NPG On Huff Post This Week: Delivering Your Company’s Message
From this week’s New Power Girls series The Huffington Post, here’s what Meghan and Patricia have to say about creating and delivering your company’s message:
Patricia:
As I mentioned in the Huff Post piece, I’ve had to take out a few fairly new ideas to the market. It always presents a challenge. Now, new ideas not only have to be explained, but done so over a variety of platforms. It’s harder to get it right than ever! The key is to work with someone who is highly skilled in developing corporate messaging and tapping resources like Deirdre Breakenridge’s co-authored book (which we’re giving a way a copy of today!). I’m lucky because Meghan happens to be a genius at company messaging — she worked on Wall Street as a marketing consultant for years and still helps select companies today. Once you’ve got your company messaging set, bounce it off a few select friends and contacts for opinion and feedback before taking it out to the audience. This way, you’ll be sure it’s clear, concise and makes sense before you hit the ground running with it, whether it be online, offline, through traditional media, social media, in the conference room, board room or an event.
Meghan:
I am a little bit obsessed with messaging and happen to think it’s one of the most important things you need to get clear on when you start a company or roll out any kind of product or service. I’m a creative writer and published poet (as well as a former Wall Street marketing consultant) and so my background comes from a deep knowledge of narrative and story. Once you have narrative and story down pat, you can execute whatever marketing plans you need to with a lot more ease. Messaging is what sets the stage, and all other work you do on marketing and even product development should feed into, develop or extend your story and your stage. Messaging combined with knowing your target audience are you two most powerful tools. After you’ve got your core messaging solidified (and please note this can include your mission statement), the single most important thing is consistency. Across EVERY medium, anytime you personally talk to anyone, or your employees communicate with anyone from press to customers, to your social media, ads, pitches, presentations, products, to make sure every person and medium is communication a version of the same messaging or story — what your service/product is, how it was developed/created, your key point(s) of differentiation and your unique approach or tone with which you come to market with. This will clarify for you and your clients/customers what you bring to the table, what you can help them with and will weed out anybody who is not a fit. And, if you have any questions about messaging, please feel free to email me at missmeghan@missmeghan.com.
*Editor note: No matter how hard we try, we can’t get Tumblr’s interface to recognize Meghan’s text should not be in italics. We apologize.
