What’s at the heart of a strong marketing strategy? It’s your marketing message.
What’s a marketing message? It’s simple: it tells your audience what the benefit of your product or service is, and how it is different from the other offerings on the market.
In other words: how it will improve their lives, and how you’re the best option for their needs.
Why is your marketing message an essential part of your marketing strategy? Because it’s the backbone of your whole pitch to your leads and prospects. If you can’t articulate your benefits or differentiators clearly, how will you build out your marketing strategy thoughtfully?
The Two Key Components of a Marketing Message
There are two critical questions your marketing message needs to answer.
1. What’s in it for me?
Customers are busy. There’s a lot of competition for our attention everywhere. And most markets are pretty saturated with products and services.
Your prospects need to know immediately: what’s in it for them?
Let’s use a company that sells tents as an example. If their latest marketing message is around the high-tech new fibers they just started using to build their tents, that doesn’t interest most potential customers. The minute details of fiber technology are not broadly attention-grabbing.
But if the tent company starts their marketing message with how it benefits the consumers – their tent takes up much less space in your car, or keeps out much more moisture – that benefit gets prospects interested. They can now picture themselves waking up in a quiet forest after a nighttime rainstorm, snug and dry in their new tent. That’s a tangible benefit.
2. Why should they buy from you?
The second part of the equation is telling prospects why they should buy from your company.
To continue the tent company example, plenty of tent manufacturers use the same fibers. It’s possible that other companies offer similar benefits. So why should a potential customer purchase from you?
This is the time to get the word out there about how you’re above the rest of the crowd. Does your consulting firm offer the hard numbers on your measurable results you get for clients, unlike the vague metrics offered by competitors? Does your tent company offer an iron-clad warranty, or manufacture all tents in a local factory with high quality standards?
Get clear on why you’re the company to go to. Articulating this helps your message and your company stand out from the crowd, and gets your prospects closer to a purchase decision.
How to Craft a Strong Marketing Message
Writing a compelling marketing message starts with cutting through the clutter of the other messages out there.
What does that mean? We all know the marketing space is more crowded these days than ever. Your marketing message needs to break through the noise.
Here are five ways your message can stand out:
1. Say something original.
Remember when the big startup marketing craze was to say your product was “Uber for…”? Don’t foolishly follow those trends or you’ll risk getting lost in the crowd of other imitators.
2. Get to the point.
Attention spans are short in our fast-paced digital age. Keep your message short and concise – it will grab attention better if prospects can grasp the point immediately.
3. Take the customer’s viewpoint.
If you just go on about how your product is superior to your competitors, that’s not enough. Tell your potential customers how the product or service you create will serve them and their needs instead. Your customer should be your guide.
4. Keep it informal.
Resist the tendency to use vague but fancy words or corporate jargon. You want to speak to your customers in the language they use every day.
5. Speak to your target audience.
Your products won’t appeal to every consumer. And that’s fine. But be sure to speak to the needs and desires of your target customer, the people who are most likely to buy what you’re selling. That tent company should be speaking to outdoors enthusiasts, not to bookworms or gourmet chefs.
The most memorable marketing messages speak directly to the customer in their language and to their own needs, without filler or bloat.
How to Use Your Marketing Message
Now that you’ve started to craft a powerful marketing message, let’s look at how to put it into use effectively.
In your marketing strategy.
If you haven’t crafted a marketing strategy yet, this is an important first step to creating one. If you have, this is a great time to review it and ensure it’s reflecting your core marketing message.
In ad campaigns.
Of course, you want to use your marketing message in your marketing campaigns. Take your core message and ensure it’s woven into your digital ad campaigns.
Are your headlines and subtitles reflecting the benefits and differentiators? Can your audience grasp the two points immediately?
In sales messages.
Marketing messages aren’t just for the marketing department. Once your prospects have moved through your sales funnel from a marketing-qualified lead to a sales-qualified lead, your sales team should be articulating your benefit and differentiator as well.
In several target audiences.
Last week, we talked about marketing segmentation as a way to speak to several groups of potential prospects. One marketing message might not fit into each of those market segments. It’s a good idea to tweak your marketing message for each segment to speak more closely to their needs or interests.
In social media posts.
Organic social media content is a nurture campaign, rather than a straightforward sales pitch. But that doesn’t mean you can avoid incorporating your marketing message in posts and your social media voice. They can act as a reinforcement of your message in a more subtle way.
Marketing Messaging is Critical
Your marketing message needs to be focused – on the needs of your prospects, on grabbing their attention, and on creating consistency across your sales and marketing teams.
If you’re struggling to come up with a marketing message or need some expert marketing guidance for your company, Content First Marketing is here to help.
Schedule a free business review here to find out how we help businesses grow. You can use these insights for inspiration, and let us do the marketing for you.
Sources:
https://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/7-components-of-a-brilliant-marketing-message.html
