So far, we have discussed how you can define your brand and how to define your target audience. Now, on the next part of your branding journey, you are going to need a consistent marketing communication strategy that your customers can recognize you by. Let’s start by taking a step back and understand what marketing communication is first.
What is Marketing Communication?
Marketing communication is a fundamental yet complex component of your business’ marketing program. To simply put it, this form of communication involves the messages and media that you use to communicate with the market.
Marketing communication includes aspects such as advertisements, direct marketing, packaging, online presence, branding efforts, show appearances, printed materials and more. There’s plenty of examples to go around, but you should remember that any media that you use to communicate with the public about your brand is a form of marketing communication. To form your marketing communication strategy, you can start by developing marketing communication objectives.
Defining Your Marketing Communication Objectives
The best way to define your marketing communication objectives would be by using SMART Goals, which we will discuss further in a later article. However, generally, your marketing communication should have these two objectives.
Of course, there can be more objectives such as customer retention & referral, but for branding purchases, it will be good to have demand generation and shortening the sales cycle as your primary marketing communication objectives.
Demand Generation
The first and foremost marketing communication objective you need should be geared towards creating demand for your products and services. Any messages that you send out for your brand and products should aim to create a better preference for your products. You see, marketing communication should be a long-term effort, and increasing preference for what you provide is definitely one that you can work on. Additionally, by establishing the preference for your products, you are building a brand that will impact future market shares, profitability & better talent recruitment.
Simplifying the Sales Cycle
You might not need to think much when you are purchasing a loaf of bread from the bakery, but where higher stakes are involved – purchasing a phone, a laptop or even a house, the sales cycle can be very long. The more valuable your product is, the higher the need for customer education before they decide to purchase from you. From the point of product creation to its packaging and delivering, your marketing communication needs to be providing all the relevant information they need throughout the entire purchasing process.
In short, you can say that your objectives for marketing communication is to generate product/service demand and to simplify the sales cycle along the way – as an example. Feel free to develop your own!
How to Deliver Effective Messages In Your Marketing Campaigns
With the above objectives in mind, you now know that your marketing campaigns will require a good communication strategy to make your marketing efforts as effective as possible. Here are a few methods that you can adapt to have a high-value marketing message.
Focus on Solutions
It may be tempting to let your clients know what your company is all about, but your marketing statements should be focused on what your customers can get. Ensure that your marketing messages are focused on the benefits and values that your products and services can provide to your customers. As an example, a newly-established car brand can include terms such as ‘fuel-efficient’, ‘durable’, and ‘low-maintenance’ in their marketing communication messages.
Connect with your Targeted Customers
Customers want to feel like individuals, persons that you are happy to connect with – not just another sales figure in your monthly sales report. Try to provide your customers a sense of belonging and connection to your marketing messages. As an example, you can promise your target market that they can count on you for efficient advertising solutions delivered with care & in-depth analysis for any businesses.
Use Provocative Headlines & Subtitles with Crystal-Clear Message
Most effective headlines are what we would consider as irresistible. You’ll want to have a title in your marketing communication so that your customers have an idea of what they will be finding out. Then, to pull them in further, do a simple elaboration with a subtitle. A good example of a catchy headline might be something like, “7 Marketing Tricks Agencies Are Not Telling You”. As for the message itself, focus on purchasing intent for the media that you are using so that customers know that they are supposed to purchase from you after seeing your marketing message.
Utilize Marketing Hooks
You probably might know marketing hook as a Call-to-Action or a CTA. Let your customers know what they can get from connecting with you. This feature is very actively used in recent marketing efforts. As an example, you might see a new food delivery company send out a message such as “Order from us today for a 10% discount on your order!”. You might notice that a lot of marketing efforts throw in a reward to the customers in their marketing hooks. The reason, we believe, is obvious. You have to hook them in with the customer-focused benefits!
What then, about the medium that you choose to deliver your marketing messages with?
Sharpen Your Brand Looks with Creative Marketing Collaterals
Ben Matthews, Adobe Spark’s director of design said this about the visual identity of a brand. “Your brand’s visual identity is its style; If brands are people, then visual identity is the walk, the talk, the clothes, the hair”. We agree with it!
Your marketing material can be considered as some of the tools that you can use to shine your brand’s persona throughout your buyers’ journey. Some examples of marketing collaterals are your brochures, website, direct mail & any others that you use to share your marketing messages.
The best way to capture attention with your marketing collaterals? You need to keep in mind that creativity is still essential even when your marketing material are loaded with information to guide your consumers through their purchasing journey.
Don’t be afraid to try out a new concept while you’re working on developing these products! Just keep in mind that you should still have something consistent across your designs so that your style can be associated with your brand – which is the entire point of branding. When in doubt, A/B test for a campaign and analyze the results before you decide further!
We hope that you have gained some valuable information that can help you with building yourself a good marketing communication strategy. We will be reviewing another topic tomorrow to help you develop a good marketing objective – SMART Goals. Be sure to check back often to see what else we have in store for you!
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