In the last few weeks I have visited hundreds and hundreds if not thousands of advertising agency websites in the United States, Puerto Rico and Guam.

I have a voiceover business. For those of you who don’t know what a Voice Over is, it’s where I am the voice you hear on the radio or TV, for a commercial, narration, animation, or presentation.

The amazing part about visiting all of these ad agency websites is that despite being in the advertising business, many are terrible at communicating exactly what their agency does for their clients. Many have esoteric messages, which they believe convey what they do, when in reality all they do is confuse and frustrate the visitor.

On some of the sites, after reading their dreamy jumbled copy, I still couldn’t figure out whether or not they could use my services. They go on and on using the jargon of the trade and to some degree abuse every cliché.

When they tell you that “your customers are important” and that they “will work with you,” I have to wonder if there are companies that wouldn’t make those claims.
The real confusion comes when the website bombards the viewer with moving images and text to supposedly show them that they’re “fashionable” and know how to get attention. Which leads to say: Too much babble, insufficient message.

The marketing landscape has taken on a new dimension and that dimension is social media. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, just to name a few, have people on the planet clinging to their phones in fear of missing out on a Tweet or update from their favorite blog.

No matter what people are doing, how they are traveling, or where they are, they want to be connected, but they don’t want to be reading long War and Peace messages.

So, like the poorly produced websites of some of the country’s advertising agencies, too many eCommerce marketers babble on and on about their company and its services without getting to the point, let alone asking the order.

What’s an ecommerce marketer to do?

To begin with, keep in mind that people will react or act on a visual image much faster than written text, because we are programmed to process a visual image hundreds of times faster than the written word. Visual communication is more easily understood. Which do you see first? The red octagon sign or the letters, stop?

As for being bombarded by the websites of the so-called “masters of communication”, advertising agencies, you will lose your effectiveness if you bombard your target market with too much information at once.

Keep your messages, what I like to call; bite size. Fast printing, visual, written or both and only addressing one facet of your business. Don’t try to tell your whole story in a single blog, tweet, email, or text message. Give them a bite-size sample of one of your company’s benefits or unique qualities. Think of the free sample fruit piece line at your local farmers market to entice you to buy a bunch, bag, or basket.

Too much information at one time will scare off consumers. It’s the old adage; “a confused mind says no”. Be precise in your message, but be subtle and effective. The impact campaigns of past years really don’t surprise us anymore. Watch cable television and you will see that words that would never be spoken just twenty-five years ago, because they were taboo, are now in your ears every day. Therefore, the shock has dissipated.

Bite-sized marketing campaigns allow you to test a market, assess the effectiveness of your efforts, and perhaps more importantly, prevent you from pouring all your money and energy into a marketing idea that is likely to fail.
Every word in a marketing campaign counts and every word has to do its part or it must be eliminated. Rewrites are part of marketing, not writing on the fly and keeping your fingers crossed that it all works out.

You want to introduce yourself, so they know you exist. Make them like you by being upfront with them and not exaggerating your claims. Hopefully, that like will turn into love for your business, product, or service and a long-lasting relationship will follow.
So stop babbling and send them a clear, concise and short message that your target market will understand, pique their interest and result in action.