Having a strategy and messaging consistency are common themes I bang on about regularly in this blog.
When it comes to consistency, I’m regularly asked about its true value, given many marketers tailor individual messages to target clients and prospects.
While I’m not suggesting that customising your communications is a bad thing, there is something to be said for having strong, consistent go-to-market messaging for your business and brand.
Clarity for your clients is important
Many big brands focus on their messaging because they’ve worked out that what they say to the market will stick. It doesn’t matter if you’re Coca-Cola or a financial services brand such as BT or AMP, the messaging you take to the market is the main way clients interact with you.
Messaging inconsistency is where small businesses often get their marketing wrong. To meet a new client opportunity or to act on a whim or hunch, they’ll build new messaging and blast it out to the market, without any attempt to keep it in synch with the messaging they’ve already built. In this situation, there will be only one result – confusion on a grand scale.
The aim of your foundational marketing messages is to ensure that it’s crystal clear to prospective clients how you can solve their financial problems. If you mess around, you’ll lose clarity, and damage your overall message. If your message is confused, there’s no way a client will work out who you are, and what you can do for them.
Your employees need it, too
Having message consistency doesn’t just apply to your clients. Your employees should be on board too. Let’s say next weekend an employer of your financial services firm is at a barbecue and is asked about your business.
Whether they’re a paraplanner, a planner, planning assistant or your executive assistant, they need to know the key messages about your business and what you do for clients. Everyone in your business could find themselves in a sales situation talking to potential clients.
You might have heard it described as your elevator pitch. It’s the 30-second spiel about what you do, and all staff should be able to deliver it in their own way. Everyone has their own way of communicating, but if you provide the key marketing messages and drill them into your team, you’re more likely to see them incorporate a version of your elevator pitch when talking about your business to others.
How can you control your messaging?
There are several basics steps you can take to make sure you don’t suffer from a confused marketing message.
- Build consistent go-to-market messaging: Create the basic messages and do them well. Know your value proposition and your unique selling points. Then ensure all your marketing communications is built with those principals in mind.
- Involve your team: Don’t invent messages in a bubble – leave that to others. Get input from across your business, and this will ensure more employees buy into your marketing messages.
- Avoid sub brands: Sub brands for small business are a message killer. Be clear on what your main brand stands for, and build your messaging around it.
- Build basic brand guidelines: A simple way of making sure everyone knows how to talk about your brand is to build basic guidelines. It can include your values, your ‘why’ statement, and your key selling messages. It can also include your visual identity, i.e. where your brand can be used, in what colours, and on what backgrounds.
If you’re new to business and marketing, it might be worth getting some strategic help. Whether you do your own marketing inhouse or outsource it, maintaining message consistency can win you more business in the long run.
