Cut Through the Marketing Noise

When content marketing and social media first became relevant sales and marketing channels in the mid-2000s, it was relatively easy to stand out. By publishing a few well-written blog posts, engaging with prospects and customers on social channels and sending out a monthly email newsletter, you were considered a forward-thinking thought leader.

But today, everyone in the market is doing these things.

We’re all fighting for attention, which can make it incredibly difficult to rise above the noise. The truth is, it’s no longer enough to just be present on social media or to just publish a few great blog posts. Yes, those activities are important in today’s content-driven business environment—but they won’t get you the recognition you need in your target market. To do that, you must say the right things at the right times to the ideal prospects.

Unfortunately, accomplishing that can feel overwhelming. 

Recently, I had the opportunity to speak to a group of very successful VARs at the Citrix Platinum Council meeting in New Orleans. At that event, we discussed how to gain recognition in a noisy marketplace. All of those VARs had successfully defined their target markets—i.e., banking, education, health systems, government, etc.—but when they went to use demand generation strategies in those markets, they were finding that their efforts and messaging weren’t resonating like they used to.

The reason? Noise. More specifically, as more VARs continue to expand their marketing to include content and social strategies, it’s creating content saturation—an environment in which prospects are inundated with messaging that largely looks, feels and sounds the same as everyone else. As a result, many VARs are now struggling to get prospects’ attention in the broad target markets that used to deliver results.

So, what’s the solution to this problem?

To achieve recognition from your target prospects today, you need to go a level deeper in your target market definitions. For example, “education” as a market is too broad. You need to find your niche within education. Maybe it’s K-12, or public universities or career colleges. Or maybe it’s something else. But you have to ask which niches you can serve best, and which niches most value your expertise and solutions. Once you've refined your target market into smaller target niches, you can craft messages and content that resonate on a more personal level with prospects.

When this happens, you’ll no longer be adding to the noise—you’ll be cutting through it to deliver the specific, unique information that prospects want to hear, see and digest. At that point, prospects will sit up and pay attention, and you’ll build the recognition you need to stand out.

Kendra Lee is a top IT Seller, Prospect Attraction Expert, author of the newly released book “The Sales Magnet” and the award winning book "Selling Against the Goal" and president of KLA Group. Specializing in the IT industry, KLA Group works with companies to break in and exceed revenue objectives in the small and midmarket business (SMB) segment.