How Do You Cut Through the Noise?

In a recent episode of Content Amplified, Rodrigo Fontes, CMO at Quillbot and a seasoned marketing executive with over 20 years of global experience, broke down exactly how brands can cut through the noise.

Here’s what we learned from Rodrigo’s refreshing take on building standout content strategies:

Understand Your Audience, Not Just Their Job Titles

Rodrigo emphasized that the first and most critical step is deep audience understanding. And no, that doesn’t mean “targeting professionals with a serious tone.”

“Professionals are also on TikTok and Instagram. If you don't know what they like to watch, you're going to miss a lot of opportunities.”

Instead of assuming a stiff, formal approach based on B2B norms, tap into the cultural and emotional reality of your audience. Where is their attention? What are they already consuming? What’s entertaining or useful to them?

Ride Cultural Relevance, Don’t Push Product Messages

Rodrigo suggests leveraging existing cultural interests to insert your brand into conversations people are already having:

If your audience loves sports, figure out which sports and create content that connects.
If they binge language learning videos or life hacks, create something aligned with that consumption pattern.
“Find shortcuts of attention” by piggybacking off what already resonates.

It’s not about pushing a message down. It’s about meeting people where they already are—and being relevant there.

Blend Entertainment with Information

Not every brand has to be a stand-up comic, but every brand has room for personality.

“I'm a huge fan of content that entertains, and also content that informs. Sometimes what hooks me is a really simple, useful explanation.”

Rodrigo pointed out how even educational content—like explaining the difference in pronunciation between “man” and “men”—can become highly engaging if it connects with a real problem.

Embrace Experimentation and Accept Some Failure

There’s no perfect formula. Rodrigo's advice? Test fast, and fail cheap.

“You need to take some big swings. Especially when you’re targeting a generation that’s not yours.”

With multiple generations online at once—Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X—content preferences vary widely. That’s why experimentation isn’t optional. It’s essential.

Build Impactful, Unexpected Campaigns

Whether you’re launching on a shoestring or with a robust media plan, Rodrigo recommends a coordinated approach:

Use varied formats and tactics to increase the odds of success.
Don’t rely on one piece of content or channel to do all the work.
Look for “old tactics that still work” and remix them with a fresh tone.

Measure What Matters—Not Just Views

Finally, Rodrigo broke down how to track content success beyond vanity metrics:

Top-of-funnel: Views, impressions, engagement rates
Brand impact: Sentiment, share of voice, brand lift studies
Bottom-of-funnel: Downloads, signups, purchases
Holistic impact: Incrementality analyses that show real lift from campaigns

The Bottom Line: “Marketing is Entertainment and Relevance”

Rodrigo sees the modern marketer as an entertainer and cultural navigator—not just a content pusher.

“Nobody’s going to watch what you say unless it’s entertaining and relevant.”

Whether you're trying to grab attention on LinkedIn or YouTube, Rodrigo’s approach is a masterclass in human-centered content strategy. Show up where your audience already is. Be useful, be funny, be memorable—and never stop experimenting.

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Podcast Guest

Rodrigo Fontes

Rodrigo Fontes is a veteran marketer with over two decades of global experience across B2B and B2C sectors, including oil and gas, telecommunications, education, and the dating app industry. Currently leading marketing at Quillbot, Rodrigo is known for his strategic thinking, creative flair, and relentless focus on audience-first content. A strong advocate for entertainment-driven marketing, he blends data, culture, and storytelling to craft campaigns that not only capture attention but also drive meaningful engagement. Originally from Brazil and now based in the U.S., Rodrigo brings a global perspective and a deep passion for connecting brands with people in authentic, memorable ways.

Transcript

(Transcript is AI generated, we apologize for any errors)

Rodrigo Fontes (00:02)
Well, I am a truly believer on entertainment as a way cutting through the

want some kind of relief on their stressful you can provide them with that, and at the same time your brand and your brand messaging there, gonna be a good way to reach your a relevant way.

Benjamin Ard (00:43)
Welcome back to another episode of Content Amplified. Today I'm joined by Rodrigo. Rodrigo, welcome to the show.

Rodrigo Fontes (00:49)
Very excited to be here, Ben. Thanks for inviting me.

Benjamin Ard (00:52)
I love it. I'm excited for the conversation. It's going to be a ton of fun. But before we dive into that, Rodrigo, let's get to know you. What's your background? What's your work history?

Rodrigo Fontes (01:01)
Yeah, well, I would say I'm a marketer with probably more than 20 years of experience in different segments, B2B, B2C. I've worked in oil and gas, telecommunications, education agencies in the dating app industry. And now I'm in the AI world at Quillbots.

Benjamin Ard (01:30)
So the next question we love to ask, what do you love about content and marketing?

Rodrigo Fontes (01:33)
Yeah, I love how marketing transitioned from something that was interrupting people's lives and intrusive and top-down approach of you must watch it and get my message to something that marketers really transformed into content builders in a way that nobody's gonna watch.

what you have to say anymore if they don't want to. So we need to entertain, we need to be relevant. The information needs to be prepared to be delivered to the right people in the right time, probably in a very fun way. So it's more kind of shoving down content and more like conquering the audience in a way that we must think marketing about much more as...

entertainment, relevance, than anything else, than in the past. So I am old enough to have lived this transition, that really excites me. And I should say, other thing that really excites me is getting people thinking about and talking about what the brand I'm working for is doing. So very excited to keep rocking this boat with Quillbot.

Benjamin Ard (02:47)
Well, Rodrigo, we're going to talk about today how to really stand out and have your message stand out in a crowded marketplace. A lot of times people will call this cutting through the noise and obviously that makes sense. So when you look at it, how do you recommend people use their content to stand out in a unique and authentic way?

Especially when crowded marketplaces are everywhere, it's almost impossible to come out with a product or a feature that doesn't have 18 different versions of it out there by someone else. How do we use content to really stand out in these marketplaces?

Rodrigo Fontes (03:23)
I think it all starts with deeply knowing your audience. I think that's the first step, where your audience is, what do they like to consume? And we need to go beyond that thought of, so I'm selling for professionals or I'm selling for business, so I need to be very serious and

more business approach while professionals are also on TikTok and Instagram. if you don't deeply know what they like to watch, you're gonna miss a lot of opportunities to connect with them. But I would say step one, deeply knowing your consumer, where their attention is, and then connect with it. I mean, instead to push your message down.

what is really relevant for them kind of culture they consume, right? I think it all comes to a game of cultural relevance. your audience loves music, how can you find a way of being If your audience likes sports, how and what kind of sport is that? How could you kind of try to connect with it? So...

We should try to find shortcuts of attention, to be honest, in ways that we kind of get a ride on what they already like to watch. I also would say we need to be impactful when we putting our messaging out there. A little bit of unexpectedness and uniqueness to your message goes a long And use old tactics.

as many tactics as possible and as your budget allows because some of them will definitely fail, others will be successful. So do like kind of coordinated messaging attack, if I could say, you have more chance to

Benjamin Ard (04:55)
I love that. So when you're looking at content in a crowded marketplace, what data do you care about that's really showing that your message is standing out to your audience, that it's making an impact. You talked about, can fail and make mistakes and learn rapidly. How are you determining success from failure with the data points and what are you looking at?

Rodrigo Fontes (05:15)
I think the number of views is also important, but also the level of engagement your asset is When it comes to top of the funnel, right?

but also how that is affecting your brand perception. So brand lift studies depending on your media plan mix, you need an incrementality analysis to make sure you're bringing additional users compared to a potential forecast. think share of voice is a relevant measure as well. Like what all the compound efforts you're doing is affecting on the share

of how much your brand is contributing to all the noise out there. then you have other metrics that are more bottom of the funnel, right? mean, the general downloads, installs, purchases, and so on. Also monitoring how the sentiments and the comments are, if you are pairing that with a comms initiative, how many impressions you're getting, the buzz out there that's basically shared

by the share of voice.

Benjamin Ard (06:08)
I love that. So when you look at share a voice, you mentioned that metric from before, and there's a lot of people in your space producing a lot of content, saying a lot of things. Are there any techniques or strategies for making sure you get a larger share of voice? Do you personally like to go head to head on the big keywords and the competitive phases? Are you doing long-term or?

community building, how do you kind of look at those opportunities to get more of that share of voice?

Rodrigo Fontes (06:38)
Well, I am a truly believer on entertainment as a way cutting through the

want some kind of relief on their stressful you can provide them with that, and at the same time your brand and your brand messaging there, gonna be a good way to reach your a relevant way.

a strong fan of content that really entertains, and also a huge fan of content that really informs people. So depending on your business, you can...

you can really provide useful information. for example, I am Brazilian living in the US speaking English with this funny accent and all the time I'm trying to kind of, how can I speak better? What's the difference between man in the singular and in the plural? I mean, the pronunciation for me is exactly the same, but there's a difference. And every time I see an influencer explaining that, stop to watch. So what's that for your core audience? know, what's relevant to them? What they want to see?

that may deliver useful information at the same time as your brand into the mix.

Benjamin Ard (07:34)
I love that. think that's such an interesting point because I hadn't really thought about it as much, you know, really about cutting through the noise. But when you really think about it, marketplaces, especially in B2B, they're so full of people giving educational content. That's kind of like the business MO, but that is a really good way to stand out. And even if every one of the competition is trying to be entertaining and funny and whatever it may be, everyone will do it differently. Like it's hard to copy.

Rodrigo Fontes (07:48)
Yeah.

Benjamin Ard (08:02)
Entertainment as opposed to copying like informational content. So I love that as like a standpoint, it's probably never a, I mean, there's probably a few industries where it's extremely inappropriate to be funny about what you're doing, but outside of those few exceptions, the entertainment is going to show your value. And even if it's not, I'm teaching you something today. brought a smile to your face and at least shows. I get you, you know, if I, if I get you well enough that I can make you laugh.

maybe we're a fit. Maybe we should be friends kind of an idea. So I think that's such a cool way of doing that. Any recommendations and we're running out of time, so it's going to be a final question. I'm going to throw you the ultimate curveball. When you're looking at creating. Entertainment content. A lot of brands get stuck because it's hard. They don't know what they should do or how they should approach it.

It's easier to write an educational blog post about something, but when it comes to entertaining your audience, any advice from your career of what you've seen for people that just get the juices flowing and know what to create so they can stand out.

Rodrigo Fontes (09:03)
I think you should take some It's hard to know what's going to work or not out there, especially if you are targeting a generation that's not yours. The difference in terms of tastes and topics and approaching content is among different generations because we have basically four generations, soon to be five generations, living together in the workspace. We still have boomers, we have X, we have...

I don't know if we still have boomers, but ex-millennials, Gen Z for sure, soon to be alpha. They are very different when it comes to how they approach content and digital and so on. So hard to know. Sometimes you need to take some big swings, you need to take some risks and tests. So don't be afraid of fail, just try to fail fast and cheap.

Surround yourself with a very good team, very good agencies, very good partners who know how to make stuff that's relevant for the core target and that's entertaining and that would be my advice.

Benjamin Ard (10:00)
I love that. And I absolutely love that quote. I've heard fail fast plenty of times, but fail fast and cheap. That's a good extra to benefit there. love it. Well, Rodrigo, I have loved this conversation. It has been so much fun. I've learned a ton, but we're out of time today. If anyone wants to connect with you and reach out online, how and where can they find you?

Rodrigo Fontes (10:04)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, LinkedIn is the best way. Rodrigo Fontes, yeah, just add an invite there, send a message, let's connect. I think that's the best way, yeah.

Benjamin Ard (10:32)
love it. And we will link to Rodrigo's LinkedIn profile inside the show notes below. So it's easy to find. Again, Rodrigo, thank you so much for the time and the insights today. It has been absolutely amazing. Really do appreciate it.

Rodrigo Fontes (10:47)
Thank you very much. It was a real

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