Ever noticed how you tend not to hear background sounds after a while? When you first turn an air conditioner on, for example, you notice the sound. After a while, you don’t hear it anymore. Same goes for a clock ticking, among other things.

Our brains have “novelty detector neurons“, which respond to newer sounds, and stop firing if a certain pattern of sounds is repeated over and over. Because of that, sounds that don’t change fade into the background, and we don’t hear them.

We have a natural instinct to not pay attention to things that stay constant. And on the reverse side, as marketers – and face it, we’re all marketers – you need to be different to get attention. You need to keep changing with the times, adapting your medium and message to fit the audience.

You need to provide something that others aren’t used to hearing.

Whatever you’re marketing – be it your personal brand, a corporate product or anything else – how are you getting attention, and stopping yourself from fading into the background?