In his recent blog post, Seth Godin observes that when you dumb down your advertising to widen the audience it can reach, you ultimately get dumb customers.
You know, the kind that spends hours on the phone with your customer service reps because they can't figure out how to turn on the device (it's not plugged in) or how to log in to your web page (they are not connected to the Internet).
In situations where you are expecting a response for your broadcast, the broadcast is essentially a weed-out mechanism. This can be a product ad, a personal on an online dating site, a newspaper article, or even a blog. The tone and content determines the audience and who gets back to the broadcaster; a radio host who examines the Bush regime with respect to the socio-economic conditions of his voter-base is going to get different responses than one who proclaims that Bush is a terrible president.
Do you use your marketing tactics to reach as many people as possible, or do you use it to weed out the unworthy and reach only the enthusiasts, i.e. the ones who really get excited about your product (if it's good) and talk about it with their friends and spread the word?
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