Too many businesses believe marketing is about shouting about themselves and that communication with their customers and potential customers simply means informing or telling them. They see networking (online and offline) as getting as many ‘tweets’, business cards and brochures out as possible. They work on the theory that as long as their message is being ‘shouted out’ then people will be listening.

It’s simply not true. In the same way that most people ‘switch off’ from listening to my latest rant on why bin collections need to be weekly not fortnightly, then many of your customers, people and network contacts could be doing the same to you and your ‘marketing messages’.
So what should we do about it?

Here are a few ideas:

1. Get ‘Permission’
In days gone by, marketing was all about whoever shouted the loudest and most often. Hence the strong power of TV, radio and newspaper advertising. The bigger the budget, the better chance you had of grabbing people’s attention.

Although they can still be effective promotion methods, there’s a lot of evidence that their effect is declining as we become more questioning, use an increasingly diverse range of media, and have the ability to find what we want, when we want it through the on-line world, 24/7.

Many people see advertising as intrusive and uninvited and find ways of blocking unwanted messages out. Don’t believe me? Are you in the Mail Preference System to stop unwanted junk mail? Are you ‘ex directory’ to prevent cold calls? Do you have ‘spam filters’ to block uninvited emails? What about Sky+ so you can avoid the adverts?

US marketing ‘guru’ Seth Godin talks about ‘Permission Marketing’ whereby businesses obtain people’s ‘permission’ to market to them – they ‘sign up’, they choose, they proactively ‘engage’. (No one’s forcing you to read this for example!)

Have a look at yourself – are you guilty of ‘forcing’ your message onto people who aren’t, or who don’t want to listen? Would it be better to focus on those who want to listen? In this day and age, it’s clear that the ‘quality’ of your contacts on your database is far better than the ‘quantity’.

2. Think CNN

The messages you send out there to customers and contacts can be filed under 3 basic headings:
Critical – this is stuff that’s vital to them, could really help them, solve their problems and make a real difference to them. It adds value, and they would thank you for sending it to them.

Nice To Know – useful, interesting stuff, but please don’t send them too much!

Noise – all the stuff they’re not interested in, the irrelevant and unrequested ‘guff’. Irrelevance is defined by them, the customer, by the way!

Have you worked out what’s ‘Critical’ to your contacts? How much of your marketing material is really just ‘Noise’? Because as consumers we are bombarded with so much ‘Noise’ on a daily basis, we create ‘ear defenders’ to block it out! Are you ‘ranting’ loudly but in reality, no one is listening?

3. Try Dialogue, Not Diatribes

It’s about having ‘conversations’ with your customers, getting their opinions, thoughts and ideas. It could be something as simple as asking ‘what do you think?’

When was the last time you had a real ‘conversation’ with one of your customers? I don’t just mean about the weather or who’s going to win ‘Britain’s Got Talent’, but meaningful stuff about your performance, their aspirations and challenges. How often do you tap into their opinions, thoughts or ideas?

Have you ever considered that the best networkers tend to be ‘givers’ not ‘takers’? They listen, they ask questions, they have conversations with people. You don’t see them dishing out business cards like an over- zealous traffic warden dishing out parking tickets (You won’t be surprised that I have an opinion on them too !) They put people in touch with others, they share ideas, and create contacts and opportunities for others. It’s about developing conversations and relationships with customers and communities.

As well as encouraging you to think about your communication, I’m going to practise what I preach – and create some dialogue too. Let me know what you think of these ideas, tell me what else you’d like to read about. Is this simply another ‘rant’? Is there anybody out there? I’d love to hear what you really think – the good, the bad and the ugly!

Author Andy Hanselman helps business leaders and their people improve their competitiveness through speaking, training, consulting and writing. For more information, visit www.andyhanselman.com or email him at andy@competeorgetbeat.com.