Companies often struggle with the messaging that drives marketing. Getting the message right is hard, and all the precise execution in the world on the tactics won’t really take hold if the programs are built on a message that misses the mark. Why do companies seem to struggle so much with messaging? Often, it’s like not being able to see the forest for the trees. Companies don’t have the distance or context to see how their message is playing. Or they feel they’ve got a differentiated message, something that’s truly unique, but in truth it’s just another case of “me-messaging,” something too similar to everyone else.
Messages tend to come from a company CEO or someone with a voice too dominant to generate critical thinking. Or they tend to come from those “inside the room,” a group of executives who use their own experiences to decide what’s important, rather than anyone who’s truly listening to customers. Sometimes companies settle on a message, and it may not be good enough to attract attention or ultimately customers.
A good message will do two things for you: grab an audience’s attention and persuade that audience that you’re offering the best solution. Just as with anything else in marketing today, there’s a process to follow, a “message architecture” to use when building your brand message.
It helps to think of marketing like a machine. To make sure the machine is at peak performance, all the pieces have to be in good working order and needs to have been put together right in the first place. It helps if you have a checklist and to answer a few basic questions first.
In our latest White Paper, we walk you through 8 essential building blocks to start you off on putting together the perfect Message Architecture. Questions like:
- What is Your Brand Voice?
- What are your “Only” statements?
- Do you have Proof points?
- What are your trigger messages?
- What are the “switch messages?”
- Why have you won, why have you lost?
- What are your “have to haves” versus your “nice to haves?”
- What counterarguments are you going against?
These components will outline the blueprint of your Message Architecture. You can then align your business and your messaging using these key components to elevate your brand and your marketing impact.
