CREATE an effective KEY MESSAGE:
because not just any words will do!
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The words you use to describe your business today will attract tomorrow's customers. Are your words compelling? Are they true? Do they set your business, brand or product apart, in your web site content, your marketing and your sales presentations? Do they connect with your future customers and inspire them to contact you? I can help you attract tomorrow's customers, people who want to do business with you -- without focusing so much on price. I can help you sort your words out and make them sing. - Brian Faulkner - |
photo © Brian E. Faulkner
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what is a key message? And why bother?
A Key Message is a compact, well crafted expression of
competitive advantage in support of authentic, well differentiated
brands and products that helps assure consistency in every business communication you
make:
- on your Web site’s Home or About page
- in traditional media marketing
- in blog and social media posts
- on business cards, in brochures & other sales materials
- in video capabilities presentations
- on the sales floor and making sales calls in the field
- in sales and marketing meetings
- in board presentations and investor relations
- in recruiting good people and training them
- in composing your boilerplate
- when making that all important “elevator pitch”.
Your Key Message begins life as an internal strategic brief,
sometimes called a positioning statement. It describes who you are in a single paragraph, who your customers are and why they should
want to do business with you -- based on your thorough under-standing of their needs, your competitors' strengths / weaknesses and market trends. Your Key Message then is adapted into key sales points that prompt conversations with the clients and
customers you want most (in the field or on the sales floor). It also
may be condensed into a tagline that sets your business, brand or service apart
in the marketplace.
photo by © Brian E. Faulkner
Example: Greeting Seattle, a made-up greeting
card and gift store. Note how their tagline (presented below) evolves
from their Key Message – and how exclusive it is to this business.
“Greeting Seattle offers a competitively broad selection of greeting cards and small thoughtful books and gifts, as well as a few seasonal or special occasion flower arrangements, presented in an upscale retail setting that wraps ‘customers who care’ into the selection experience. Greeting Seattle is priced just above ordinary card/gift shops and is staffed by people who have as much fun working here as customers do shopping here. Our customers enjoy their Greeting Seattle experience so much that more than half of them shop with us nearly once a month, on average. New customers are attracted primarily by words of praise from our existing customers and via our time-proven Personal Greeter consultant and Gift Reward referral systems. We acknowledge that our continuing success – and prosperity – depends on the considered contributions of each member of the Greeting Seattle team, and it is on that assurance that we plan our future.”
Greeting Seattle's tagline: The Northwest’s Most Enjoyable Gift and Greeting Card Experience.
“Greeting Seattle offers a competitively broad selection of greeting cards and small thoughtful books and gifts, as well as a few seasonal or special occasion flower arrangements, presented in an upscale retail setting that wraps ‘customers who care’ into the selection experience. Greeting Seattle is priced just above ordinary card/gift shops and is staffed by people who have as much fun working here as customers do shopping here. Our customers enjoy their Greeting Seattle experience so much that more than half of them shop with us nearly once a month, on average. New customers are attracted primarily by words of praise from our existing customers and via our time-proven Personal Greeter consultant and Gift Reward referral systems. We acknowledge that our continuing success – and prosperity – depends on the considered contributions of each member of the Greeting Seattle team, and it is on that assurance that we plan our future.”
Greeting Seattle's tagline: The Northwest’s Most Enjoyable Gift and Greeting Card Experience.
The long-term value of a well-thought-out (and well applied) Key Message cannot be overstated.
- In sales and marketing, a consistent Key Message (or “positioning” presentation) can mean the difference between creating immediate belief in your brand or product attributes ... or not ... between attracting and selling new business or having your presentation fall flat because your story sounded too much like everybody else's story ... because it didn't sing.
- Woven into company culture, your Key Message provides a lifting purpose for your manufacturing, sales and support teams, enlarges people's vision and focuses their work on what needs to be done, leading to increased productivity and greater loyalty.
A KEY MESSAGE SUCCESS STORY:
A recent business-to-business client had a problem describing their competitive advantage with precision, consistency and impact. They wanted their Key Message to grab prospects by their minds -- with a "punch instead of a sigh."
They had strong product lines with dramatic benefits, well defined markets and an effective sales force (although it was surprising how little the company was known after more than 60 years of selling). They also were open to objective advice. After extensive interviews with senior management and their sales reps, Brian Faulkner helped develop a Key Message that positioned them perfectly -- and provided the punch they were looking for. The client was "thrilled ..." |
Is coming up with a well-oiled, productive Key Message easy?
Apparently not. But ideally, every small business owner and corporate business unit leader should have a compelling strategic story to tell about their brand or product line, a story that:
> affirms and extends their competitive advantage
> attracts well qualified prospects who are not so price sensitive
> establishes them as the authority in their business category
> motivates present customers to buy more
> creates team enthusiasm and loyalty
> gives productivity a shot in the arm.
Without a well thought out Key Message to guide your business and inform your marketing and sales messages, the marketplace (or maybe even your competitor) defines who you are. A good example of an ill-defined company is Microsoft, which for all its success, has done an abysmal job describing itself and controlling its image. One would assume that they have an internal strategic brief (Key Message) to lay out their strategic positioning, competitive advantage and look forward. If so, a compelling tagline derived from that document would help Microsoft describe and position their business on their terms.
The tagline examples below connect. They express their brands' Key Message in a condensed form -- and also have more strategic muscle (and less overt cleverness) than one typically might typically expect from a tagline.
Apparently not. But ideally, every small business owner and corporate business unit leader should have a compelling strategic story to tell about their brand or product line, a story that:
> affirms and extends their competitive advantage
> attracts well qualified prospects who are not so price sensitive
> establishes them as the authority in their business category
> motivates present customers to buy more
> creates team enthusiasm and loyalty
> gives productivity a shot in the arm.
Without a well thought out Key Message to guide your business and inform your marketing and sales messages, the marketplace (or maybe even your competitor) defines who you are. A good example of an ill-defined company is Microsoft, which for all its success, has done an abysmal job describing itself and controlling its image. One would assume that they have an internal strategic brief (Key Message) to lay out their strategic positioning, competitive advantage and look forward. If so, a compelling tagline derived from that document would help Microsoft describe and position their business on their terms.
The tagline examples below connect. They express their brands' Key Message in a condensed form -- and also have more strategic muscle (and less overt cleverness) than one typically might typically expect from a tagline.
Bloom & Bates: Extraordinary Financial Guidance to Help Grow Your Small Business.
ControlMate: The World's Leading Motion Control Supplier.
Vaughan Interiors: Residential Design You'll Love to Come Home To.
ControlMate: The World's Leading Motion Control Supplier.
Vaughan Interiors: Residential Design You'll Love to Come Home To.
photo © by Brian E. Faulkner
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"Do I Need a
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Mercedes-Benz does not need a tagline. photo copyright by Brian E. Faulkner
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A Simple way to decide if you need key messaging:
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Step 1:
On a single piece of paper, write the five words or phrases you use most to describe your business, brand or product -- words found in your current marketing materials and advertising, on your Web site, in your sales presentations and even personal conversations (your elevator pitch). |
Step 2:
Then write five words on another piece of paper that you think your best customers would use to describe your business, brand or products to others (better yet, ask your customers). They should not be words that could equally describe your competitors' business, brand or product. |
Step 3:
Compare them. Do the words from Step 1 have strategic punch or not? Can the words in Step 2 be used as Key Message building blocks that clearly separate your offering from that of your compet-itors? Will they help attract the customers you want? And make them less price-driven? |
Making it happen:
There are two ways to create a compelling Key Message that will begin attracting the customers, clients or patients you want:
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1. Do it yourself, using clues gleaned from your lists.
DON'T use the words everybody else uses without elaboration. Words like those at right have been over-used to the point of meaninglessness, so instead of falling back on them, craft a more compelling statement of your Marketable Truth. Tell HOW you make a difference and WHAT IT MEANS to customers -- then pay it off in your marketing: (see Key Message examples at lower right) |
QUALITY
CONVENIENCE VALUE SERVICE PEOPLE PRICE |
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2. Ask me for help. I am good, fast and reasonably priced.
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"The Triangle's choice for three generations of
satisfied car customers." "The Family Piano Store." |
"What an asset Brian is ... thanks for recommending him."
"Very thorough ... does a good job at preparation, delivery and follow up."
- recent Key Message clients -
"Very thorough ... does a good job at preparation, delivery and follow up."
- recent Key Message clients -