By Mark Combs, Cre8iveDept.com
With every ad, brochure or email you send, you should be conveying, restating, or polishing your message. Yes! You, in the back, what was the question? What is your message? Good question. Your message is the answer to this question, “Why should I give you my money instead of doing nothing, or using your competitor?” Your message should be a concise statement that gives your perfect customer a reason to buy from you. Sure. One more question. What is the perfect message? I am glad you asked. Each company’s message is unique and should stand alone in their chosen market, but there are some thing you can do to perfect your message. Let’s go over them.
- Target it
Your message should speak directly to your perfect customer. You can’t convey a single message to everyone, you will not be able to speak to anyone and you will go broke trying to do it. Narrow the focus of your message to the single customer that will benefit the most from what you offer. Then write your message to speak directly to the problem they need solved, or the pain they are dealing with. You WILL get their attention and they will be hungry for your answer to their problem.
- Simplify it
Simplify your message to as short a statement as possible. Try to give position your company is taking, specifics of your offer, and some sort of guarantee. Take FedEx, “Where it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight”, that is a great message. It’s short, it stakes out a position, gives specifics and implies a guarantee. They are taking the position of you can count on us for your overnight packages. They give us enough details that we know they ship things, and the “absolutely, positively” implies a guarantee of service. Please note that this is not a slogan, it is their message, but it is so well crafted that it doubles as a slogan.
- Repeat it
Once you have a targeted, simple message, the task now is to repeat it as often as possible. It should be on every thing you do, ads, signs, every where. It is possible to over do it but it should make an appearance some how in every marketing effort. Plus, repeat it internally. Make sure your employees know it by heart so that in their daily work, they can remember it and live up to it daily. Every employee should be able to recall your message because EVERYONE in your company is in the marketing department regardless of their job title.
- Demonstrate it
Let your current customers say your message. How have you delivered in the past? Tell your perfect customer a story about how you gave another customer the best your company offers. Testimonials carry a lot of weight with those that don’t know you yet. They notice when someone says, “I know and trust the XYZ company with all of my widget repair. The results were amazing.” Ask your current customers for reviews and testimonials and then let them speak your message for you. It works.
- Own it
Your message needs to be unique. No one else can say “Where it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight”, that is owned by FedEx. Be sure not to use cliché phrases like “world’s best widget”. No one really believes that, and therefore can’t really take you seriously. Create a message that is yours and yours alone.
You must change your message from a marketing tool into a business principle, a company bi-law, a corporate creed. Transform it from a slogan to a way of business. When your message starts to ooze out of your corporate pores, you will own your message. It needs to be the very fiber of your company. Your company needs to eat, breathe and sleep the essence of your message. This is good reason to take writing your message seriously. If you are going to own your message, it needs to be one you can breathe every day.
- Re-word it
Take an afternoon, pull someone from each department of your company and see how many ways you can re-word your message. Break out the thesaurus, the dictionary, and even the scrabble board if you have to. Wordsmith at least 10 ways to say your message to your perfect customer. Look at it from different angles, and different perspectives, but make sure in every case you are conveying the same position, the same details, and the same promise. This exercise will give you a ell to draw from in your ad copy and your sales copy. Your job is not to say one thousand things once, it is to say the same thing one thousand ways without being redundant. Find new ways to convey your message to your perfect customer.
- Deliver it
So your message is on all of your marketing materials, good job. Now you have to deliver on the promise you have made. Make every effort at every customer encounter to make your message ring true in your business. Your message should be easy to see in your business. Show your perfect customer that you mean business and that business is your message.
- Leave it (alone)
Once you have crafted your message and you have landed on the foundation of your marketing verbiage, don’t mess with it. You can say it many ways but never leave your message. Your message that speaks directly to your perfect customer is not something that comes easily and should not be changed easily. You should liken the changing of your message to that of amending the Constitution. It’s a BIG DEAL. If you decide to change your message, I would suggest going through this process again to make sure you are targeting the right customer and speaking to their needs.
If you ever need help with your message or any other part of your marketing, feel free to send us an email at info@Cre8iveDept.com we be glad to help you through it.