Effective Messaging and Placement

Welcome back! If you are just tuning in, last week we discussed visionary leadership and how the organization greatly benefits from leaders with vision. This week, we will discuss leadership in message development and strategic placement.  Remember, it is the job of the strategic communication professional to understand and promote the organization in an effective way. In other words, strategic communication creates a clear line of sight between communication activities (message development and placement) and the organizations goals.  As we noted last week, a visionary leader takes the organization on a new, uncharted path into the future. A path filled with great innovation and potential.  Once the vision has been clearly identified and communicated to employees, the organization’s marketing strategy can begin to take shape. With an established message, the communication professional can effectively communicate it to the organization’s targeted audience.

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Of course, communication professionals must first decide on which message to convey to their target audience; one that is crafted from the organization’s values and mission.  Next, the communication professional must think about placement; where, when and how to position the message in order to reach the organization’s target audience.  Once those key factors are complete, the organization is ready for a successful advertising campaign.

Notably, according to Big Buzz, there are six commonly used messaging strategies in advertisement. They include emotional, unique selling proposition, generic, positioning, brand image, or preemptive. As Wendy O’Donovan Phillips, of Big Buzz Inc., advises, “knowing which messaging strategy you want your organization to use is a big first step towards creating a successful ad campaign”.

An emotional message is a powerful advertising tactic that can move consumers to make decisions regarding an organization’s brand. Depending on how well the message is executed will determine how well it is received. Moreover, using an emotional message is an efficient way to capitalize on the target audience’s emotion and allow for the development of an emotional connection from the customer to the organization’s brand.

Additionally, a unique selling proposition highlights what makes the organization stand out from the crowd. This strategy can be a great marketing tool to help position your product and indicate to the targeted audience what exactly makes your product unique. A great example of a unique selling propositions is the slogan for M&M’s, “Melt in your mouth, not in your hand”.  The slogan is captivating and really pinpoints for their audience just what sets them apart from their competitors.

Next, a generic messaging strategy is most used and gives the targeted audience something to think about rather than anything specific to buy.  Further, a positioning strategy is like the unique selling proposition, which also identifies the organization’s brand as the best in their category above other competitors.  Similarly, as with the unique selling proposition, the organization’s positioning strategy must resonate with their target audience. According to AdAge, “positionings such as ‘comfortable jeans for women’ (Lee Jeans) and ‘inexpensive air travel’ (Southwest Airlines) work well to the extent that these concepts strike a responsive chord with target customers”.  

Furthermore, another message strategy is creating an effective brand image for the organization. This strategy creates a psychological connection between the brand and the organization’s targeting audience.  Simply put, the organization’s brand image is how the organization is perceived in the mind of its customers. The organization’s image can develop over time and in the occurrence of a marketing failure, can be re-imaged into a more positive light. Some examples of well-known brand images are Coca-Cola, Walmart, and Nike.  Each of these brands have longevity in their fields and give a perceived image to each targeted audience through consistent marketing.

Last, a preemptive strategy is not widely used even though it’s been proven to be effective for organizations.  These types of messages simply explain to customers the organization’s business processes and procedures. By being preemptive, the organization stands out in front of the competition. This strategy “involves understanding the needs and intent of your customers, then providing messaging that helps to solve those needs” suggests Theresa Boxberger from L7 Advertising.

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In addition to crafting and shaping the organization’s message, it is equally important to distribute the message effectively. However, in order to do so, the communication professional must have good working knowledge of the organization’s targeted audience. Although, regardless of their primary audience, organizations should be advertising on some form of social media.  In fact, a study from the Pew Research Center notes in 2017, “69 percent of U.S. adults use at least one social media platform”.  Through digital advertising, organizations can collect important demographic information regarding their customers. Communication professionals can also closely monitor the campaign and adjust as needed to shape the message to better align with the organization’s vision. An example of digital advertisements is Facebook Ads. Due to the sheer number of users, advertising on Facebook allows the organization to reach more people. Specifically, according to Thrive Hive, “because Facebook is a social media site, you can expect more engagement from properly designed ads”. However, according to an article summarizing a 2017 consumer advertising survey written by Kristen Herhold, traditional mediums such as television and print still rank among the top “most influential medium for advertising”.  Herhold goes on to say that the research shows television advertisements were trust above any other medium as well. Noting that the audience base was more easily influenced since they were better informed regarding the specific product for offer over other medium advertisements. In addition, guerrilla marketing is another low-cost and effective way to advertise to a wide audience. Examples of such include Facebook Live, pop-up stores, and print collateral. Each marketing tactic engages customers and creates authenticity through customer experience. What is the point of having a great product and a wonderful message, if you cannot effectively communicate it to people?

To summarize, message development and strategic positioning play an important role regarding an organization’s brand. Successful marketing tactics are only as good as their message and placement. Communication professionals need to monitor growing changes among technology, learning to adapt, and find new innovated ways to reach targeted groups. As Andreas Rivera says, “advertisers need to keep looking forward as the internet changes and new technology develops; it will take creativity from advertisers to monetize new platforms”.

Thanks for reading! Be on the lookout for next week’s post regarding leadership in media strategy, crisis, and change. Please feel free to share my blog through engagement on your own social media platform. As always, you can find my blog by clicking on the link below or by copying and paste the URL in your address bar: communicate2lead.blogspot.com

"The art of communication is the language of leadership" - James Humes