30-second read
If every person in a crowded room is yelling, nobody can understand each other.
The solution: move to a less crowded room where you can have a comfortable and meaningful conversation.
If every room becomes crowded, then every person in every room is forced to yell. As a result, nobody can understand each other no matter which room they move to.
When all the spaces become crowded and noisy, one person will begin yelling louder than the rest to be heard above the crowd. This sets off a chain reaction of everyone in the room increasing their volume.
In social environments, it’s a form of unconscious competition for attention.
That’s the trajectory that channel marketing is on—and has always been on. Ever-increasing noise in an attempt to be heard above the crowd.
In business, the dominant players—either in a micro or macro sense—have won (and will win) on three things: a great story, a great product, and word of mouth. Each spread with conversation and trust, not with a megaphone.
What’s notable:
Even in crowded rooms, tried and true practices *done thoughtfully* still work. For now. But the success of those practices is primarily due to the product being special or novel. Uniqueness is what makes the message audible, not the distribution mechanism.
Effective marketing is just the distribution of specialness done below the crowd.