What's Missing From This Message - CSUN's Ambiguous Billboard

What happens when context is missing from your message? Nothing good. This week on What's Missing from This Message, we are talking about a billboard I spotted in LA that pretty much had all kinds of context missing from it. But there's real opportunity to make that message much stronger. I'm Tamsen Webster of TamsenWebster.com. Stay tuned for What's Missing from This Message. So this is a fun one because no one sent it to me. I was literally in a car in Los Angeles, saw this billboard, and I was like, there is something missing from this message. So let's take a look at what that is. This was the billboard I saw: Elevating Los Angeles and Beyond. So it says up in the upper, in this upper left corner, you can say it says csun.edu/RISE. And then we've got this picture of this guy and it says co-founder Rhino Records, chairman Shout Factory, Richard Foos, who has a BA in sociology. And then the CSUN thing at the bottom. Okay. Now I admit that I am not living in Los Angeles, and if I were living in Los Angeles, then I might just know by magical osmosis that CSUN is California State University Northridge, but I only knew that because this billboard bothered me so much, uh, because I had no idea. Now think about this: if you don't know that this is California State University Northridge, what's missing from this message is all kinds of context. Uh, elevating Los Angeles and beyond. Who is that guy or whatever CSUN is? And who is that guy? So co-founder Rhino Records, chairman Shout Factory, Richard Foos. And I'm so glad that he founded those things and it's awesome. And I am sure that California State University Northridge is super proud of its alumni. I'm so glad. But I got to wonder, like, what is it? Who is this billboard for? What are they hoping people will do as a result? This is one of those things I just— I honestly, I, I don't understand, and it hurts me because I spent so many years in higher education that, that this could not have been inexpensive for them to either have designed or put up. So I really want to figure out how we could make something like this as strong as it's possible, as strong as possible for an organization that probably doesn't have a huge amount of resources to to spare. So the very first thing, even if it's just an image or just an ad, is to have a sense for yourself of what is it that this ad is supposed to do. Is this supposed to be something that helps people, that makes people want to go to CSUN to support? Do they just want people to know about it? Because no, I can't actually match any clear outcome to the copy that's on this. Now I can kinda guess that they're like, well, the action is to go to csun.edu/RISE, at which point I have to tell you that A, this is a billboard and most people are driving right by it and they're not gonna remember it and they're certainly not gonna remember the slash and they're certainly not gonna remember it if they don't know what CSUN or CSUN is in the first place, they're really, really probably not gonna go and explore it unless you're me and is super curious about Why is someone paid for a billboard that is just not something that most people would understand? At least most people not from Los Angeles. I don't know. LA people tell me. So, because if it's about getting folks to know what California State University Northridge is all about and that it says elevating Los Angeles beyond, then at the very least, something that could make this stronger would be just to spell it out. California State University Northridge. Elevating Los Angeles and beyond. Oh, thanks, California State University, Northridge, Los Angeles. Like, thank you for help helping to elevate Los Angeles. So, and it would also make it clear whether or not it's, it's, it's the university or whether it's Richard there. Now I'm guessing that Richard is there as a proof point to be, to say, hey, look, we've got somebody who's active in the Los Angeles community right now. He went to this university and his work is now helping Los Angeles. Great. Where's that context? Also, are you asking me to go? Are you suggesting that I am someone who would be able to do that? So just a little bit more context, which just— just I want to know what that's all about. I could kind of get away even if we said California State University Northridge elevating Los Los Angeles and beyond. And we just had Richard. I think we could probably get a sense of like, oh, that's a guy I know. Maybe. I don't know. Don't know Los Angeles very well. Um, and I think he's important to Los Angeles. And hey, look, he went to this university. So awesome, thanks. Um, I still would love there to be just something that makes a little bit more sense. And I get that it's a billboard and you can't put a lot of text on it. I just, I just wonder if there's some missed opportunities here. If they're looking for people to attend, then I think that the headline could be a little bit different. I still think you've got to tell people it's a university because the edu is really not enough to tell people. Um, I don't know that this is a college, the school that I can go to. This could be a professor at that university. I don't know. So if we're asking people to go, then we need to make sure that the headline like is, you know, is a way for you to do, like make an impact on your community, go to California State University Northridge. You see like this, there's just these little missed opportunities that could take this, these elements and just make them strong enough for people to go, oh, I understand. And to have made this investment really pay off for them in a different way. I mean, I doubt that they were advertising on a billboard to like give people— get people to give money. Um, you know, maybe it's an awareness campaign, but still, if it's an awareness campaign, your acronym is not enough. It just isn't. So, okay, we're gonna do them an extra little favor, and I'm gonna actually go to the website that you're supposed to go to, even though I think we could just say what's missing from this message from this billboard is enough. Um, so let me Let's go over there. Now we're on the website that you go to. Okay. And I say CSUN, still don't know where it is. I don't. So I have maybe seen your billboard and gone to csun.edu/rise and this is what I see. And I still don't know at the top that it's California State University Northridge. You're asking me to read here before I see it. And you know what? I can't see it because it's white on a white background and there's people behind it and it's hard. Oh, see, son, I want to love this. I do. All right. The best place in LA to see stars rise. Um, that's great. First thing I noticed is the guy I saw on my billboard isn't here. Come on. All right. Um, and so, all right, but let's read it to see what they were trying to do. Just where I want to help. Uh, north is where individuals rise and take all of LA with them. Hundreds of millions of dollars are pumped back into the region's economy annually from the Valley. CSUN makes a world of difference radiating through our region and beyond. Oh, like that play on words, CSUN. Pretty cool. Rise at one of the best universities in California. Oh, they want you to go. All right, so you see, okay, all right, all right. So explore Sisun's impact throughout our region. Okay, you just said that you want me to go and now you're talking about you, but you're not talking about what it solves for me. Okay, number one. Oh, these things move. I mean, it's a beautifully designed site and I'm sure that, that, uh, there was— oh lordy. Okay, so I'm guessing, I'm hoping that these various people rotate. There we go. Um, and that the different folks perhaps are on the billboards that come through. Um, oh, there's Richard! There's my guy, but he's not on the top one. Um, all right. When you invest— oh, oh, there's a new— there's, there's a new message. When you invest in us, we invest in us all. Oh no. Yeah, partner. Coming a primary stick by investing in us. What I'm really confused, right? So I have no idea. So now I'm thinking this is actually a fundraising message, um, because that's what it's all kind of shaping up to with the impact stuff. Leading maker of economic— no, now it's back to students. Okay. So my friends, what can make your message stronger is context. And it's context not just for your audience, but it's— but that context starts with you. The context that needs to be present when you're putting a message out there in any form, billboard, website, has to be, what is it and why should I care? You have to make sure that you are answering at very least those elements, like Who are you? California State University Northridge. What do you want me to do? And what I suspect, as often can happen, is when, uh, when a resource-constrained organization has an opportunity to put a big campaign out there, they're trying to make it do everything all at once. And unfortunately, by trying to make it do everything all at once, you get a very mixed context. And what you end up with is something that doesn't provide any context at all, really. Not unless people are already familiar with the acronym, they're already familiar with Richard Fuze, and they're already familiar with the relationship that all of those things have together. So what would make this message stronger, and what can make your message stronger, is making those decisions early before you ever put any kind of words on anything. And before you put it on a— before you put it on a website, before you put on a billboard, who is this for? Is this for prospective students? Is this for the Los Angeles community? Is this prospective donors? Is this for prospective faculty? You do need to choose a primary audience. Who is it for? What do you want them to do as a result of this message? And then everything, everything that you write and build should be about doing that thing for those people, making sure that the message is clear to those people that that's the thing that you want them to do. Anything else that is off of that initial does not belong. And that is painful when you have a rare opportunity to make a big splash. But if you've got that chance to make the big splash, make sure you make it pay off. And that comes to making sure that context isn't missing from your message. Thanks so much in absentia to California State University Northridge for not directly sending me their short-form content. But if you have short-form content you want me to take a look at and find what's missing from your message and how to make it stronger, Send that to redthreadme@tamsenwebster.com. I, of course, am Tamsen Webster of tamsenwebster.com. If you like this episode, please like and subscribe. See you next time. Thank you.