Resonance is the Only Thing That Matters

Resonate (res· o· nate): to relate harmoniously;?to?strike a chord

In sales and marketing we talk a lot about personalization and related concepts like relevance, context, engagement and interest. Be we don't talk nearly enough about resonance. And our strategies suffer because of it.

Let's be clear about one thing up front. People don't engage and respond to your messages because they're personalized. They don't reach out because the timing was right, and they don't read all the way to the end because the copy was pitch perfect.

They engage and/or respond because the message resonated.

Personalization is simply a means of making your message more likely to resonate. Being relevant, timely, and contextual in your content is simply a means of maximizing the odds that your message will resonate. And the way we use different channels and formats to deliver those messages isn't simply to increase our chances that the message will be seen, but to deliver it in way that is most likely to... you guessed it... resonate.

If you're nodding your head in agreement right now, pause for a moment and ask yourself: when was the last time you talked about, or thought about, "resonance" as the end goal of what you do as a seller, marketer, or business communicator?

Say the word out loud, right now. In fact, shout it!!

"RESONANCE"

It's been a long time since you said that word, hasn't it? But it feels good.

How This Applies to Your Strategy

I challenge you to think hard about what this idea means for your own sales and marketing strategy. The question you need to ask yourself is not "how can I reach the most people?" or "how can I drive the highest engagement?" ... what you need to ask yourself is this:

How can I deliver my message(s) in a way that will truly resonate with my audience?

This might come down to the language you use, your tone and style, the channels you deliver your messages on, and even the format you deliver them in (text, image, audio, video, direct mail, smoke signal) - in addition to all those other ideas of personalization, relevance, etc. It might mean you should consider making them laugh, or connecting your message to pop culture, and even start making your own memes and TikToks. Seriously.

Think about what resonates with yourself in both your personal and business lives. What about others you know in different age brackets, genders, backgrounds? What kinds of messages and content really resonate with them?

The Difficult Nuance of Resonance

Resonance is a really interesting concept. In pure scientific terms, it represents a perfect moment of harmonious frequency that represents something in its most tuned or pure state (or something like that, feel free to correct me in the comments all you science buffs).

In communication and relationship building, in my humble opinion, it's all about creating moments of true connection with your audience where you message is not only meaningful and impactful, but it makes them feel something honest and pure.

It makes them think "you get me!" and "I love this, and I want more."

Creating messages and content that truly resonate with your audience is an art. I don't have a formula or template that you can steal. But what I can tell you, from my own experience, is this:

Resonance starts with true empathy, compassion, and understanding of your audience. It's a manifestation of what they want to read, watch, or listen to - not what you want to say or how you want to deliver it. But it's even more than that. Because truly resonant content makes people crave more. It stimulates curiosity, it creates a feeling of connectedness and being seen, and it makes you more memorable than the next seller or brand.

Some Examples from My Own Experience

While I can't give you a template to create highly resonant content or messages, I've included below a few examples of content and video messages that have recently stemmed from our quest to master this idea of resonance.

If any of these resonate with you, don't just borrow the same idea. Ask yourself why it resonated, and how you can apply that same concept to your own messages and content in a way that aligns with what your audience is craving:

(1) Morgan Freeman and Chris van Praag promote Vidyard in a way that you can't help but watch. Probably two or three times:

(2) Our hip hop video to announce Vidyard's integration with Gong. Ain't nuthin but a Gong thang baaaaaaaby:

(3) Some of our favorite examples of 1:1 Sales Prospecting Videos that took these sellers messages from relevant to resonant (via the Video Selling Inspiration Hub):

(4) Our insanely transparent (and popular) product reviews as part of our Sales Feed media network:

(5) Charlie on our team dodging cold prospecting emails that don't include video messages:

(6) And one of my all time favorites, our original Sales Fails video from way back in the day (which was a not so subtle promotion for our new video messaging product):

Now go forth and strive to truly resonate with your prospects and customers.