The art AND science of standing out in this ridiculously crowded marketplace | #497

How do you stand out? How do you get your message across?

As a small business owner, you’ve probably been finding difficulty grabbing your customer’s attention in a world that is constantly bombarded by mass advertising. You know that if customers just took notice of your business even for just one moment, they’ll definitely buy your product.

In this episode, our special guest, Jamie Mustard, joins us to share how blocks are the solution to your business getting noticed by the right people at the right time. We live in an over messaged world that gives us too many choices. But the secret to cutting through all the clutter is by using blocks. Jamie gives us great examples of how blocks have been used in speeches, art, and marketing.

Now, the idea of using blocks is great, but how do we even make one? Don’t worry as Jamie gives us the basic principles on how to create blocks and use the law of attention to be heard and seen.

There’s marketing GOLD dripping from our ceiling here, so it’s best you listen now!

About today’s guest Jamie Mustard

Jamie Mustard is the author of the book, The Iconist, which is all about the art and science of standing out. In his book, Jamie provides lots of case studies, examples, and stories of businesses and artists using blocks to get noticed in this crazily crowded marketplace.

Connect with Jamie Mustard through:

The Iconist’s website

What we discussed in episode 497

• The battle for attention in digital media
• Jamie talks about the psychological repercussions of over message or what Jamie calls “delusion” 
• Jamie shares why choice overload or offering too many things is not good
• A case study on the impact of the removal of all signages in Sao Paulo, Brazil
• The concept of using blocks and icons to magnetise attention 
• Examples of blocks in speech, music, and visual arts
• The importance of size and repetition when creating a block
• Jamie gives examples of blocks used in marketing
• The basic principles of how to create blocks and use the laws of attention

Timbo’s Top 3 Attention Grabbers

Here’s what grabbed my attention from chatting with Jamie …

1. I love the fact that he’s reminded us just how crowded a market place we all operate in. Do yourself a favour and spend some time reflecting on this. It’s scary, but critical as it’ll motivate you to spend more time crafting marketing messages that cut through the clutter.
2. I love Jamie’s view on repetition. If you’re one of those marketers who feels the need to constantly reinvent the wheel, then I’d encourage you to stop and instead focus on repeating those parts of your marketing that actually work.
3. I love Jamie’s reminder that choice is not necessarily a great thing to offer your customers. Often us consumers struggle with too much choice, so make it easy for us and make a few great offers and not multiple average ones.

If you loved our discussion for today but are having struggles with the concept, don’t give up!

Just leave your questions in the Comments section below and I’ll get Jamie to respond.

If you want to win over $1,000 worth of prizes, share one idea you learned from the show that you implemented and email me at tim(at)timreid(dot)com(dot)au

Other resources mentioned

A list of all the marketing tools Tim and his guests use to create marketing that gets results – Your Ultimate Marketing Resource List

Grab a copy of Tim’s book—The Boomerang Effect, at his website Small Business Big Marketing.

Last week’s episode – Boost sales and bust customer churn with this stupidly simple and fun customer engagement hack