The REAL competition today!

The two sides were fighting, violently. Is there any other way?

Bullets whizzing across the middle ground, grenades being thrown. Taunting voices from both sides calling on the mothers and sisters of the other party! Every once in a while there was a pause. To reload perhaps, the guns and the stomachs. This battle was happening in a mountainous area with a valley in between. A green valley in between two warring sides.

Suddenly, a flock of sheep emerge in the valley and get confused with all the noise. From the other side, an elderly man walked through to the middle. Slow, halting, leaning on his stick at times; but determined. He didn’t look to either side but stuck to the snaking trail in the valley.

Silence all around.

Now to the topic of this article:

Who’s my competition?

My direct competitors? Those in allied areas who can enter my line of work? A complete new startup or technology ripping apart the status quo?

Yes to all. There is a bigger competitor though. One that shows no signs of slacking off. Right in the middle and center. And all around.

NOISE

The noise that overpowers my message from getting through, blinded even to the periphery vision. Noise from clutter, ads,

Messaging, free schemes, offers. Pure noise.

How can one focus? Can you, when you’re bombarded by screeching noise, shifting screens with scrolling text, and someone tugging your dress? Let’s add rain and thunder to the mix. And now what, you expect me to focus on your message, understand it and then take action…..?

The real competition today is noise and we need to find ways to get through the clutter.

It is the time for micro marketing and unconventional approaches.

Case in point: We sent hand written post cards to a micro segment of prospects. The response rate was much higher than what you get from email or other modes. Why don’t we try more such methods?

We don’t because we’ve either forgotten them or think they’re simply not sexy enough. And the fact that it takes actual work, to think, write, post and measure.

Back to the story to wrap things up:

The man reached the sheep, herded them together and walked out the other end of the valley. Unharmed.

When someone does the unexpected, people stop and watch. Amidst all the noise, the old shepherd was resolute. He walked his own path and the others watched, a mix of confusion, and awe, at the gall of the man. Everything abated, for a while. He got what he wanted done and moved on.

The real competition today in marketing is like warring sides, 360 degree instead of just two sides.

The real competition is NOISE.

What have you done to either cut through or circumvent noise?

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Pravin Shekar is an outlier marketer, parallel entrepreneur and a raconteur.

Talk to him to rip apart and redo your marketing strategy. mic @ PravinShekar.com .

Pravin is the author of three books: on outlier marketing, Getting paid to speak, and a collection of travel pics/romantic poems!

http://tiny.cc/PravinShekarBooks

#Marketing #Entrepreneur #Awareness #Strategy #Outlier #Outliermarketing #ProfessionalSpeaking #Speaking

This article first appeared in my blog: http://pravinshekar.com/the-real-competition-today/