Cut Through the Noise by Focusing Your Message
Every business owner is looking for ways to stand out from the crowd and cut through the noise of a thousand other messages that are vying for their prospective client’s attention. But sometimes we get in our own way and add to the confusion by having “noisy messages.”
Put yourself in your audience’s shoes; if you’re standing in a large crowd and everyone is rambling, of course it’s difficult to hear what any one person is saying. But it’s also possible, and actually quite common, to get lost in the noise of just one person’s monolog, even if you’re the only two people in the room. Have you ever talked with someone who doesn’t seem to know where they’re going in a conversation or what it is they’re trying to communicate: “what do they want me to know? I’m lost.” It takes a lot of energy to actively listen, follow and understand someone who doesn’t have a focused message. When everything is important, nothing is.
If someone is on your website, or reading your brochure, you’re no longer in a noisy crown. That is a huge win! Step one complete, you’ve got their attention, but can you keep it? Or are you loosing them?
Within 30 seconds, your visitor should clearly know:
What you do
How you’re different
Why that matters to them
And how they can take action
If you don’t design your home page to quickly and clearly answer these questions, you’ll lose them. And if you sprinkle in content that distracts from their objectives for being on your site, you’ll confuse them, and that’s when you become noise. It’s so hard to trim down our message to be ruthlessly focused, but your audience is coming to your website for quick answers. Our brand’s history and awards may be music to our own ears (and are certainly important further along the funnel at the consideration stage), but it can quickly become noise to our prospective clients if we lead with that. It would be like if your dinner guest asked you what you’re planning to cook and what time to show up at your place, and you start a long-winded monolog about how you went to culinary school and your grandma was a chef in France.
When people come to your site, they’re asking specific questions. Be sure to answer those first, and do so quickly before you loose them.
I can help you clarify and focus your messaging objectives and articulate them with relevance so your brand messaging can be music to their ears.
