Are you married to your messages? Please take this week’s one-question NoSpin Poll, and then read on:

If yours is like most businesses, you have lots of messages starting with your company name, your multi-word "tag line," and your 2-4 sentence "elevator pitch"--as well as more detailed explanations and "pictures" of what your business is, what products and services you provide, what benefits those offer, and who you are talking to. Messages are central to one of Marketing’s 4 "P’s"–Promotion–in communicating with customers.

A lot of businesses, though, are married to their messages even though their products and services change, their customers change, their competitors change, and their marketplaces change. Messages tend to lag behind the realities of a business and often become albatrosses for a company’s marketing and sales. There are a lot of rationales for "marrying your messages," yet none are very good:

"We need ongoing continuity in our messages so that we don’t confuse people." In fact, as your business and business landscape change, you are more likely to confuse people by stubbornly sticking with your same old messages. Consistency of current messages, on the other hand, is important.

"We’ve already invested a lot of money in print and other promotional materials: business cards, fancy brochures and collaterals, advertisements, trade shows booths, giveaways, etc, etc." There are fewer and fewer reasons to sink lots of marketing money into bulk print and related materials (that are expected to live on indefinitely). See the "print" hints below.

"We just paid a consultant last year to help us with our messages." Often it’s wise to get a periodic check-up from an outside professional, and you may have gotten solid advice at the time. But things may have already changed substantially since last year or even last quarter.

"We don’t have the time (to change our messages), and messages aren’t as important as sales and products anyway." Product, price, and place are also keys to your marketing (as well as the coordination of all four P’s)--but messages, as part of Promotion--are central to any marketing strategy and tactics.

"We’re still in business, so why change our message(s)?" It’s the traditional status quo argument to stick with the one that "brung ya to the dance." You may be in business, but are you getting all of the business that you really want?

Here are some NoSpin hints for your company’s messages:

• Don’t stay married to your current messages unless you are 110% satisfied with your company’s sales and profits; be prepared to change your messages as often as necessary.
• Don’t try and "spin it better" with your next messages. Better messages are not about spin; they are about better clarity, honesty, and authenticity–that reflect the here and now. (See the NoSpin Wisdom of the Week at the bottom of the NoSpin homepage).
• Continually test your messages with strangers and customers to see if they "get it."
• Consider formal market research to periodically check your messages and how they are understood and perceived.
• Recognize that messages are no longer unilateral (as if they ever were)–they’re not just about your company dictating to the marketplace but rather conversing with your audiences. You are likely to need multiple "messages" and not just one message–if you sell to multiple markets.
• Use your web site as your marketing strategy and message laboratory. Web sites are wonderful venues for easily and economically changing and testing messages and content on a regular basis--and then leveraging messages to other marketing vehicles.
• Analyze how people use "key words" on search engines to find your company (and competitors) on the web (more on this in a subsequent Debunker). "Key word" analysis provides incredibly valuable and cheap market research for developing your messages.
• Develop a print strategy that makes economic sense. Print is not going away anytime soon as a vehicle for marketing messages, but with a little planning you can save a bundle on high cost print and always use your most current messages. Here are a few hints to save money and pain in your print marketing:
• Assume that your key messages could change again in the next 60-90 days–and spend your print dollars accordingly; don’t print anything in bulk that might reasonably change within a couple months.
• Minimize printing expensive, custom brochures, product/services "slicks," "corporate overviews," and the like (that need to incorporate your most current messages)–instead have a high quality print "shell" designed that you can use indefinitely; as your messages change, print new materials yourself or use a lower cost printer.
• Print a fairly generic "portfolio" cover to hold your print materials–leave off messages and even address, phone, etc information–(use card cuts for business cards for contact information).
• Get used to printing and throwing away business cards–just shop around for economical print options for cards–and use the back of your cards for your elevator message; use multiple business cards (per person) if your messages are substantially different for different audiences (and use the back of your card for your "elevator pitch"); and don’t get hung up on giving everyone business cards–not everyone in your company needs them.
• Save your "expensive" print dollars for episodic tactics when you really need high quality work done: e.g. direct mail to decision-makers, gifts, special events and announcements, etc–versus your everyday materials.
• Use modular approaches for trade show presentation booths, etc. whereby you can economically change out any current messages–without revamping expensive materials.
• Every so often, get an expert to come in and take a look at your messages; often a fresh perspective is healthy at least though provoking–for paving the way to new messages.
• Don’t forget about your company name as a message; whereas a company’s name obviously can’t change as often as other business messages, sometimes it needs an overhaul as well.

Especially in this age of Internet, messages need to be as dynamic as your business, your competition, and your customers. Like your marketing strategies and tactics your messages need to change and evolve if you are interested in more sales and profits. Should you change your messages, monthly, quarterly, yearly--or what? There’s no hard-and-fast rule for the right frequency of updating your messages other than if they don’t seem to be working, or if sales/profits are not where you want them, or if your products and customers are changing–you need new messages.

Take a fresh look at your business messages today–and don’t get married to the one’s you have now.

 

 

 NoSpin Debunkers are free weekly online newsletters written by Tom Ranseen. If at anytime you would like to be removed from the NoSpin Debunker reader list, please Unsubscribe. Otherwise, enjoy, join the conversation, and please forward this debunker to as many friends/acquaintances as you think may be interested–or send me their email addresses. Thanks.

Tom Ranseen NoSpinMarketing 615.383.7157