As we enter 2023, some key questions every executive struggle’s with is how to raise their company’s profile; how to become a respected thought leader in the industry; how to capture the attention of investors, the media, workers, top executives, regulators and more. This is easier for some companies who lead in their segment. Most companies must work much harder. The good news is that goal can be achieved if they take the right steps.
As we gear up for CES 2023 and get ready for MWC Barcelona and all the other trade shows, the big challenge is breaking through the ambient noise level in the industry and just getting seen and heard.
Every CEO and Executive VP of Marketing realizes all their competitors are shouting from the rooftops trying to be noticed. In this noisy and chaotic environment, it is both necessary and challenging for companies to learn how to be seen and heard.
Important for companies to be seen and heard in noisy industry
True, some companies have an easier time than others. Companies at the top of their industries seem to be followed by everyone. These are companies like Apple, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook or Meta and others.
However, executives at most companies who are in a competitive environment, and who are not as well-known, who still need to be seen, typically find it more difficult to be heard, get noticed and get their messages out in this noisy world.
Yet, that is one of the most important things they must do well to be successful. After all, being noticed and followed is key to long-term success and growth.
Wireless, 5G, telecom, AI, IoT, metaverse, health tech, AR, VR and more
Over the past three decades, I have met with countless executives of companies, large and small, in industries like wireless, telecom, communications, technology, AI, IoT, metaverse, cloud, consumer electronics, pay TV, streaming, health tech, cybersecurity, AR, VR, autonomous driving, EV, smart cities, machine learning and much more.
Smart executives are always looking for new ways to be heard. It almost looks like magic, but this is something every company can do.
Understanding the “growth wave” is key. There is always a growth wave which rises, crests and falls with each new technology. Some are quick and others last longer, but they all have a lifespan.
That means companies need to develop the next product or service set before the current one crests, then growth slows and then ultimately falls.
Pull the camera back to get longer term historical perspective
To get a clear picture of the always changing marketplace we need to pull-the-camera-back and get a longer-term-historical-perspective on the world and the direction we are heading.
We need to find the companies who need to be heard above the ambient noise level in the marketplace.
Companies with new thinking, new ideas, new products and new services.
Companies who want to be heard, seen, supported and followed.
Companies with innovative products and services which may be smaller or newer and do not yet have a following.
These are the companies we want to find to invest in or work for. They are on the rising side of the growth curve.
And senior executives at these companies want us to find them.
Bringing these groups together is the key challenge.
Companies must punch their way onto the map to get noticed
As a technology industry analyst for more than three decades, I always enjoy hearing from companies with important ideas who want to be heard.
On a regular basis, I hear from many gutsy new companies, CEOs and VPs of marketing, wanting to punch their way onto the map.
This is what happened with T-Mobile. They were dying a decade ago until the new CEO punched their way onto the map. The rest is history.
This is an important lesson for every executive to learn. Not so much for the style, but for the action and the result.
These companies can be diamonds in the rough, yet they are who we want and need to find.
That’s why getting noticed is one of the primary and most important tasks every CEO must focus on. Every company need to get on the radar, or they will struggle.
In order to earn success, the same challenge affects every business. Every company needs to get their ideas, their products and services into the spotlight.
So, with CES 2023, MWC Barcelona, countless other conferences and simply competing in the marketplace throughout the year, the advice I offer is find successful ways to punch your way onto the map in the very loud industry and noisy world full of distractions.
That’s the big challenge for every CEO and Senior Vice President of Marketing: To find new ways to punch your way onto the radar of the marketplace.
