Noise or Targeted Messaging?

For almost three months now people who live in my neighborhood have been setting off fireworks on a nightly basis. Fireworks have been used n the U.S. to celebrate America since 1777, according to Smithsonian Magazine, and they are used at the culmination of sporting events and other festive occasions. But repeated use of them or an ongoing onslaught dulls their importance and turns them from a spectacle into a bunch of noise. 

The messages we send can have a similar effect. Whether we post frequently to social media without really saying anything of value or whether we flood people's inboxes, LinkedIn or Alignable message centers, or traditional mailboxes with repeated offers or comments about how great we are and why people should work with us, we are creating noise not much different from nightly pyrotechnics. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "You're speaking so loudly that I cannot hear what you are saying." 

In other words repetition and bombardment in an effort to get someone's attention does not manifest in effective communication or messaging. To effectively communicate your message:
1) Know your audience.
2) Make your message relevant to that audience.
3) Be focused. (Meaning don't ramble or create a bunch of noise. Be succinct. Don't waste people's time. Say what you need to and be done.)
4) Be authentic, compelling and distinctive. 
5) Use words and visuals. (Back when I was a professor, we were taught to understand people's different learning styles (auditory, visual, kinestetic) and to incorporate all into our curriculum.)

And also be open to feedback (or to other's influences as Forbes calls it). 

What we want when we message others is to get the equivalent of the oohs and aahhs received at professional fireworks shows; what we don't want is for people to shut down emotionally/mentally/psychologically like we do from too many Presidential tweets or marketer messages. We never want others to think, oh there they go again and dismiss us without even reading/listening to our message. 

Plato said, "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."  Be a wise man in your messaging and reap better results than those who compulsively message but say little of value.