There is just one thing to remember from this email that will protect you from the creeping tide of information overload that threatens to overwhelm your inbox and swamp the quality messages – Focus your attention.
That’s it.
I could stop now, but the mail wouldn’t be anywhere near as entertaining or interesting as it is below this line.
Focus. Your. Attention.
Well done, you’ve got as far as you need to, but please read on. This is where you start to learn why it’s best to stay focused.
There is a lot of information around - too much to really pay much attention to - so humans use a Perceptual Filter. Yes, it sounds like something from the TARDIS, but this is the psychology behind information overload. We can’t take it all in, so we take in little chunks. We scan quickly and we filter, leaving only the important or noticeable stuff in our short term memory (Baddeley’s Working Memory Model)
Like this picture of a lion with strange red eyes:
or this recording of John McEnroe. The Lion is now sitting in your Visio-Spatial Scratchpad and McEnroe losing it is embedded in your Phonological Loop. And you never even knew you had one of those, did you?
How does this work for marketing? Well – it tells you that overly complex, many facetted emails will not be remembered – we haven’t got the time. Do one thing, do it well, tell people about it, let them focus on it, let them think about it. If it’s any good they’ll remember you.
If its rubbish, you’ve just wasted your time - deleting an email is just one button-press away.
So do one thing, do it right and don’t stop doing it.
We’re BrandBoost and we’re really good at digital marketing. Thanks for your time.