{"id":27389,"date":"2021-02-27T11:21:45","date_gmt":"2021-02-27T15:21:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=27389"},"modified":"2021-03-05T18:09:45","modified_gmt":"2021-03-05T22:09:45","slug":"marketing-noise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/marketing-noise\/","title":{"rendered":"Marketing Noise: Why Most Marketing Doesn\u2019t Work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is marketing noise? Why does marketing noise make it more difficult for marketing to succeed?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marketing noise is the idea that the market is overfilled with information. Our brains cannot process all the information and it makes it difficult to make decisions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more about marketing noise and why a lot of marketing doesn’t work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Marketing Noise and How to Cut Through <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you find that your brand is stagnant, it probably isn\u2019t because your product is flawed. It probably is <\/em>because there\u2019s a problem with the message you\u2019re sending out in your marketing. The only thing customers care about is how your brand can solve their problems<\/strong>. As a result, marketing that\u2019s unclear or confusing, that doesn\u2019t explain how your product solves problems, or that is self-centered and obsesses about the company’s image, is doomed to fail. Here’s what marketing noise means. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Noise<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Marketing noise is the massive amount of distracting, confusing information that permeates the world. An example of noise is the 3,000 marketing messages<\/a> the average person is exposed to every day. While outside noise is something your brand will have to compete with, your biggest enemy is actually the noise your brand creates itself.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brands often don\u2019t realize they\u2019re creating noise.<\/strong> They think that customers like hearing about their backstory, the non-profits they support, the eco-friendly features of their office building, and so on. But customers don\u2019t care about any of these things. They just want to know how your brand will help them solve their problems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, one StoryBrand client ran an industrial painting company that painted cars, concrete, and hospitals. The website was crowded with text that tried to explain all three arms of the businesses but ultimately just created noise. The author suggested starting over. The new website would have only a few words of text along the lines of \u201cWe Paint Stuff\u201d and a button that said, \u201cRequest a Quote.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How the Brain Works<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Marketing noise is created because they don\u2019t accommodate the way the human brain works. Subconsciously and by nature, the human brain is interested in things that will help us survive.<\/strong> This results in two behaviors:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Behavior #1: The brain focuses on things that will help it meet survival needs.<\/strong> According to Abraham Maslow, the brain prioritizes needs in this order:<\/p>\n\n\n\n