Is It What You Say ... OR ...

How You Say It?

It's both!

Have you ever been frustrated by trying to create an ad or a marketing piece and found yourself spending a lot of time revising, rewriting and redoing before your boss would approve it?

In looking back on that experience do you think the revisions had more to do with what you said or how you said it?

 

First Things First

Most times this problem is a result of not having the "what you want to say" defined well enough and agreed upon - BEFORE you start writing. And since it was unclear at the start - a lot of the time (and maybe money) you spent rewriting really was spent honing in on the message and not the right style or words.

The way to save yourself this aggravation in the future is to start by DEFINING THE MESSAGE UPFRONT, the "what you say" or in marketing lingo - the message strategy statement.

The purpose of this step is to get agreement to the common message that needs to be consistently communicated for a particular product, company, service or brand.

For example what benefits, features and uniqueness do you want to convey?

This the strategic phase.

Creative Things Second

Once the message itself is set, then you get to have some fun. This is where you start creating and/or reviewing the different ads or materials presented to you to determine which one best communicates the intended message.

While tomes have been written on the subject of what types of ad executions are best for different marketing situations the best measuring stick for this step is to put yourself in your customers' or prospects' shoes and see which ad affects you most positively.

(By the way, make sure that all the ads really are "on-strategy" before including them in the pool for further consideration.)

This the tactical phase.

For a real world example see below...

Here's a Real World Example

When I was involved with the introduction of a nail fastener product for wood-to-steel applications for the residential construction market in the mid-90's the message we wanted to communicate (the "what you say") was that it was faster than screws and it held just as well.

This was the unique selling proposition that we created at the start of the new product development process. It was the differentiator we needed to separate ourselves from the competition and give our product a reason for being.

The first campaign showed a photo of a worker using the product in a construction setting. The slogan and ad headline: Works Faster. Holds Better. These four simple words clearly and quickly positioned the product in the market.

About eighteen months later, we changed the ads. We now featured the product shot along with a shadow of a greyhound behind it. The new headline: Holds like a Rottweiler. Runs like a Greyhound.

 

Did the "What You Say" Change?

No, it didn't. We still were spreading the message about speed and holding power.

But the "how we say it" changed - big time.

The language and layout was less obvious. It was cuter, more clever, more fun. It was also no longer an introductory campaign so we had more room to communicate in a different way.

 

How We Work

To the dread of some of my clients I will NOT start working on ads or other creative materials for them until we have agreed on the message in the form of a Message Strategy Statement.

While it takes some upfront time and sometimes less-than-fun thinking sessions, it is a MUST that saves us all time and money. And the resulting ads are more targeted and effective.

If you'd like to learn more about our process for creating great selling materials for clients like you or how we help clients determine the right message to send…give me call. Also, I'd be glad to send you a Message Strategy Worksheet for your very own. Just ask!

Remember, Mosaic creates customers for business-to-business companies through specific project work, on-going retainer assignments or marketing coaching sessions.

Rosemary Walter
847-483-5018
Rose1Walter@MosaicMM.com

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"By Rosemary Walter of Mosaic Marketing Management, Inc. Please visit Rosemary's web site at http://www.MosaicMM.com for additional marketing articles and resources on marketing for business to business companies."