Captivate Your Audience and Cut Through the Clutter

There's a lot of noise now - especially with AI enabling the creation of more mediocre content than ever, so how do you cut through the ever-increasing noise? Last month I pulled together some thoughts over on the Resound blog. I'd love to hear YOUR best tips on cutting through the content clutter.

Marketing thrives on attention. When you have it, and you deliver a good message, you win.

Digital media gives us new ways to connect with people where and when it makes sense. But you need more than just good media channels; you have to know how to talk to them.

Your point of view has to make its way into their minds, giving you space to build a relationship and teach them how to think about your industry.

Let’s talk about how to transform your approach to relevant content creation with strategies that get your content not just seen but remembered.

Know their Problem Like THEY Know It

“Who cares?” This sounds a little terse, but it’s the question we all should be asking about our content. If we don’t understand the problem our audience thinks they have, we might find that we’re not all that relevant in the end.

Let’s say that again: If you don’t describe their problem the way they’d describe it, it doesn’t sound to them like something they care about.

Where do you start? Pinpoint the specific challenges they face. Specific. Understand why it’s a problem, and then understand why THEY think it’s a problem. There’s sometimes a very big difference between the two.

When you understand their problem the way they understand it, it becomes pretty obvious in your content (writing, video, even design).

Burn It into their Memories

Audiences remember your message when you involve them.

Did you make a joke they had to “get”? That’s involvement.

Did you make them think by connecting dots for them on a topic? That’s involvement too.

Find a way to make them into a kind of co-laborer in the conversation, and you’ll stick.

Elicit an emotional reaction, like surprise, joy, or reflection. Have you ever seen a meme that made something click for you? Maybe it elucidated a surprising fact that challenged a belief? Did it make you pause and think?

That’s resonance.

Humor and Emotion

So how do you elicit emotion…and is it always relevant in B2B?

In B2C, where impulse buying prevails, emotions might close the deal. In B2B, the sales process is different . You might win on the emotional level with the first person who sees your message, but when he tries to sell that to his finance guy, the emotion doesn’t stick.

Still, people are people, and they respond to emotion.

B2B may need evidence, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get initial attention with humor.

Don’t fall into the trap of using humor that defies your brand values. Instead, make sure you understand how your brand would and should use humor.

Choosing the Right Media

Media like billboards (outdoor), trade show booths, social channels and digital ads give you lots of choices. But in order to choose the right mix, think about your audience.

Here’s a simple way to think about it.

Make a list of where you’ll find them. Then cut that list down to places you’ll find them when they want to think about the problem you solve for them. This means if your target audience member uses the weekend to get away from work, you don’t want to bug them with ads about their work problems.

Once you have their attention, how do you help them understand? You give them an immersive experience. For instance, interactive elements such as polls, quizzes, or embedded calculators engage users by making them active participants in the content.

And adapting your content for different platforms—like creating shorter video clips for Instagram stories or detailed articles for LinkedIn—helps in reaching your audience where they are most active.

Feature Real People and Real Stories

Speaking of immersion, tell real stories about your audience (maybe in a blog post) and then bring them home with videos featuring customer journeys/stories.

Tell stories of use cases that show the range of benefit companies get from using you. Make it even more interesting and invite clients to share their stories in their own words, possibly through guest blog posts or interview-style videos.

The cool thing about this approach: it adds authenticity and creates a platform for direct customer interaction, building a community around your brand.

Employing Repetition and Consistency (Expanded)

Here’s a hard truth about branding: you’re not the best judge of how stale your brand is getting.

Your brand has a longer shelf life than you may think it does.

You should be sick of your brand and message way before you stop using it. Why? Because if you’re not sick of it yet, your audience probably doesn’t even know it’s your message yet.

Remember, most people aren’t in your office, hearing the same mantra over and over again. Most people in your target market have never heard your message. And it actually makes them feel good to hear you tell the same message over and over again.

In a world with ADHD, repetition and consistency help you stand out as dependable.

More than that: if you’re the one teaching them how to think about a topic, you’re the authority in their minds.

Don’t hear what I didn’t say: I didn’t say you need to sound redundant. In fact, it’s better to give people a different angle. Use a mix of formats like blogs, infographics, and podcasts, each tailored to convey the same core message in a different way.

Keep that message coming and give it time to sink in.

Tell a Story Where They’re the Main Character

Give them a clear path—presenting a problem, exploring challenges, and culminating in a solution where your brand plays a pivotal role.

Remember, you’re the guide, and the story is about them.

And don’t let them off the hook too early. Good stories create tension. If you’re trying to make everything okay too soon, the audience doesn’t get a chance to feel the tension.

So tell them the problem, tell them why it’s a problem and let them feel it a little. Then tell them what they need to do about it.

Extra points if you can write the story where it’s the client and you against the world. Nothing builds camaraderie like fighting a battle shoulder to shoulder.

Win with POV

Remember that the most important attribute you need to have in order to come across as interesting is that…you’re actually interesting.

What makes you interesting? A point of view. A process. An approach you take to the market to make them see things from your point of view.

• You’re not just another accounting firm. You have a process. And it has a name.
• You believe tax planning isn’t a year-to-year thing, but it’s about playing the long game. And here’s how to think about it.
• Maybe you wrote a book “How to Get Rich Just Using Taxes.” Most people realize that, when you wrote a book, you must have thought about the topic at least a little bit.

Make them Like You and Trust You

I hope we’ve given you a lot to think about, and that it gives you options you didn’t know you had. In the end though, we’re building relationships: they have to like you and trust you.

And giving them content gives them some low-hanging fruit to see what you’re like and whether they want to work with you or not.

So put these principles to work and see if you can elevate how you connect with your audience, creating that deeper emotional connection.