Marketers need to perfect their ability to really listen and understand their clients' and prospects' needs, perspectives, objectives. Unless they sharpen their skills, the marketing content they develop won't connect.

Listening is a specialty companies have allowed to languish as they continue to push their messages at prospective buyers with one goal in mind—to make the sale. Not that sales shouldn't be an eventual goal for B-to-B marketing, but for heaven's sake, you've got to build a relationship and garner some trust and credibility before you can persuade anyone to do anything.
 
The reason companies have such a wide gap between raving fans and elusive buyers is because they not only haven't learned to listen well, it's that when they try to listen they make the activity a one-way street. It's not enough to listen, you have to take actions that show the people you actually understood what they said. You've got to be able to put yourself in their shoes and respond appropriately.
 
Really Listen

I'm only going to say this once: Listening is not about you. 
 
We've all been in conversations where it's obvious the person who's supposed to be listening is already formulating their response and, thus, has stopped listening for underlying meaning. This type of experience doesn't deliver appropriate validation to the person speaking.
 
Many companies track and follow what's being said about their company with Google Alerts. Then they respond by trying to control the conversation, defend themselves to naysayers and pat themselves on the back when they hear kudos. We've all known people like this. We call them self-centered and try to avoid them. The value of whatever they contribute to the conversation is diminished because we know that what underlies their effort is based solely on self-interested gains. They're surface listeners.
 
Connecting with people in a way that builds engagement beyond momentary attention is critical for creating sustainable growth. People want you to help them solve their problems. Heck, they can buy something similar to your solution from numerous sources. So, give them a differentiating reason to buy from you by listening to what they're saying and responding appropriately. Get beneath the surface words to the meaty meanings.
 
By listening beneath the surface, you'll gain a lot of useful insights like:

• Perspective about problems and objectives your prospects and clients are dealing with.
• Terminology used conversationally by different market and industry segments.
• What keeps your prospects and clients up at night.
• Communication efforts they don't like.
• Clues that indicate the real root of a problem so you can solve them—instead of slapping band aids on surface issues.
• What your clients really value, which sometimes is the little stuff you think is unimportant.

As you tune up your rabbit ears for 2009, keep the following in mind to improve your listening:

• Don't give in to knee-jerk reactions. Wait until you understand to respond.
• As you listen, think about how you can be helpful.
• Listen to a variety of channels and note similarities and differences that define them.
• When someone gives feedback, figure out a response that shows you've given their input consideration. Honesty and openness helps.
• Make a list of what you learn while listening. With these insights in mind, read your marketing content from the perspective you're learning about and evaluate it for value and relevance.
• Look for keyword phrases for how people discuss their problems and priorities. Use them in your marketing content. This one goes to placing yourself within someone's comfort zone. Talking above or beneath them won't work.
• Figure out some ways you can revise your content for each segment to make it more personal. (Read the tip above again.)
• Read your clients' blogs and your prospects' blogs. Follow prospects and customers on Twitter. Monitor the Q&A on LinkedIn. All of these can be great sources of insights to help you personalize. Even better, read the comments and listen to what's being said.
• Listening requires a clear intent to understand. Listening does not mean mining Google Alerts for places to go post a comment that's out of context because you can't be bothered to integrate yourself into the conversation.

If you want your marketing initiatives to connect in 2009, you've got to be good at listening—before you market. 
(xzy2)