Don't Be A Holographic Marketer

Doing More With Less?

As the economy slips and budgets become tighter, many companies are trying to do more with less. In principle, there is nothing wrong with this.  Getting better value for money is a good way to do any kind of business. Unfortunately, this often takes the form of trying to do everything with everything.

Holographic marketers try to make each piece of marketing communicate every marketing message. This is what "holographic marketing" means. In the same way that a hologram contains all information in every part of the image, these marketers try to create marketing pieces that can stand alone.

This is, of course, a fallacy. Marketing and communication pieces never stand alone. They can't. Effective marketing is a conversation—one that doesn't happen all at once, but rather, takes time to unfold.

Timeliness of Messages is Key

With this marketing conversation, time is the crucial element. Holographic marketers want everything to happen immediately. The entire communication process is supposed to begin and end all at once. It sounds crazy when it's spelled out like this, yet it happens every day at many companies.

Proper marketing ensures that, on the road to engagement and sales, the appropriate things get said at each moment in the conversation. In this way, marketing is temporally extended and discursive. It is a process.

Assume Intelligence

When you are considering your marketing pieces, don't be a holographic marketer. Don't consider each piece in isolation. Instead, consider them all together as part of a system. It is reasonable to assume that your audience can make the connections. In fact, making that connection is crucial in effectively communicating your message.