You may be familiar with the concept of “mystery meat”: A “meat” product, usually some sort of salisbury steak or meatloaf type deal, usually served in American cafeterias. People usually don’t really know what’s inside this meal: they know it’s some sort of meat, but they can’t pinpoint what exactly just by looking at it. I’ve been referring to vague navigational beacons as “mystery meat navigation” for many years, thanks to a coining from an ancient website I believe was YourWebsiteSucks.com (I can’t seem to unearth it now; it could have been WebpagesThatSuck.com but I was pretty sure at the time it was more pointed than that). The same concept can be used to describe nebulous marketing concepts.
So, what is a piece of mystery meat in the marketing sphere, and how do we avoid it?
Let’s start from the beginning. Your marketing efforts are important. You want to speak to as many people as possible with every stroke of your keyboard. You would love for Facebook posts to just hit – wouldn’t we all – and your newsletters to have open rates above industry standards. When you’re marketing, especially as a DIYer, you’re constantly chasing that small thing that you can do to improve your marketing efforts. Perhaps it’s consistent branding, or a tweak of hashtags. Perhaps it’s using a link shortener to fit more characters. One way or another, you’re always examining your efforts with a scrutinizing eye: how can we connect with people?
Artists, in particular, tend to fall victim to the mystery meat marketing tactic most of all. Many artists, like me, have worlds in our heads that we want to share with everyone, but we sometimes get lost because we start conveying this to others in the middle. We start talking about concepts that only our most die-hard fans would know about. We introduce concepts that confuse people rather than entice them. This is where we’ve formed, cooked, and served mystery meat marketing.
Be clear and concise
Here’s an example:
My client, Anastasia A. Artist, wants to refer to their video series as the Looking Glass. In it, they want to tell fantasy stories made up on the spot while painting. In theory, this is great, but the client has already branded herself as AAA Illustration. When she starts making posts saying, “On Looking Glass I’ll be telling a story about…” this raises confusion. What is Looking Glass? Is it an app service? Is it a website? A book? Something else entirely? By adding a small tweak to this, we can clarify: “During my video series Looking Glass, I’ll be telling a story about…”
Treat every post like people have just been born
We have to try to treat every post, every newsletter, and every marketing effort like everyone has amnesia – that people are seeing your posts for the very first time ever, because for many people, they really are. Our normal fans will forgive our repetitiveness – they understand completely. It’s easy to fall into the trap of “people will be interested in the term I am using and do research themselves” but in reality, that seldom happens. We have to prepare for no one reading anything that came before and never paying full attention to make sure our marketing efforts are effective.
So, let’s try another example:
My client, Anastasia A. Artist, is publishing a book and wants to introduce the world that this book takes place in on their website. They have prepared profiles for every character in the book, and we’re going to build out a Wiki for them and link to it. The book deals mainly with an alien race called Haag. The client requested that “Haag” be a navigational item on their site. Does Haag mean anything to the average person? No. We need to give clear context as to what this is so people don’t skip over it. We could nest it under a menu item called “Races” alongside other races that appear in the book, or we could call the menu item “Haag Alien Race” to be entirely clear what this page contains.
Provide good context clues
It is possible to avoid mystery meat marketing by providing applicable context in way of visual identifiers, keep that in mind. For example, if I reference “gay robots” and then show a photo of a book mockup, people will think I am talking about the book having a plotline involving gay robots. If I show a photo of an Apple laptop and Chromebook and add the text, “gay robots”, then maybe I’m making a joke instead, implying Apple and Google’s assistants are gay… And perhaps engaged in a relationship together.
This comes at the caveat that it is inaccessible without appropriate signals to those who are not able to consume visual media. This is why alt text (alternative text) is important to give additional context. With these two signifiers, text plus visual (with appropriate alt text), the mystery has been taken out of our marketing, and is more effective to those looking to buy or engage.
But how come xyz gets to do it?
The answer is simple: they have an established audience.
If Wizards of the Coast talks about the phantasmagorian, Magic: The Gathering fans know what that is. But do you? WotC have spent many years building an audience of people, introducing them to their concepts and how they work, that they don’t need the additional signifiers to propel their marketing. When you’re starting out, you need these signifiers to draw in new fans of your work. You need to tell book fans that it’s a book, or video fans that it’s a movie series, or TTRPG people that it’s a playable environment.
The same goes for businesses with service offerings. Your potential customers need to know which link goes to your contact information and contact form. They need to understand where to click to get to your pricing, or your menu, or your service offerings. They need to know where to find your hours of operation, and who to contact if there’s an issue. Putting things on pages that are not labeled clearly for what is contained inside of them causes confusion and keeps customers away. They don’t have time to be mysteriously intrigued by what you thought was a bespoke trip through your pages: no, your customer needs their toilet fixed now. Throw out the obstacles and make it as quick and easy as possible to get them to their goal so you can strike while the iron is hot.
Don’t get confused, either. That iron doesn’t have to be an exchange of services or goods for money. It could be collecting email addresses, or gaining followers on social media. Everyone’s “hot iron” is different, but making sure you’re getting your message across clearly and effectively will help you land the most blows.