Communicate in Constellations: Connect the Dots. See the Bigger Story

One of the most critical issues facing marketers today is the sheer proliferation of content. I think about this often because it is only going to get harder to reach and connect with increasingly distracted audiences. And that's what clients pay our firm to do.

Mobile devices in particular are compounding this issue. This means that, as marketers, we must reframe our competition in terms of attention flows. Think not Coca Cola vs. Pepsi, but rather Coke vs Candy Crush or LinkedIn or Hollywood or even Bollywood. Yes, it is that broad.

The digital content ecosystem, I've come to believe, is like the night sky. There are thousands of stars all vying for our attention. Yet few or none truly stand out. That's why it's so hard to remember three stories you read - or maybe scanned - this morning, most likely on your phone.

Many major marketers, it seems, believe the solution to this challenge is to go big - to outshine everyone. They invest significant dollars in entertaining and often viral content that certainly does shine bright, at least for a time. However, just like a shooting star, such campaign-driven efforts can be gone by the time your audience looks up from their phone. They're not enough in and of themselves.

So what's the answer? I believe it was solved many years ago by the Babylonians who - to remember stars - began to connect them in constellations. The lines, in total, formed a memorable story that's easy to find. The same applies today for marketers.

Your challenge, my challenge is to communicate in constellations. We must deeply connect our paid, owned and earned programming into self-evident narratives. This way, our audiences won't just see a star or two but the entire story. We have to link seemingly disparate stars in a digital sky of thousands by connecting the dots for them into a memorable tale.

Tonight could you find the stars Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka in the night sky if I asked you? For most, the answer is no. But I bet you could find Orion's belt by looking for these same three bright stars. That's because the Orion character and narrative is memorable. (It doesn't hurt that the stars are bright too.)

The same applies today in marketing. So how do you communicate in constellations? How do you make sure that the stories you create, earn and share secure surface area and encourage or reinforce certain perceptions and/or behaviors?