The key to successful marketing: Build relevance. And reduce the noise.

The digital era has introduced many exciting innovations for marketers.

Being able to personalise marketing ‘at scale’ and place communications in native environments naturally enhances user experiences. Real-time tracking and tracing means we can quickly shift a campaign approach based on user behaviour and engagement. And with automation and AI-driven engagement, we can use chatbots, predictive analytics, and automated workflows to stay engaged with people.

The result is a seamless, ‘always-on’ interactive environment with a human-like touch.

Sounds good doesn’t it? But as attractive as ‘always-on’ sounds, there is a downside. All this personalised content that’s designed to seamlessly blend into our world so effortlessly, can sometimes feel like an assault on the senses. A constant distraction that needs to be cleared before we can get to the main events in our day.

Always-on marketing is supposed to be the foundation of brand presence, awareness and continuous prospect and customer engagement. It’s supposed to enable us to develop deeper and more valuable relationships with organisations and their brands.

And sometimes it does, especially in post-purchase stages of the buyer’s cycle, where brands build loyalty through exceptional customer services and experiences.

But it’s at the pointy end of marketing – the lead generation, top of the funnel, and outbound stages – where people experience the noise and clutter in their email inboxes and social media feeds.

Personally, I think it started to build up during the COVID years when we all went into lock-down and we couldn’t catch up in person. Many of my clients agree that in their well-meaning attempts to overcome being disconnected from customers and prospects through those lock-down years, they may have overdone it (just a bit) on the digital marketing.

Where we’ve ended up is in a place where each day we face a fresh tsunami of content that just feels like a relentless bombardment of ‘stuff’.

And rather than encouraging any of us to actually deepen our relationships with organisations, it just distracts us. And rather than encouraging us to feel closer to one another, it actually separates us even more.  

So, what can we do to turn the tide and create content that builds relevance, rather than creates noise?

Five ways to connect and engage with your audience. And get them to ‘Switch on’.

No. 1 – Planning

One of my clients is a master on the white board. She’ll draw out her intentions for each tactic and campaign clearly mapping what she wants her customers and prospects to experience as a result of each one. But she’s more the exception than the rule.

Strategy and planning is the one opportunity to consider what the actual end user experience will be. But with so many marketing departments being deadline driven with a focus on getting things out the door, this critical step can be overlooked. Taking a step back and thinking through what customers are going to experience if we do this, then that, is important. Because it’s often in these sessions that people have great ideas they wouldn’t otherwise have had.

No. 2 - Great ideas

I still believe that effective brand and marketing communications start with a great idea. When it’s nurtured and developed (sometimes with humour, other times with moving integrity) a really good idea evolves into a series of experiences. And these experiences become ‘make me care’ moments that stick in people’s minds.  

So how do you do that? With great creative. There’s no other way. You have to invest time to develop good creative that will cut through the noise and deliver points of relevance.

No. 3 – Understand your audiences

Brands work when they connect with us on a human level – i.e., they behave in an authentic way. Most people only trust other people if they’re real, responsible, sensitive, and sensible. And it’s the same with brands.

My belief is that people don’t just ‘buy’ products and services, they actually ‘buy into’ the values and promises that surround them. So, rather than just segmenting your audiences in traditional ways – location, age, gender and life stage, etc – consider also what your audiences believe in and what values they have. Then develop your brand communications to align with these.

No. 4 – Be rational and emotive in equal measure

Products and services always need to deliver something tangible (a successful outcome), but they also need to meet our emotional needs. Why do some people always choose Quantas over Virgin? Why do some always buy PCs over Macs? In both scenarios you’re going to get to your destination and you’re going to be able to get your work done. But I doubt an Apple loyalist, or a Virgin Lounge lizard would ever feel at ease or comfortable with the alternative.

Emotions play an important role in the cognitive branding experience, and it is important to know how branding makes your customers feel. It is the emotional benefit that customers crave through buying into your brand, making it super important in your brand and marketing tactics.

No. 5 – Great brands tell memorable stories

I think it really oversimplifies things to describe brand and marketing specialists as ‘storytellers’. But I do agree that with customer decision journeys often spanning months or years, you need to give audiences reasons to check back into your brand (often via the website) for fresh updates, new episodes, and unique insights to keep them engaged.  

It should feel like an ongoing story (or relationship). But the trick is, not doing it in a way that adds to the noise and clutter. It’s important to give people control of their experience so you allow them to choose their level of interaction. Which takes us back to the intro section, because AI and cognitive systems give us tremendous potential to add genuine value to people lives, rather than noise.

With cognitive intelligence at work, we can make sense of people’s data trails. This gives us a unique opportunity to really think through how we’re reaching people, and for what purpose. My personal view is, if it doesn’t add value, or align with your brand values, don’t do it. I mean, why would you?

In conclusion: brand and marketing should evolve with people, not technology

Just because technology gives us the opportunity to reach people in multitude different ways, it doesn’t mean we actually should. Technology has enabled us to apply cognitive intelligence in our marketing campaigns. But with this comes a responsibility to treat customers and their data trails as you would a friend or relative. It’s easy to forget in the digital world that everything we do will be just one of many messages in an already busy day.

By leveraging AI and cognitive intelligence, marketers can create hyper-personalised experiences that respect consumer preferences, giving them control over how and when they engage.

Intelligent algorithms can filter out the noise, ensuring messages are relevant, timely, and meaningful. This shift empowers consumers and enables brands to foster trust, loyalty, and genuine value exchange.

Is this all we need to do to build relevance and reduce noise? Probably not, but at least we’re getting more people to think and talk about it.