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Your Marketing Message: Use It or Lose It |
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Written by Joan Marcus
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Your marketing message is the verbal representation of your brand. As such, it should drive all of your marketing and be integrated into every marketing tool. How well are you doing this?
Here's a quick way to gauge the effectiveness of your marketing message. Ask each of your employees how he or she introduces your company to a prospect. Is your sales force on the same page as your customer service staff? Does your clerical staff or the person answering the phone describe your company the same way you do? If you receive several different answers or blank stares, it's time to take a closer look at your marketing message. Here are five tips to help you craft a memorable message:
- Tell your prospects and clients what they need to hear. An effective marketing message is a succinct statement - usually 25 words or less - that addresses your customers' key pain points, provides a solution and explains why your solution is the best one available.
- Focus on one key point. Most companies provide a variety of services or products. You don't need to include all of this information in your message - and you shouldn't! Instead, focus on the one product or service that best addresses your customers' pain points. What do you do better for your clients than any other company?
- Develop a simple yet memorable message. This isn't the time to try to impress customers and prospects by using jargon and technical language. No one will understand or remember such a message. Make your point simply and succinctly. Eliminate every unnecessary word and make every word count.
- Think about it. Developing a powerful marketing message takes time. You need to consider your core strengths and weaknesses, the current and future needs or pain points of your customers and how you can best meet those needs based on your strengths. Once you know the answers to these questions, craft a succinct statement that captures the essence of your answers.
- Make your message part of your company. Your marketing message should be an integral part of all your marketing efforts. You and your entire staff should be comfortable using your marketing message in casual conversation, while networking and in formal presentations. In short, use it or lose it!
© 2010 Joan B. Marcus Communications LLC
Joan B. Marcus, president of Joan B. Marcus Communications LLC, helps small businesses and nonprofit organizations build their brand through the power of words. Learn more at http://www.joanbmarcuscommunications.com where you can also sign up for a free subscription to Words That Work, a monthly newsletter that offers practical and low-cost strategies to help you market your business.
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