What does the term noise mean in marketing?

In the field of marketing, the term noise can be described as "?random and competing messages that may interfere with the intended communication" (Kotler & Keller, 2009, p. 475). Advertisements competing with each other or campaigns that give out mixed signals and hinder sales are counted as noise.

With so much advertising noise in the marketplace, how can a company ensure its message is heard?

Effective communication is the key that ensures the message is being delivered clearly, in spite of all the noise in the marketplace. Company should know what response it would receive and this can only happen if it understands the target audience well. Core components of the communication function include encoding, decoding, response and feedback....