After attending a variety of presentations at the Online Marketing Virtual Summit two weeks ago, I found one common thread that tied them all together: relevancy is key if you want your message to be heard.

In a world that’s becoming increasingly cluttered by new messaging platforms, it’s impossible for consumers to pay attention to everything that’s thrown their way. So as a marketer, how do you ensure your carefully-crafted message is heard by your target audience? The answer is simple: segment your audience appropriately and customize, customize, customize.

What was once termed the “unique selling proposition” is shifting to “relevant selling proposition”. Consumers need to feel a certain level of affinity to the message they are being delivered in order to respond or to even see it at all. In an age where everything from your morning coffee order to your gym shoes can be customized to your exact specifications, consumers won’t waste their precious time paying attention to something that doesn’t seem personally relevant.

In order to adapt to this shift, it’s vital that marketers are able to accurately segment their target audience and get to know these groups inside and out. Successful segmentation allows the marketer to better understand their target’s pain points which in return, allows them to effectively communicate how their product is the answer to that pain. Once this is understood, marketers will be better equipped to craft meaningful, customer-centric messages that cut through the clutter and generate sales.