When you think of good marketing, one might reminisce on the old “Got Milk?” commercials, or the shiny BMW ads you see in magazines. Rarely does one remember much about broader ads about other products or a store which sells many different products in general - like the ones which are introducing a whole new line, or one that purposely shows a large variety of products that are of seemingly equal importance.
Why is that? By common logic, the ads which show a variety of many different products should be more effective in interesting a larger crowd, as a single product isn’t necessarily going to sell to everyone. So why do these simple, “Straight-Shooter,” one-product, one-line ads prove to be much more effective than the “Shotgun” ads with a million places to look at?
Well let me answer that question by posing another. Let’s say you were trying to hit the bullseye of a target a few hundred yards away. You only have one shot, so the type of gun you are going to use is key in reaching your target.
Would you use the clumsy, inaccurate but plentiful pellets of a shotgun to try to hit that distant blob of red?
Or would you grab that highpowered hunting rifle with a 40x sniper scope and have at it?
“Shotgun” Marketing
Well, I’m not a game hunter or even a gun hobbyist myself, but I think most of us would pick the latter - one clean shot is much more dependable than a hundred random ones scattered all over the place.
This concept is also very true in internet marketing. When you have one opportunity to grab a person’s attention and sell them on something, you don’t want to offer them twenty things and not put particular emphasis on any one specifically. That is “Shotgun” Marketing!
“Straight-Shooter” Marketing
Good “Straight-Shooter” marketing is based on how can you provide enough data and enough interesting imagery, yet not enough so as to overwhelm the viewer. The “Eye
Trail” also comes into play here.
The “Eye Trail”
The “Eye Trail” is an invisible line or curved trail where you direct where the viewer’s eye is drawn to, and in what sequence. This is monitored by the color, size, position and shape of the objects on your website or marketing piece. An expertly designed website will have a distinct Eye
Trail that will lead your eye through the website just as the designer wanted you to.
It doesn’t require hypnosis or bright, flashing nausea to do this. Eye Trails can be very subtle, yet just as effective. A talented web designer can go over the various points you want to use in selling the website viewer, and what sequence you want to see them in, and all that work and preparation is completely under the radar once someone views the final work. A basic rule of thumb is that a finely crafted Eye Trail is one that completely works but is practically invisible.
Summary
Combining simple, straightforward marketing which focuses on one or just a few products or services over others, combined with an expertly crafted eye trail can work wonders with the efficacy of your website. When it comes down to getting something sold, it’s more effective to be a “Straight-Shooter” than a “Shotgun” Marketer.
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