Communicating

Course Purpose

Marketing 2 students will lead all presentation and communication between the Marketing 1 students and the client.

For effective communication, check your messages for the 3 C’s – clear, concise, consistent. These rules apply for any form of communication from advertising, writing, and presentation.

1. Clear and concise communication go hand in hand. Pay attention to the use of filler and buzz words that mean absolutely nothing specific. Resist the urge to over-explain in any format. Over-explaining is not clearly communicating. Instead, encourage feedback and questions to provide clarity. If questions arise from a written communication, be sure to respond to the entire audience either as questions come up or combine all the questions and follow up all at once. This could be done in person or through social media.
2. Consistency is crucial for building trust. The quickest way to lose trust is by not keeping people informed. Frequency is not the same as consistency. Frequency is about the how often you communicate the values and principles of the message.

What is important to understand is these principles apply differently to print, presentation, writing, web, and branding. It will be your responsibility to manage each form of communication with unique appreciation.

Let's look at a simple guide for how to approach communication within the context of business.

People often confuse communications tactics (webpages, social media, print ads) with a strategy. A strategy answers the question, "Why are we doing these things? or What is the goal of these activities?"

Before you move into the specific mediums of communication, you must define the mission and purpose.

Once you understand why you are creating a communication strategy (the mission) then you can figure our how to use it. The how requires just four steps:

1. Understand your audience(s) or their audience
2. Craft the message for that specific audience
3. Select the media you want the message to be read/seen/heard on
4. Select the messenger you want to carry your message

1. Who's the Audience(s)?

The audience(s) means who you are specifically looking to reach with your message. Is the audience everyone on earth? Everyone in San Francisco? Gamers? Product managers? Social influencers?

What's confusing is that often there are multiple audience you want to communicate with. The key here is to recognize when these audiences require vastly unique messages. For example, potential customers and potential investors are completely different audiences requiring completely different messages. These two groups would need its own messages, media, and messengers.

This can easily be understood if you consider our lesson on customer types. A CEO has different needs than the data analyst in when purchasing a computer. How you would go about selling the computer should be very different.

2. Craft the message for the audience(s)

Messages are what you are delivering to the audience(s) you have selected. Messages answer three questions:

1. Why should the audience care?
2. What are you offering?
3. What's the call to action?

Your customers have already told you how to craft the first part of your message. The answer to "Why should your audience care?" comes directly from the pain and gains on the right side of the value proposition canvas.

And the answer to the second question "What are you offering?" comes from the left side of the value proposition canvas. It's not just the product feature list, it is about how the features relieve pains and create gains.

Finally, what do you want the audience to do? The call to action has to be obvious. People will not search it out.

3. Select the media you want the message to be read/seen/heard on

Media means the type of communications media each audience member reads/listens to/watches. It could be print (newspapers/magazine), Internet (website, podcasts, etc.) broadcast (TV, radio, etc.) or social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.). This should not be a guess. Your customer will answer the question for you.

The online media your company controls (your corporate website, company Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) should be the first place you experiment finding your audience(s) and message.

Typically, you pick several media to ensure the message reaches your audience. It is likely that each audience reads different media. You will need a media strategy to ensure the overall concept is manageable. Once you experiment, the plan should include print, internet, broadcast, website, blogs, & magazine.

4. Select the messenger you want to carry your message

Messengers are the well-placed and highly leveraged individuals who have influence over your audience(s). Messengers convey and amplify your message to your audience through the media you have chosen. There are four types of messengers.

1. Reporters are paid by specific media to write about news. Your goal is to find the right reporters for your audience.
2. Experts know your industry in detail, and others rely on them for their opinions. Experts may be industry analysts, famous bloggers, socialites, or consultants in a particular field.
3. Evangelists are unabashed cheerleaders and salespeople for you product and, if you are creating a new market, for your company vision. They carry less credibility than experts but make up for it with their passion for the unlimited potential of your product.
4. Connectors are individuals who seem to know everyone. They are the extraverts who love to be surrounded by people and ideas.

With all this being stated, figuring out the visuals for how to do this is truly an art form beyond the scope of this conversation. We will continue to develop these skills through the year with additional assignments.

Questions

• The hardest thing to do in communication is to understand the message the client needs to hear. How do we help marketing 1 students develop this understanding?
• Examine the importance of understanding the audience in communication?
• How can you create clearer channels of communication for the client?

Sources

• https://medium.com/the-mission/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-marketing-communications-d02fadb721cf