WHAT THE H*#L IS MY COMMUNITY TRYING TO COMMUNICATE HERE?

By my estimation, about 75% of every resident’s friends along with 99.99% of all Uber drivers have attempted to enter this gate thanks to GPS. Fun fact: it’s for residents only.

The result is a daily occurrence of confusion, awkward U-turns, and mutual frustration.

Would you like to know what SHOULD be the primary message? The one on the little blue sign in the background (“Resident Gate Only”).

And by taking the logical next step of moving the sign well before the unsuspecting visitor gets boxed in, the problem would be solved (well kind of, I did reach out to Google to correct the GPS issue but never heard back).

As marketers and communicators we often believe that “more is more effective,” failing to realize that “more can be confusing as hell and ineffective.”?

Worst Practices:

·???????? Communicate a culture of listening while ignoring employee or customer feedback.

·???????? Provide an executive or celebrity endorser too much irrelevant information to render conversation with employees or media unnatural and awkward.

·???? Create a Frankenstein mashup press release with too many talking points, statistics, and quotes.

·???????? Answer questions not relevant to the issue or crisis at hand.

Don’t attempt to be all things to all people or you’ll be nothing to no one. Focus on your primary message and you’ll connect with your audience.

This video: The Process (a.k.a. Designing The Stop Sign Video) - ORIGINAL brings the point home with incredible clarity and humor. Perhaps you’ve worked with some of these individuals? ?

?