Don’t Let Fragmented Messaging Confuse Your Audience

There’s an incredible amount of conflicting information available online about the type of content business owners should create and where and how often they should be posting. It seems everyone is promoting a killer tactic they promise will work wonders for your business, just as it did for theirs.

The promise of a killer tactic that instantly solves all their content problems can be tempting for business owners who are struggling to build their online presence. New business owners in particular aren’t always sure where or how to start posting online. They often lack confidence in their own ability to develop an effective posting strategy that attracts interested buyers. As a result, following the advice of someone who’s successfully gone before them seems like a logical first place to start.

But what works for one business will not necessarily perform equally as well for another. And so when the first tactic doesn’t work as expected, they try another to see if it will generate better results. And then another, and yet another, and so on as they become more and more frustrated and overwhelmed with the whole online posting thing.

It’s such a common practice that I’ve given it a name – Messaging Fragmentation – and it could be seriously damaging your online reputation.

Here’s why.

Why Fragmented Messaging is Bad for Business

Messaging fragmentation is the practice of implementing a series of short-term messaging strategies that dilute clarity and confuse your audience, compromising your brand reputation in the process.

While on the surface it may not seem harmful to experiment with a variety of posting tactics to see what works, conflicting posting strategies can lead to inconsistent messaging, which will confuse your audience and weaken your brand identity.

Loss of trust and credibility

Inconsistent messaging can make it hard for people to understand what your business is about. People buy from people they know, like and trust, and so an audience that’s confused or uncertain about your brand identity, your offer or how you might be able to help them will hesitate to buy.

Authenticity is crucial for building connections with your audience. But when you’re copying other people’s ideas, you risk sounding less genuine and more like a reflection of trending strategies. Should your audience sense you’re not sharing the true authentic you, they may become suspicious of what you’re trying to sell them.

Inefficient use of time and resources

Constantly shifting your posting strategies can lead to wasted time, money, and effort. Implementing strategies without a thorough understanding of your audience and market can lead to ineffective messaging that fails to attract the right target audience.

In addition, you could invest in tools or platforms that don't align with your actual business needs.

Superficial content that lacks value for your audience

When you copy someone else’s tactic, unless you take the time to think carefully about how you can incorporate your own personal spin into their framework, you risk creating superficial content that sounds just like everyone else. This makes it difficult to attract and nurture your target audience.

Value is created through sharing your unique perspective about issues that are important to your audience. Demonstrating your expertise through this type of thought leadership is the best way to deliver value and motivate them to follow you. This is difficult to do when you’re following a fill-in-the-blanks tactic that doesn’t take your specific business or audience into account.

Overcoming Messaging Fragmentation

If you suspect your business reputation has been damaged through messaging fragmentation, don’t panic. Although it will take time, a damaged reputation is repairable.

To fix it, you’ll need to develop a solid plan for consistently posting content that clearly explains who you are, who you help and how you help them better than anyone else in your field. As long as you remain ruthlessly focused on implementing this posting strategy, it won’t be long before you’re attracting the right audience who wants to do business with you because they understand exactly how you can help them.

My 4-Step SAGE Methodology (Study, Align, Generate, Evaluate) can help you create a content marketing strategy that speaks directly to your target audience using language that will help them find you online. SAGE methodology enables you to connect with your audience on a more personal level and immediately begin building authority, credibility and trust in you and your ability to help them.

You can learn more about my SAGE methodology in my June 2023 blog, Creating Content For Maximum Awareness, Influence and Impact. My recently published book, SAGE Content Marketing, explains how to implement SAGE to attract and nurture an audience that wants to buy from you.

The Bottom Line…

Messaging Fragmentation is a common issue for many business owners who do not have a clearly defined plan for their posting strategy.

Without a plan, business owners may end up posting on a variety of topics that don’t necessarily work together to deliver a cohesive message to their audience. As a result, the audience is unsure about what exactly the business is selling.

Since a confused audience very seldom buys, it’s critical that messaging fragmentation be recognized and corrected as quickly as possible. The best place to start is with a content plan that focuses on explaining who you are, who you help and how you help them better than anyone else.