The biggest communications failures are often thinking failures. Rather than saying more, organisations should focus instead on ensuring they’re properly understood. 1440’s Guy Corbet discusses.
The company with the best product or service doesn’t always win. But those that explain what they do best often do.
That was one of the ideas I explored recently on the Business Insider: round table podcast, in a conversation about reputation, AI and what makes organisations stand out.
For me, one of the biggest communications mistakes is assuming that the answer is simply to communicate more.
More content. More publicity. More noise. But that doesn’t mean more impact or better results.
The biggest communications failures are often really thinking failures.
The job of marketing and communications is not simply to help organisations say more. It is to help them become easier to understand.
That starts with working out what really matters. What does an organisation want people to think differently about? What small but significant change in perception will make a difference? And what idea will help make that happen?
People don’t change behaviour until they change how they think. And it is usually the idea that changes behaviour, not the communication itself.
That is becoming even more important in the age of AI.
Generative AI means almost anybody can now produce competent written material quickly, cheaply and in limitless volume. The result is an enormous amount of content overwhelming the web, much of it drawing on the same information and arriving at similar conclusions.
It creates an arms race of average. The bell curve climbs in the middle.
So being discovered is no longer enough. Organisations also need to be distinct. That means having something worth saying, rather than simply finding more ways to say more.
That changes the job of communications. For a long time, much of communications has been about visibility: being seen, being found and making enough noise to get noticed. In an AI world, that is only part of the challenge.
If everyone can produce competent content, the advantage increasingly lies in having a distinctive idea that explains what you do.
The challenge is no longer simply to be discovered. It is to be distinct.
Good communications start with the thinking. They start with a clear idea and an understanding of what will make people see something differently.
You can listen to the full conversation below.