What’s your story?
Posted on | September 16, 2009 | 2 Comments
Article first published in Fresh business Thinking on 10th September.
Marketing materials within business have a tendency to develop tactically over time. To support their activity, businesses develop brochures, leaflets, postcards and other printed material. Online it is a given that most businesses now have a website. Press Releases and articles are used to build business visibility and Social Media such as Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter are also being used by more and more businesses.
Often the responsibility for these different outputs is in different places and the business treats them as if they were separate entities, developed in isolation, often without coordination of message, of tone and of image.
The audience, however, is not fragmented. The same people will read the different messages coming through these uncoordinated channels. The result is that brand gets muddied and confused. Customers don’t buy if they don’t understand what the business is about. They ask, just what IS the story?
Despite all the many options for communicating with your audience, content is still a, maybe the, critical factor. It needs to be consistent, effective and it must contribute to building the right image. That image must also be one that will be sustained by the actions and behaviours of the business. Clearly, the potential for confusion is greater in larger businesses, but the problem exists even in the smallest. Even a single person business can manage to deliver mixed messages and, in my experience, many do.
Communication can be instantaneous and its reach is almost unlimited. Your message can be broadcast across the world in seconds. So it is worth investing time into putting some basics in place.
My first interest in developing content is to understand the audience(s) we will be talking to. Particularly, I want to establish -
What interests them and what do they know already?
This will determine the story we tell and the level at which we begin to tell the story. If we sell eggs, we can assume that people know that eggs are edible but do they already understand the benefits or do we need to remind them? Do they already have concerns about health benefits or about food safety? Do they need assurances and education in aspects of the benefits? This is where research pays dividends. It can be formal Market Research or it can be as informal talking to our customers on sales calls or listening in where they talk – online as well as face to face.
How do they talk?
Getting the tone of our communication right for the audience is important. The way in which we create the message for Guardian readers will differ from those who read Hello magazine or the Sun. It will also depend on our product or service – serious or frivolous, funeral services or sunshine holidays. The tone can vary from piece to piece and between channels but can seldom embrace opposites successfully.
What do we want them to know?
You may have a single message that you want to get across but it is more likely that there are several. It will help your clarity and that of the reader if you can express these messages as a story or several stories. Your readers will want to identify with a story, so the stories should be aimed to resonate with them. They should be consistent with what you can deliver and it is often best to under promise and over deliver. Whilst your story can be aspirational it is best not to let it stray into the realms of fantasy. Your customers do talk and they use the Social Media, too. Bad word of mouth travels fast and far, too.
What do we want them to DO
Every piece of communication should have a purpose and that purpose is best served by signposting it within the communication. Depending on the piece, the action you want may be to prompt the reader to
What is possible will depend on the stage you have reached with the reader. Initial communication is about engaging and informing. At a subsequent stage, you may feel able to directly sell to them. Getting this wrong can turn your prospect off. It is always jarring to read a piece of informative writing with a hard sell paragraph at the end. If what you are doing is informing, don’t sell but don’t make it difficult for the reader to find out how to buy if they want to. Make sure it is always clear how to do business with you.
When you know what you want to say and to whom, you can select the best ways to deliver those messages. Most messages can be delivered across multiple channels. The more the reader chooses to interact with your content, the more you are creating permission to develop your conversation. So mix and match the delivery methods but ensure that the story and the tone are delivered consistently.
Some additional factors to consider -
People have different preferences for receiving information with the main preferences being visual, auditory and kinaesthetic (feelings). Delivering content through podcasts, videos and physical pieces of collateral and allowing the customer to choose will allow customers to exercise their preferences.
Choice in delivery method is also important. Do you deliver in print or online? Producing collateral in both forms and letting the customer choose is more likely to be to the customer’s liking. Making everything an online delivery may save cost but reduce income potential, too.
Some people want short communication (just the facts) whilst others will prefer a longer piece. If your short piece gives access to a longer version of the same story, again the customer chooses. This is one of the ways in which Twitter works best with 140 characters giving the essence of the story and linked content continuing it. Twitter can also create an interest by developing a series of messages that will ask the customer to buy in before a payoff is delivered.
Your collateral and content will define who you are in the eyes of your customers and potential customers. Do you want them to hear a confusing mixture of messages, styles and tone?
Or compelling stories, consistently delivered?
The choice is yours. Make it well.
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Andy Coote is a professional writer and publisher and co-author of A Friend in Every City (2006), a book about Social Networking and Business. As a commentator on leadership and networking, Andy provides content strategy, writing support and services for a number of Business Leaders. You can reach him at andy [at] bizwords [dot] co [dot] uk or view his website at www.bizwords.co.uk.
Tags: audience > Content Strategy > marketing > message
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