Investing time and resource on messaging will pay off in the long run. The benefits of investing in messaging far outweigh the cost of creating content without a strong foundation. From sales through to public relations and social media, messaging is the cornerstone of communications and owning space in a prospect’s mind.
Your messaging communicates to your customer who you are and what they can expect you to deliver. It makes it easy for potential customers to understand and believe in your business and that pays off in sales and brand recognition.
We see five core benefits in investing time and resource in messaging for B2B brands:
1. Consistency
Four simple ideas repeated consistently will do a lot more for creating understanding than a 45 minute explanation. The more complex the technology or the concept the greater the need for simple and consistent messaging.
All of your messages should be laced into every piece of content and communications both internally and externally. When your messages all point towards the same idea each time, the brand is brought into focus for the audience and gives them something to believe.
Consistent messaging delivered across channels drives understanding and reinforces even what the most complex company stands for.
2. Speed
Consistent and clear messaging increases the speed that content and communications can be created. If a brand has core messaging locked in, it is easier to develop advertising copy, advertorials and a whole range of content. When the foundation is solid, you can create content quickly and efficiently without reinventing the story each time.
Strong messaging accelerates content creation and makes it easy to deliver purposeful content overtime.
3. Engagement
Clear and well-defined messaging enables audiences to understand who you are and what you stand for. When people understand what you’re about it is easier to engage with you and eventually work together. If you are hearing multiple stories and messages from the same company, it is difficult to believe and trust it to deliver.
Strong messaging answers questions that prospects might have about the business and enables them to get a clear picture of what the business might do for them.
Messaging drives engagement and builds trust with prospects, customers and internal audiences.
4. Word of Mouth
Word of mouth is still a powerful tool in B2B marketing and with a core set of messaging you can give your audience the words and concepts to describe them. Simple and easy to remember messages give people the words and phrases to describe your business.
By delivering a clear set of messages, you are helping people to discuss and describe your business. You give them a description that they can share via word of mouth. Otherwise, they may not know how to explain your business quickly and recommend you.
Messaging drives conversations and helps people to easily share and recommend your work.
5. Control
Without defining your messaging, you allow other people to decide what you stand for. Messaging allows you to control how people explain your business and proactively shapes what they believe about your brand.
Misconceptions can grow if you don’t deliver messages in the market and global telecoms operator can be relegated to being “just a VoIP” provider or a SaaS provider described as “a basic reseller”. Messaging matters because it directly shapes what people think about your business and ensures that your value isn’t underplayed.
Proactively delivering messaging means that you can control the story and define who you are before someone else does.
Tech and telecoms brands are increasingly asking us to help them to define and develop their messaging. We use a process-driven approach to messaging with an outsider’s view on the most valuable elements of our client’s businesses.
We mine for unique stories and create a set of messages that differentiate tech and telecoms brands.
If you’d like to learn about our approach to messaging and discuss some messaging case studies, please get in touch.
matthew (AT) ilexcontent.com.