Why Messaging is Critical for Companies At All Stages
Rumor has it that before Apple even settled on the name of its revolutionary product, Jobs directly involved himself in the messaging process and decided on the message: “1,000 songs in your pocket.”
By nailing down the short, easy-to-understand messaging, Jobs and Apple had an easier time deciding how to bolster that message. During the 2001 unveiling, Jobs discussed how much he and people at Apple loved music but noted that existing digital music players were “big and clunky or small and useless,” with user interfaces that were “unbelievably awful.” From there, he highlighted the aspects of a great digital music player, including the ability to store a significant number of songs (say, 1,000) and being small enough to be easily transportable (for example, to fit in your pocket), before pulling the iPod from his front pocket and uttering his celebrated slogan, “The iPod. 1,000 songs in your pocket.” The screen behind him immediately reinforced the message, and within minutes, the message was illuminated on Apple’s homepage.
I don’t know about you, but I understand “1,000 songs in your pocket” much better than I do “a portable MP3 player boasting five gigabytes of storage and the industry’s fastest data transfer rate.” The message was very clear, concise and memorable, which prompted the media members in the audience to leverage Jobs’ message either in headlines or as a key element in their story’s first few paragraphs.
If you launch a product (or take out an ad or send an email or…), your message needs to resonate. There’s not much worse than seeing a cool new product on social media, visiting the company’s website and noticing that the messaging doesn’t pay off what you saw. Your message might make all of the sense in the world to you, but if your target audience doesn’t understand it, the message will fall flat.
When messaging doesn’t resonate, companies run the risk of losing prospective clients or potential customers — which is obviously bad for business. Let’s dive into three reasons why messaging is important for companies at all stages.
To Communicate What You Do and What Your Values Are
Your messaging defines how your company will deliver its value proposition and communicate its business values, which is essential to your company’s identity and what it stands for. Without clear messaging, how can you know what you’re trying to communicate — and to whom?
Consequently, when you’re developing your messaging, remember to start with why. Why do you do what you do? And why should customers/clients care? At the end of the day, your messaging should enable audiences to understand what you do and how you deliver value to them.
To Differentiate Your Company from its Competition
Differentiation allows you to provide superior value to customers/clients and stand out in a crowded marketplace. What sets your company apart? What makes it unique? Why is your company better than others in your space?
Messaging that communicates what your company — and your company alone — can do for customers/clients encourages those audiences to care. By effectively communicating your key differentiators, you can distance yourself from your competitors and get noticed in a way that drives growth.
To Create a Connection to Your Company
Well-crafted messaging can activate emotions and open your audience’s hearts and minds to your message. Audiences tend to react better to messaging that gets to the core of the benefits you will bring to their lives, and when you appeal to the audience’s emotions, they’re more likely to care about the story you’re telling.
If you can’t connect with customers, clients, potential employees, investors, the media, etc. with a simple, compelling message, they won’t be likely to learn more about buying from, working with, investing in or covering your company. Consequently, you need intriguing, emotionally enticing messaging that creates a meaningful connection that attracts your ideal audience.
From startups and scale-ups to well-established organizations and industry titans, your company’s messaging — whether on your website, in social media posts, advertisements, sales pitches or elsewhere — is clearly vital regardless of the stage you’re at. Your messaging shapes you people think about you and empowers people with concrete reasons why they should prefer your organization.
If you don’t have a messaging strategy in place, it’s not too late to start. Whether your business objective is to increase awareness, make more sales, improve profitability, capture a larger share of the market, grow in a scalable manner or something else, the best messaging is clear, concise, coherent, compelling, and aspirational yet accurate. By convincingly communicating what your company does, its values, how your products/services deliver value and why you’re different (and better) than others in a way that creates connection, you’re ultimately driving success.
About the author:
Doyle Albee is the president and CEO of MAPRagency, a presenting sponsor of BizWest’s IQ Awards. MAPR is awarding an IQ Awards winner with a complimentary strategic messaging session.
