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We learned a lot from talking with you and we hope you felt your time was well spent.
In our discussion we covered 2 main ideas:
- How you feel about the greatness of your company’s strategic messaging and
- Your perceived level of control over the messaging
Let’s face it, very few of us are in the Sweet Spot (we have complete control over how and when it’s used and how wonderful it is)
Most of us are between the Fixer (not much control and not a fabulous Strategic Message) and the Marketing Sleuth (a decent Strategic Message, but not a lot of control over how it’s used). We need to get over the idea that we’ll ever really have complete control and we need to rely on our influencing skills and abilities.
We also need to get our hands dirty and do the work few organizations do well: insure the message is coordinated across the organization (customers, stakeholders, employees, the Sales team) and it is consistent – all the time, every time. As well, are your value propositions and target audience personas current or were they done once, by the guy who used to have the job, when the other girl used to be in charge, when the other agency used to work with you??? Do the work and get it right, then revisit often.
In the end, it’s all about you taking control over your sphere of influence.
Take the Bull by the Horns
Dig Deep(er)
Self Reflect to expand your circle of control and influence
Orchestrate your stakeholders
Team up with Sales
Find help through AMA (mentorship, co-groups, events, journals, and continuous education courses)
Reach us on LinkedIn or here: Shelly Linkerhof
Bonus Tips!
One conundrum that we all come across no matter our title, position in the organization or brilliance of the message is the notion of small or little budgets. But, in our experience, there are 3 things that you can do even with little budget.
Low budget items you can work on as an individual contributor
- Employees as Brand Ambassadors
- Target Audience Personas
- Value Propositions
Using Employees as Brand Ambassadors for Strategic Message
Let’s not underestimate 2 things here – employees are your most important brand ambassadors, and it does take time to embed the strategic messaging throughout the organization BUT Rome wasn’t built in a day, and you have to start somewhere.
In the best of times, your Brand team is also leading your employee comms. And you’ve built communication plans that involve training and development of your staff around the Purpose of the organization and how brands work. But, in absence of that, you can start within your sphere of influence, even small groups or teams and run lunch and learns. What is the message and WHY is the message.
Strategic Messaging by Target Audience Personas
If you are a mid-sized company or a B2B company in the industrial space, we can BET you don’t have near enough work on your target audience personas. It’s hard work and so much has been abdicated to digital tools and platforms. But don’t forget you are a human and you have a brain.
Remember, marketing is about your customer not your product. How can you work with one account manager to truly understand the buying needs and behaviors of one account? Consider how you can use that data to for insights about your strategic message? What about working with the account manager to test the strategic message within that account? When doing BIG is challenging, start small and win influence one account manager at a time.
Strategic Message in Value Propositions
COIVD certainly changed everything, no matter your industry, offer or geography, so no one can say they don’t need at least a re-look at their Value Propositions. And most times, those responsible for the value prop work have gotten lazy – it’s no more than a features and benefits list. The Value Prop is hard work because it’s about value to the client not the product.
Again, you don’t need to be ordained from up high to take a common sense approach to testing relevancy in the market. Sometimes an army of one can be pretty effective just back asking the right questions. You don’t even have to have the answers, but start with the questions: What is the customer buying INTO and why? If we don’t know this, then we probably don’t really have a value proposition.
Those are just 3 areas we’ve found success in when we don’t feel we have the “title” to do the big, big jobs. David and Goliath, with the right tools, size (or title) doesn’t matter. You can still make an impact.
We Care
Lastly, we wanted to leave you with another tip for those of you who are, or feel like, you are a Solo-preneur or Marketing Team of 1.
You Don’t Have To Go It Alone
There are plenty of us out here in the same place or have been in your position before. So, be on the lookout for mentors and coaches. Reach out to colleagues and friends and talk about your insights and frustrations. Don’t forget about AMA and other networks that you belong to.
And on that note, Shelly and I are here for you. One of our connecting fibers is that of our faith. We each have gifts from God and we try really hard every day to make the most of those and share them with others. We want YOU and your organizations to be successful. We’d be happy to work with you to make that happen so don’t let this be the last time we “talk”.
See some of the links below to reach us easily. Have a wonderful week ahead!
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