Chapter 8 Creating a Meaningful Message
Refer
networks are wonderful tools to help speed up growth and expand the range of influence
an individual or company requires to increase their client base. However,
having successful referrers aid, you reach clients will only go so far. You
will need to supplement the refer network with a strong presence. Your
marketing presence will include several initiatives that you will have to
create and adhere to, and one of those initiatives will be your message.
Just
to understand what we mean by the message:
· Your
corporate message tells everyone who you are, what you are selling and what
makes you stand-out you from your competition. It is the main message you
communicate to your target market, clients that will purchase your product or
service via various methods.
· The
message must be identical in all your methods of communications, and includes
your company name and motto in all your taglines, websites, online pages, and
campaigns as well as verbally in person, on signage, and in other marketing
materials.
As
you can see, a message includes your identity as well as your vision, it is a
mix of icon, words, and pictures and must not only convey the message you want
to send out, it must also create a subjective dependence and urgent desire to
buy your service or product. Examples of successful messages that evolved over
time include:
· Coca-Cola
· Google
· Milk
· Fitness
Centers
Notice
that there are focused messages such as coca cola, which was built over decades
of continuous marketing work supported by a good product as well as sector
messages such as Milk, which is funded by dairies and dairy farms, and
supported by medical and nutritional documents that promote you to buy milk
products. Googles message was very simple; it is a search box in the middle of
a screen, it focuses the surfer on the search engine only. Fitness centers use
various photo incentives of fit men and women and focus their market to
different customers based on budget and fitness levels.
How to create “The Message.”
1. First,
decide what it is you sell and to whom you are selling it. This is the key
to creating a successful message.
2. Create
a Logo and Company name that encompasses your identity. If you are one product
or service supplier then use the product, if you offer a mix, then create a
graphic identity that best covers your area.
3. Choose
your colors; this is important since it defines how you will be viewed by your
market.
4. Create
a motto, a short sentence of no more than five words that describe your vision.
5. Write
a short paragraph describing what, who and why you are, do not discuss or
mention competitors. Focus your descriptive paragraph only on yourself and your
products or services.
You
will need to create variations/options for each stage; this will allow you to
choose which mix of identity factors delivers the best message.
Creating
a message for service providers is similar to manufacturers or retailers of
products, but with one difference. Service sellers concentrate their message on
themselves, while manufacturers and retailers concentrate the message on their
products. This makes the message intrinsically different and more complicated
for service providers.
Why is it easier to create messages for products?
Because
products can be assessed and compared with physical, functional, and cost
attributes. Services are harder to compare since the human factor makes gauging
concepts such as trust, efficiency, quality, speed, and communications much
harder. Creating a message that focuses on the positive attributes without
sounding overconfident, boastful, and pushy is one of the arts that PR
specialists specialize in.
Consider the Politician
Politics
is the ultimate referral network system; it is about selling a person through
the persuasion of others by others. A politician must create a cadre of
supporters that will refer his/her attributes to others, leading to a
continuous (pyramid) referral network that expands as it grows further from the
source. Actually, it is more of a circle than a pyramid, like a circle you see
when throwing a stone into water. A politician must create a motto, just like a
presidential campaign where mottos such as “Make America Great Again” was used
to propel Trump into office. Presidential campaigners use similar colors,
usually around the stars and stripe US Flag. It is not relevant if you
supported the politician or not, it is the success of the outcome that proves
the effectiveness of the campaign. Most successful campaigners create specific
issues and create an unwavering stance on each issue.
Service Providers like Politicians
A
service provider must copy the concepts of a Political campaigner, since his
message is identical in nature to that of the Politician, but delivering a
professional reason to support. While the message building technique is similar,
the referral network is completely different, and that is an issue discussed in
another article. The bottom line of the message is to grasp the minds of the
client, catch their attention and make the potential client WANT to hear and
know more. It is about showing off all the positive attributes, never showing
any weaknesses and promising to provide the best service possible.
Product Sellers must Boast
Unlike
the service provider, a product seller has to exaggerate and boast the
superiority of the product to all other alternatives. The message has to be
graphic, bombastic, colorful, with enough information, sometimes even too much
information to WOW the consumer and to catch the sale. Anything goes in
consumer product messages, and there are plenty of examples that show success
reached through the most abstract of concepts. One such obscured message was
the 1990’s “Colors of Benetton” which showed gory scenes full of color, that
the consumer would then associate vivid colors with Benneton’s clothes. Or Coca
Cola’s 1970’s I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke song, sung by The New Seekers,
and remains a strong song that is immediately remembered by many as well as
associated by all to Coca-Cola.
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