How to Alienate Your Audience in 7 Seconds

Do You Take What Adverts Say Personally?

If they say you’re an idiot, would you be offended?

One of my many interests is flicking through vids on YouTube. Just the trailers, you know, the little 3 – 7 minute clips you get of various movies and series that are coming out. One of my guilty pleasures you might say. Sometimes you need to search for what you want, and to begin with you get adverts, or what friends in the USA might call commercials.

You Could Not Be More Wrong...

Anyway, yesterday, I tuned into YouTube and was immediately hit with a commercial that started with, “If you think A, B, and C are great investments, then I’m sorry, but you could not be more wrong.”

Translation? “If you’ve been duped into believing what everyone’s been saying about investing, then you’re clueless, and luckily, I’m here to set you straight.”

Interested?..No! Just Defensive.

I get what they were trying to convey, but instead of piquing my interest, it triggered my defenses. It felt like they were outright calling me stupid, which didn’t exactly endear me to their message.

The kicker? That same ad played before every video I tried to watch. Needless to say, I clicked away from it Every. Single. Time.

How Could This Have been Avoided?

This could have been easily avoided if they’d put themselves in the viewer’s shoes. Imagine being told by a stranger that everything you believe is wrong.

A simple tweak like, “Hey, I know so-called experts have said that A, B, and C were once smart investments, but times have changed. The smartest, most profitable choice today is actually XYZ, and here’s why,” could have made all the difference.

Don't Insult Your Audience's Intelligence.

Insulting your audience’s intelligence is a surefire way to alienate them. Instead, guide them to a new perspective with respect and understanding.

Conclusion...

The short “take-home” here is that with a subtle change to the choice of words we use we can either make or break the message we want our audience to hear. Let’s be sensitive to how our message **could** be interpreted.

Are you guilty of this one? I know I occasionally am, but I’ll be careful.

If you found this article helpful, and would like to see more and similar content, please consider signing up to our clan list as a subscriber. You can sign up from our home page here and I’ll look forward top hearing from you soon. All our subscriber details are held in confidence and will not be sold to any outside agency or used for any purpose other than keeping in touch via the email address you provide. If you’d like to say “Hi” before joining our clan then please feel free to contact me via our contact form.