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What is a message strategy?
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The message strategy is like a foundation for all your marketing. It needs to be strong or your marketing
efforts will fall apart. Your message strategy consists of a positioning statement and three support
points. They address key target market problems by stating a benefit; i.e. why the target market
should care about your product, service or company. A message strategy can be extremely detailed
and is like a recipe for all marketing communication. Follow the recipe and you get a good dish….
Ah story!
Your message strategy makes it easier to deliver the same message across all marketing media including Web sites,
brochures, advertisements and presentations to investors, industry analysts and prospects. Consistent execution
of the same message is a critical factor in successful marketing. Messages that Matter uses a formal,
systematic methodology to help you develop the right message strategy; one that communicates a benefit
and can adapt to all marketing communications - brochures, product descriptions, Web sites, sales
presentations public relations and advertisements.
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The positioning statement
Your positioning statement becomes the central idea or theme for all your marketing activities. A positioning
statement is a short, declarative sentence that states just one benefit, and addresses your target market's
No. 1 problem. It can be a conceptual statement and not necessarily copy. Repeating your message strategy
over and over is the most important factor in successful marketing. Remember you'll get tired of your message
strategy long before your target audience may even listen to it or notice it. Repetition is how you own a
position, and your message strategy should remain unchanged for at least 18 months, and ideally longer, much longer.
Your positioning statement needs to be unique, believable and important or your target market will
ignore you and your product. In other words, they won't get your message. Here are examples of
good positioning statements:
- "Microsoft Windows 3.0 transforms the way you use a PC"
- "Peoplesoft Financial Management Solutions make every employee financially accountable."
- "Microsoft Business Solutions- Navision® Financial Management frees you to focus on your business."
A good positioning statement easily adapts to various media. It should be simply stated and works in every
aspect of your marketing effort. So in summary, a positioning statement is:
- Short sentence-less than 12 words (not counting product name)
- Simple language
- Adaptable to various media
- A compelling statement of one benefit
- A conceptual statement…not necessarily copy
- Supported by 3 additional benefit claims
- Satisfies 4 evaluation criteria (unique, believable, important and useable)
How do you determine whether your claim is unique? Visit your competitors' Web site, read their literature,
and most important, read their advertisements. A simple analysis of an advertisement should unveil
a company's position. After all, if they can't execute it in an advertisement, when can they? |
Support points
Once you've developed a positioning statement, you need to bolster it with three supporting claims.
These benefit statements satisfy the same criteria as the positioning statement itself,
and reinforce the importance, uniqueness and believability of the positioning statement.
You also use support points to unfold your story in more detail. They help explain your positioning statement,
in some cases, answering the question, "How do you do it?"
Supporting points provide a structure for product demonstrations. While the positioning statement
articulates a high-level, abstract benefit, the claims made in the supporting statements should be
readily demonstrable; that is, in just a few steps, you should be able to show how the product
delivers concrete benefits.
Under each supporting statements, you can drill down into as much detail as needed to provide a platform
for product or company communications. Use of an outline format will make it easy for writers and other
communicators to take full advantage of your work. How we help with messaging:
- You'll learn to create a message strategy that is unique, important and believable
- Learn to create a message that works in any medium or situation
- Learn how to test your message strategy
- Understand the role of the positioning statement
- Understand the role of support points
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Let's Get Started
Contact Lawson Abinanti, and learn the critical role your message strategy plays in effective marketing. It's like a recipe for how you communicate.
Follow it and you create great marketing materials.
Lawson can be reached at (425) 688-0104 or Email.
Also, we offer workshops on-site or at training facilities
throughout the West. Sign up today for our free newsletter.
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