Traditionally, messaging and strategy have been considered related but essentially separate activities. Strategy comes first. Once strategy (or strategic planning) has been completed, the organization works on how to articulate — or message — that strategy to various audiences: customers, prospects, employees, the general public, shareholders, and others. Messaging in this case is considered an aspect of marketing — or more narrowly, of marketing communications.
In reality, especially at smaller companies and start-ups, it can be difficult to distinguish the two.
Large companies may have separate organizations devoted to marketing strategy and marketing communications, and the two groups may have little interaction. That’s not a good thing, but it is a fact of life at many companies. In these organizations, marketing communications is limited to “promotion” (one of the 4 Ps) and to execution. Company strategy is determined, from which marketing strategy is developed, and messaging follows. Does that sound like your organization?
In smaller companies, though, where there aren’t the same bureaucratic divisions between corporate strategy and marketing, messaging may be inseparable from overall strategy. Here’s why. Messaging focuses on (or should focus on):
1. Identity: Who are we? What do we stand for? What are our strengths? What makes us truly unique?
2. Customers: Who are our customers and prospect? What do they want from us? What needs are they looking to satisfy?
3. Branding: How do the various audiences we interact with feel about us? What are their perceptions? How do we influence those perceptions through messages?
4. Delivery: How do our audiences want to consume the messages we create? When are they most receptive to those messages, and in what format?
In short, to develop compelling messaging you must know who you are, who you’re talking to, and whether the person you’re talking is engaged in a conversation. Without that information, you’re really just having a monologue (or soliloquy). Unfortunately, many organizations can provide only vague answers to the questions above. Too often they haven’t clearly articulated who they are and what unique value they offer their customers.
At Bullet Consulting, we’ve discovered that as we ask our clients questions like those above, the conversation begins to shift from a discussion of core messaging to one of core strategy. Here’s why: these questions are at the heart of why you’re in business in the first place.
That’s not all that surprising. What’s been surprising to me, however, is how the process of drilling down, getting at truthful answers (beyond the marketing spin) can lead to discussion and even decisions about the future direction of the business itself. We’ve seen this more often than not.
Once you understand who your customers are, why they like you and want to do business with you, and how you’re unique in the market place, you can refocus your efforts on doing more of what your customers want and less of what you just think they want. The messaging process can reveal those truths and bring them to the surface so you can act on them.
We’ve only scratched the surface. There’s much more to be said on this topic, of course, and it’s one we’ll return to.