How to stand out from the online noise in 2019

We do not build a brand by selling something. We build a brand by being something and letting that culture shape the way we behave and communicate. But, to build trust and connect with our audience, we must stand out from the noise and make ourselves personal and relatable. Here are six ways to do just that.

Think about your own personal online user experience. In a world full of political correctness, we would rather support a brand for their values and goals rather than support a brand that stands for nothing.

That’s why we have to keep in mind that we’re not marketing to numbers, we’re marketing to humans. So how do we take friction out of our sales- and marketing process, connect with people and shrink the online distance? In this blog post, we will share our very best tips and tricks of how you’ll break through the online noise in 2019 by… simply being yourself.

6 ways to differentiate your brand

1. Tell your story

Our audience’s primary concern is not how impressive we are – it’s how we can make their life better. No one wants to be sold to. We want to listen to stories, and the same goes for advertising or digital publishing.

Our story should prove that we have the expertise they need. Our prospects will think our “what” is quite boring, instead, we should lay focus on telling about our “Why” and “How”.

“ For us as marketers, in the world of fake-news, inundation and lack of trust, I will argue that people will buy from people they relate to.”

– Brian Fanzo, keynote speaker and founder of @isocialfanz

2. Be Relatable

Being able to relate with a brand helps shrink the trust gap and positions businesses to create more meaningful engagement and relationships. Brand presence in the digital world should not only match the personalities of the people operating our brand but also match the conversations we have offline.

We should adjust our tone and approach to the people reading the content and stick to it – because consistency leads to reliability, and reliability leads to trust, and trustworthy people and brands always stand out.

3. Celebrate those who share

Active social listening is one of the most important items in any social media plan – but we have to do more than simply listen and place people into our own persona boxes.

We need to have an open two-way conversation to find out what's important to our readers and the ways we can help make their lives better. Dig into engagement metrics such as comments and shares, they can offer far more insight into how much attention is being paid. And most important: Remember to always answer posts and celebrate those who share and engage on social media.

4. Talk with (not at) your community

There is a lot to win when talking to your community. Speaking directly to them about the challenges they’re facing, will guide them closer to what they need.

It is really important to always have in mind that the person at the other end of that email is a real person, just like you. Make the content more personal by using words like we, us and together instead of you and yours. And finally, let’s make sure that whatever we’re doing is being ridiculously helpful, since your community contains the future of business.

5. Build trust by #beingyourself

By being ourselves we will automatically remove friction and build trust with our audience. The goal should always be to build trust and remove the gap between customers and the business.

Make sure to keep the brand’s core values top of mind throughout all content mediums and platforms and stay consistent. This way, each time someone has a touchpoint with your brand, they will easier be able to recognise it.

6. Say it in a video

Last but not at all the least, keep track of the latest trends and be creative! Video marketing is on every marketer’s tongue right now. In a digital world, this is the content most close to real life, and a video receives 6 times more interactions than regular pictures.

This is definitely the way to go if you want to grab your audience’s attention. And the rule is simple: write less, say more. Adding a video to your content not only helps grab a user’s attention but also helps tell a story, which allows people to better understand what they’re consuming. Remember to keep it short, sweet and to the point – and find ways to have fun with it.

Summary

We should all start treating our audience as the hero of the story, connect with them in a way that genuinely offers them value, and keep track of the time they spend consuming your content. Remember to let your personality shine through the screen and stay consistent.

When you speak to people the way the want to be spoken to, you’ll be able to conquer the noise on social media. And hey: Don’t be boring. Create content that is human, visual, concise and optimised, and you’ll be on your way to creating success.

Want to learn more about how you can create content that helps differentiate your company and reach out the right people? Download our content marketing starting kit by clicking the button below.