“But, is this the home page you’re talking about?”
Last week I was sitting in (and chiming in) on a seminar my colleague Mary Ellen Merrigan was giving about Online Media Rooms. She and I were in the groove…we were smokin’ (or thought we were…)
Then…one of the attendees asked, “But, is this the home page you’re talking about? Where does this go? How does this ‘room’ fit on the site?”
Nice reminder to us (and anyone who is a supposed subject matter expert) that not “everyone knows that.” Even if they have heard it before, they could have forgotten it, particularly if the subject isn’t the center of their universe. (Little things like family and business tend to get in the way of - for instance - retaining web geek details.)
So, slow down. Simplify. Make sure your audience gets it. (And simple isn’t the same as simple-minded or dumbing down.)
Tags: marketing, marketing troubleshooting, emarketing, presentations, marketing communications, online media rooms
View the Blog Roll
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:52 pm
Good call,Ms. Troubleshooter. Simplify. In the words of Doug King, “Learn to pause…or nothing worthwhile will catch up to you.”
July 5th, 2008 at 11:58 am
Mary - It’s always useful to remind ourselves that no one’s born knowing this “stuff”. I remember when we started throwing around terms like GUIs - and watching as some in the audience drew complete blanks. If we’re the one sitting there drawing a blank, most of us will pretty much assumes that everyone else gets it, and we’re the only one who doesn’t - thus we don’t want to risk putting up our hand and asking for an explanation. A little review of the basics up front never hurts (although, of course, you can’t stop and do a Basics 101 session if most people will be completely bored by it).