Why Choosing the Right Marketing Medium is Key to Engaging Your Audience

Marshal McLuhan famously wrote that 'the medium is the message', and it's a statement that I've been thinking about a lot recently.

In short, McLuhan suggested that HOW a message is communicated has a greater impact on society than WHAT the message contains. Oh, hey there internet and social media! (I find this particularly fascinating because McLuhan wrote his book on this topic nearly 60 years ago, long before computers or the internet were regular fixtures in homes, schools, and businesses). With that very simple definition in mind, here's what I'm most interested in when it comes to McLuhan's theory and how I'm inviting clients to think about it in terms of their own messaging:

Your marketing will be most effective when you choose marketing channels for which you have a preference, enjoy or even get pleasure from using.

In some ways that feels like a bit of an obvious statement, and yet what I'm finding is that it helps to clarify and filter out what's not working. Let me explain in greater detail: Many of us are marketing our businesses on platforms or in ways that we are being told we *should. Now, I am not a fan of shoulds or shoulding or shoulda, wouldas. It has rarely (never?) served me, and or anyone I know. What I see way too often is people getting burnt out, resentful, frustrated, and disappointed by the results they desire, expect, and believe they (here it is again) *should be getting from those channels. Again, your marketing will be most effective when you choose marketing channels for which you have a preference, enjoy or even get pleasure from using.

So....maybe it's time to take a break from creating content in mediums that you don't like or don't enjoy!?

If you love writing, start or double-down on your blog, Substack or Medium.
If you love creating videos, then consider YouTube, TikTok, or focusing your IG strategy.
If you love to talk, maybe it's time to start a podcast or record your newsletter.

Why? Well, to summarize McLuhan's theory, it's not the message that changes us it's the medium or manner in which the message is delivered that has the greatest impact. When you think about your audience and your clients as a microcosm, HOW you communicate will impact HOW they receive your marketing. If you communicate through means that you do not like, your audience will sense that. If you communicate through means that you enjoy, they will also sense that.

Marketing is not meant to be a chore - I 100% understand how it can be - and it has the potential to be creative, joyful, and generative. So if you're feeling like it's just not working, then I invite you to consider the HOW of your marketing and get really honest about whether you even like communicating in that form.

If you need some support in figuring this piece out for yourself, then let's hop on a call and uncover what medium is just right for you, and your audience.