Can Your Customers Hear You?

You've been calling, emailing, tweeting, blogging, advertising, and faxing (tell me you're not really still faxing)—and it all seems to just disappear into the void.

Are any customers actually listening?

Most customers probably don't have an issue with physical deafness. Nonetheless, they're having trouble hearing you. Because you know who else is clamoring for their attention?

Everybody.

The noisy static of the marketplace—and of everyday life—is overwhelming. Our customers are filtering out our messages as a sheer coping mechanism.

It's not that you don't have something good to say. It may just be that no matter what channels you use, you can't be heard.

Some marketers resort to amplification to try to solve this problem, but the problem with cranking up the volume is that people soon learn how to tune out your frequency. More noise isn't necessarily the way to get heard.

So, how do we provide our audience with a hearing aid that helps gets our message across?

Provide uniquely valuable content. Recycled filler isn't valuable. One more sales pitch isn't valuable. Niche news, industry job postings, insightful commentary, and connections to helpful people and resources? That's adding value.
Focus on a single, simple message. Your audience and potential customers are drowning in everybody else's "we do everything" bullet points. Your message will be heard if it makes very clear sense in a few seconds and words.
Use the power of imagery and analogy to become memorable. People will understand and remember "the Lexus of photo-sharing sites" far more readily than some drawn-out technical description.

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You see, our customers don't actually need a hearing aid. They're hearing far too much! In a static-filled world, we need a speaking aid. If we're not giving our audience a clear message, we're probably not going to be selling them much of anything.

A good exercise: Ask someone (not in your industry) to look over your website and marketing materials and ask the most basic of questions. You may be surprised at how little you're communicating!