The marketing of your community is much stronger if you focus on one core message and don’t include minor or irrelevant information.
In The Social Animal, Aronson retells Zukier’s fascinating study of 149 undergraduate students. The question went like this.
“Which student has the higher grade point average?
- Tim spends about 31 hours studying outside of class in an average week.
- Tom spends about 31 hours studying outside of class in an average week. Tom has one brother and two sisters. He visits his grandparents about once every 3 months. He once went on a blind date and shoots pool about once every 2 months.”
Most participants in the study believed Tim is smarter than Tom.
This is known as the dilution effect. If you include weak or irrelevant information it dilutes the key information. Adding a free gift card to a car purchase makes people less likely to purchase the car.
Focus on the core target audience and the key appeal in the promotion of your community. If you cater and try to appeal to everyone, it dilutes the message. Don’t include irrelevant or minor information.
People should join your community because _______{your answer}______________. (end the message at the full stop. Prune the message.
