Market research is a fundamental first step of the messaging process to develop solid value propositions, positioning statements and narrative-based messaging. Yet so many businesses don’t have a centralized messaging framework in place to use as a guideline. If you don’t do your research, how will you resonate with your audience? You must know who you’re selling to, and what to say. Basically, assumptions and guesswork will fail the process—if not the entire business.
Why the messaging process is important
Make messaging consistency a goal, not an after-thought. Especially as it fundamentally ties to the entire messaging process. Every touchpoint, from your website to your sales conversations, should echo the same core message. That way you build trust and clarity with your audience.
This is particularly critical when articulating your value propositions. Inconsistent messaging about what you offer and who you serve creates confusion, dilutes your impact and ultimately undermines your ability to attract and retain customers.
While marketing teams develop and enforce messaging standards, the execution can go awry if everyone isn’t on the same page. This is why during the messaging process it’s important to ensure you understand the pain point(s) your solving, how you’re solving them and most importantly how is it different than what’s in the market.
Missing the mark on your message can be damaging
The concept of messaging and positioning is not a theory—it’s a reality. Most companies have buyer personas that require different positioning statements on how they solve their problems. Therefore it’s not ideal to mimic the value you deliver as a blanket message.
Businesses run their operations based on the value they deliver customers by way of product or services. This makes it all the more necessary to communicate how and why in order to best resonate across buyer personas. This way you are now in a position to inform, influence, educate and drive a call-to-action.
Businesses also rely on marketing and public relations people who can think out of the norm to help develop and distribute compelling narratives. While also enforcing and guiding how, where and when to communicate it both externally and internally. This, however, only can be achieved if teams are willing to follow the guidelines and truly understand the importance of staying on a consistent message. The consequences that come with it if they don’t aren’t fun.
Most interchange the terms value propositions, positioning and messaging—or simply confuse them all together. To help you better understand the differences, I’ve provided a brief overview below for each.bzz
Value Propositions
Value Propositions clearly state how your product or service solves a customer’s problems or improves (or relieves) their situation for the better. It delivers specific benefits and unique points (differentiators) to inform and peak interest in why they should buy from you. Or at least add you to the shortlist during the buyer’s journey. You can learn the steps in developing value propositions in a recent blog post.
Positioning
Positioning reflects as a subset to value propositions, meaning it’s more targeted at communicating specific marketing messages aimed at very specific target audiences. There can be multiple positioning statements for a single value proposition. Various criteria included are buyer personas, products/services (what it is, does, solves, benefits achieved), targeted industries and competitive differentiation, for example.
Personas must be defined to develop true positioning statements because you’re tailoring to their specific needs and situations. It’s important to help them understand why your product or service is best suited over others in the market. And emphasize the benefits that can be acheived, as relative to them, that will make their lives easier.
Messaging
Messaging reflects as a subset of positioning. Meaning it translates positioning statements into key message points that speak directly to your buyer personas in a compelling, informative way to resonate, educate and motivate them to buy from you by transparently sharing how you can help them overcome their challenges or solve their problem. Messaging also helps set the stage of your content strategy—blogs, email marketing, inbound marketing campaigns—and the tailored messages that come with it. From an internal standpoint, messaging can be also created to communicate with employees or prepare for a crisis.
In Summary
When messaging is approached haphazardly, inconsistencies inevitably arise leading to a fragmented brand perception and a diluted message. By prioritizing consistency from the outset, you establish a cohesive framework that ensures all communication efforts reinforce each other. Therefore, creating a clear, compelling and memorable narrative for your audience. This intentional approach streamlines the messaging process, reduces the risk of misinterpretation and ultimately maximizes the impact of your communication.