At times, marketing can feel like you’re beating a dead horse. Even if your ideas are fresh and creative, your SEO is perfect, and your strategy is solid—no one seems to pay attention. Don’t take it personally; there are over 1.5 billion websites online, all aiming for the same thing as you. Making sure your marketing message stands out is one of the hardest parts of any marketing plan.

There’s no clear cut recipe for success when it comes to marketing. There are, however, ways to frame your message that offer a substantially greater chance of your messaging being read – and that’s the biggest hurdle, right?

1. Make it Personal

A personalized marketing message is an effective way to get attention. But how can you avoid coming off as creepy? Many marketers hesitate to use first names because they fear it might seem like they are stalking their potential customers. However, personalization can come in various forms. Why not create marketing content that tailors the customer journey?

Here’s what we mean:

  • First Visit – provide a chatbot with a number of questions your visitor might want answers to. Demonstrate that you know their pain points and have ways to overcome them.
  • Content Clicks – offer extra resources before they click away, show that you have a range of solutions for the problem they’re wanting to solve.
  • Leaving Your Site – say goodbye and ask whether they’d like to sign up to news or products tailored to their specific interests.
  • Email – by now it’s OK to use their first name. You can also demonstrate that you ‘remember’ their last visit to your site, and provide personalised content chosen for them.
  • Sale – if you get a sale out of this process, offer a promotion or a gift as a celebration of your developing professional relationship.

This works in the same way a friendship would. There’s no overstepping of the mark, no unearned chumminess. It’s based on respect, care and attention. Key to its success is knowing the pain points and having effective, tailored solutions to offer.

2. Be Uniquely You

“Authenticity matters when deciding what brands they like and support. To win the hearts and business of your target customers, you have to convince them you are trustworthy and authentic.”

Lots of marketing fails because it’s trying to copy a successful competitor. Whereas what consumers are looking for is a unique, authentic perspective that defines your brand. You can demonstrate your uniqueness in many ways, but here are 3 particularly effective techniques:

  • Demonstrate Your View of the World. Take a current news story and offer your authentic perspective on it. When a story hits the headlines, readers are hungry for new angles and are excited to share original, or quirky views.
  • Show What You Know. Does your business have data that could provide followers with fresh insights? Publish a ‘long read article’ for LinkedIn, offer a White Paper via your website, or create a video for your YouTube channel.
  • What’s Your Expertise? Every business has its own sets of skills, specialist knowledge and expertise. The odd thing is that many businesses fail to value what they have. Do a quick audit of your skills, and be generous with your tips and ‘how to’ posts.

3. Recycle For Success

This may not sound particularly exciting, but it’s a great way to amplify marketing messages that have already attracted traffic to your site. Use analytics to identify which posts/blogs have performed well in the past. Work the content to make it relevant to today’s readers. This may involve updating links and SEO, re-fashioning CTAs, or adding in new content. Then, most important, change the date and re-index. Often you’ll see an immediate leap in your rankings.

“Google loves to see content that is current. Content that has been more recently published usually gets a higher ranking than outdated pieces.”

Neil Patel