By Lori Jones, President & CEO, Avocet Communications
Key Takeaways
- In a noisy, overloaded market, listening is becoming a strategic advantage.
- Brands that slow down to understand their audiences will move faster and more confidently than those that broadcast by default.
- Insight velocity…how quickly organizations collect, interpret, and act on feedback…now drives competitive performance.
- Listening creates alignment across marketing, RevOps, sales, culture, and customer experience.
- The next era of differentiation belongs to brands that build systems of understanding, not louder megaphones.
Premium brands rarely have to say, “We hear you.”
They prove it…through clarity, relevance, responsiveness, and the way their experiences feel intentionally designed.
And that’s why this moment in time is so important. We’re heading into a new era where the brands that listen will outperform the brands that shout.
For decades, marketing rewarded volume: more content, more channels, more campaigns, more noise. The assumption was simple: louder brands win. But in 2026 that philosophy will be entirely reenvisioned:
Consumers are tuning out.
Teams are overwhelmed.
Markets are fragmented.
Attention is expensive.
And shouting isn’t working anymore.
The companies breaking through aren’t amplifying, they’re observing. They’re listening with discipline, humility, and intention.
I’ve spent years watching how brands succeed and fail. And I’ve learned this:
- The ones that listen early win early.
- The ones that listen deeply win differently.
- The ones that listen continuously win consistently.
THE SHIFT FROM BROADCASTING TO UNDERSTANDING
A few months ago, I worked with a leadership team preparing for a major repositioning. Their instinct was to start talking…talking about new messaging, new campaigns, a refreshed narrative ready to push into the market.
But here’s the problem: they hadn’t listened yet.
They hadn’t spoken with enough customers.
They hadn’t reviewed the emotional realities behind their analytics.
They hadn’t asked their internal teams what felt misaligned.
They hadn’t gathered the nuanced, unfiltered insight needed to shape a story with credibility.
Once they slowed down and asked the right questions, everything changed.
Their narrative sharpened.
Their value proposition clarified.
Their internal alignment strengthened.
Their decisions accelerated.
Listening didn’t slow them down.
It made them unstoppable.
This is the new strategic advantage.
INSIGHT VELOCITY: THE ADVANTAGE NO ONE TALKED ABOUT, UNTIL NOW
We often talk about revenue velocity, creative velocity, and operational velocity. But the brands outperforming the market in 2026 share something more foundational:
Insight Velocity, the speed at which an organization listens, learns, and adapts.
High insight velocity creates:
- Faster decision-making
- More relevant messaging
- Cleaner customer journeys
- Better product alignment
- Stronger trust signals
- Greater internal confidence
Leadership loves speed but speed without understanding is chaos. Speed informed by understanding is strategy.
LISTENING ALIGNS THE ENTIRE ORGANIZATION
When brands commit to real listening, something powerful happens:
1. RevOps gets clearer signals: Lead quality improves, conversion patterns emerge, and friction points become visible.
2. Marketing becomes more confident: No guessing, no generic messaging, just relevance.
3. Sales gains language that works: When you know what resonates, conversations shift.
4. Customer experience becomes proactive: Listening reveals needs before customers articulate them.
5. Teams unify around one story: Because the story is rooted in shared truth, not assumptions.
Listening is not a soft skill. It’s an alignment infrastructure.
A STORY FROM THE FIELD
I once worked with a company convinced their number-one strategic issue was awareness. They poured resources into being louder; more ads, more posts, more campaigns, more everything.
But awareness wasn’t their problem.
When we actually listened…to employees, customers, lost prospects, and internal leaders…we uncovered the real issue: clarity. The market didn’t need more noise; it needed a clearer story.
The moment the brand aligned around what people had already been trying to tell them, momentum shifted. They didn’t get louder. They got smarter. And the results followed.
Listening was the catalyst.
Listening was the differentiator.
Listening was the strategy.
THE NEXT FRONTIER OF COMPETITIVE DIFFERENTIATION
In 2026, the most successful brands will be those that:
- Build listening loops into every stage of the customer journey
- Turn insight into action faster than competitors
- Replace assumptions with evidence
- Let feedback inform strategy, not ego
- Treat listening as an enterprise-wide discipline
Because listening reveals truth. And truth builds trust. And trust drives growth.
This is not about slowing down. This is about eliminating wasted speed.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
- What is your organization not hearing right now?
- Where do assumptions overshadow real insight?
- When was the last time your customers shaped your messaging?
- How quickly does feedback translate into change?
- If listening became a KPI, what would improve first?
Ready to build a brand that listens…and leads? Avocet helps organizations turn insight into clarity, alignment, and action. If you’re ready to deepen understanding and accelerate growth, let’s talk. Contact Avocet Communications and follow me on LinkedIn for more executive insights
