March 19, 2021
How Effective and Consistent Messaging is Critical in your Business
When it comes to messaging for your business, you need to first, create content that attracts ideal customers or clients. Second, that messaging must clearly offer a solution to their problem. Third, the content must be worded to motivate your audience to take the next step in your buyer’s journey. But are you unintentionally offering a business message that drives people away?
As the most likely first encounter with a potential customer or client, the structure of your business messaging is critical.
If you find you’re consistently attracting initial interest with no follow through, the issues below may be the problem. Finding those problems and fixing them can be critical for your success.
Business messaging must communicate with clarity
Does your messaging clearly state what service or product your offer and what problem (or need) it resolves? In a very wide world of choices today, people want the exact information they’re looking for and solutions fast.
Today we’re bombarded with messaging all the time. As a result, we’ve fallen into the habit of becoming scanners instead of readers.
It’s exhausting to absorb every bit of information, so instead we browse marketing content for the key words and phrases that connect with our need. When those words or phrases do pop up, only then do we slow down and actually start to pay more attention.
You have just seconds or, if you’re lucky, maybe a minute to capture that more concentrated attention. If those key phrases are too hard to find in your business messaging (or not there at all), your audience is going to click out – back to the search page – and you’ve just lost a potential customer or client.
How to fix it: Your headline needs to be powerful, compelling, and clearly communicate the value proposition of your business. Headlines can be creatively crafted or in-your-face directly stated, but that first “message” needs to lock in the reader’s attention and motivate them to keep reading. Once you’ve hooked your audience with a headline, the messaging below that needs to pay off your headline’s promise.
Business messaging needs to align with the buyer’s journey
We’re so close to our businesses, but unfortunately that can make it hair-tearing to write objectively about what you have to offer. You’re thinking: nobody knows my business as well as I do, so why is this so hard??
Here’s why. You’ve put so much work into all the details of creating a product or service that helps your customers or clients. There’s so much that you’re excited to share about it! But you also want sales. You need to establish a connection with your ideal audience but also convince them to buy.
The best way to sabotage that opportunity is to rush your business messaging too quickly from relationship building to selling.
How to fix it: First, understand that there are two types of content business: marketing and sales. Marketing content is about attracting interest to learn more. It’s trust-building messaging that talks about your customer’s pain points, how you can solve them, and why. It’s low on the details and high on the value of your brand, and most effective early in the buyer’s journey.
Conversely, sales content is much more convincing and detailed – why you’re the best provider of that product or service. In how much experience, expertise, staff, resources, etc. you have that makes you the right choice.
When creating business messaging, always consider whether you are at the early stages of building a relationship (marketing) or have an established connection and can take the journey further (sales).
A good rule of thumb: attract with marketing messaging, convert with sales messaging.
Consistency is key to effective business messaging
Marketing your business effectively requires visibility. You may be advertising on Facebook, reaching out to potential buyers through your mailing list, posting on LinkedIn to gain attention, holding events… the list of options is as varied as the time and money you want to invest.
The further you spread your marketing wings, the bigger the challenge is to ensure the message you’re putting out there about your business is consistent. When it lacks consistency, your audience becomes confused. It muddies your brand and erodes trust.
How to fix it: If you aren’t already clear on what your brand represents, take the fundamental step of deciding what that is and how you want to communicate it. Do you want to take a more casual or formal approach to your business messaging? Do you have a tagline that supports your unique selling proposition? Use it everywhere, all the time.
If you want to brand yourself so your messaging “voice” and personality are uniquely recognizable, make sure every marketing message incorporates your vibe. Consistency in your messaging is the key to building credibility and brand trust in your business.
Study your own journey to get your business message right
As a final thought to help you incorporate the messaging practices above, think about your average day and how many marketing messages you encounter. Either by choice or chance. Consider the following:
1) which messages stood out for you
2) why those messages resonated with you
3) if you are on a buyer’s journey with that brand, how far along you are in that journey
Doing this can give you insight into how best to construct the messaging to promote your business, whether it’s a social media ad or the content on your web site home page. Crafting this content is both an art and a science, but it doesn’t have to be difficult or complicated.
Whether you choose to write it yourself or outsource, quality messaging that is clear and consistent will have a big impact on your bottom line.
Do you have questions about how you can succeed in your business and accelerate your journey toward reaching your goals? I invite you to learn more about From Startup to Success coaching packages. Begin with a no-cost 30-minute consultation to discuss where you are with your business and where you want to go.
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