- the author posed this question: How many of these messages that flood your mind do you remember or act on?

- a market research on 900 products over a five year period revealed that products with an unique selling proposition (USP) had a success rate of 47%, while products without one had a similar rate of only 23%, which is lower than the probability of winning at gambling;

- 75% of new businesses fail within the first two to five years (US Census Data);

In bringing up my recall, I am looking at & thinking about two pertinent issues:

1) From the seller's standpoint, how do I enthrall customers' full attention, secure viable returns from my marketing mix, & continue to stay relevant in business?

2) From the customer's standpoint, how do I deal with the information overload, make effective decisions, & continue to innovate in my business?

Unfortunately, the article did not totally address these two issues, as the author's treatment was more or less perfunctory. I sense that its primary objective is to entice readers to read or find out more about 'Guerrilla Marketing Weapons' & probably lead them to sign up for their advertised workshops.

I am familiar with 'Guerrilla Marketing' & the psychology behind the concept, which has its origins from the work of Jay Conrad Levinson during the late/early nineties.

Besides experimenting with the tools & strategies, I had even distributed the author's first three books at my own retail store throughout the nineties.

A lot of thinking, ingenuity, imagination, feeling of gut, as well as a lot of adaptation & experimentation to suit local cultural nuances were eventually needed in order to make them work effectively.

In fairness to the author of the article, I want to say that the Mandala Method he talked about is a good project management & market planning tool.