Where Your Message Comes From Matters

There’s a fog signal that blares all night near my home in San Francisco. The volume of the horns varies based on the thickness of fog. It’s a warning for incoming yachts and freighters that pass the Golden Gate. The fog signals are a persistent tone around the city. They’ve been a beacon for civilizations as early as 5 B.C. in Greece.† What’s interesting is despite the incredible advancements in GPS, radar, sonar, we still rely on an arcane means of warning. There’s a reason for this.

Where your message is coming from matters. We subconsciously gauge the sincerity of the message based its platform’s origin.

The clients I serve often ask if they should be on the latest social networks. Given the industries I work with, I sometimes advise against it. Older methods of communication can build trust faster with a customer. Your blog and email newsletter are more powerful than you think. It’s permanent. It’s time-tested. Most of all, it is sincere and undeniable. You can stand behind a blog post, not a snap.

A captain may not trust the reading on his GPS but he won’t second-guess a fog signal blaring from the rocks.

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Works Cited

† Elinor Dewire, Dolores Reyes-Pergioudakis. 2010. The Lighthouses of Greece. Sarasota: Pineapple Press.