Sometimes if you’re not solving the problem, you’re making it worse. The trouble is that we don’t always know how to tell the difference between solutions and complications.
Seth Godin noted this very succinctly in an eye-opening post:
I was talking to a colleague about all the noise out there in the world, all the messages, ads, announcements, pitches and friend requests. “And you’re sending even more every day into that maelstrom.”
“No we’re not,” she said. “Ours isn’t noise.”
Yes it is.
My takeaways on this:
- We need to be careful that we are providing valuable content to make sure we’re offering signal not noise.
- Content that is meaningfully unique is more likely to be signal than noise.
- That being said, one man’s noise is another man’s signal.
- If you pick a niche audience and focus on their needs/wants, you’re providing signal.
