The Importance of Consistency in Your Marketing Message

What marketing professionals can learn from the game of politics

Ah, politics. The debating, the strategy. It’s all so…orchestrated. One might even say, planned. Candidates have talking points, theme music, their own distinct styles and even nifty slogans designed to motivate the general public to “vote for me!”

Not all that different from business marketing, if you think about it. With the conventions coming closer and as every paid television spot passes, it’s something that we at corecubed are thinking about quite a bit…How are marketing and politics similar?

Although you might not see the connection at first, the parallels are striking.

In a presidential campaign, candidates are constantly looking for their “voice” – that one message that resonates in the hearts of voters, causing them to pull the lever that will send them to the Oval Office. All sorts of slogans can be crafted to get that message across. “Building a stronger America.” “It’s the economy, stupid.” “Yes, America can!” “A chicken in every pot!”

These slogans help to define the candidate and the direction he or she hopes to take the country – much like a business’s marketing message should define the direction that business hopes to take the customer.

In fact, Joel Levy, the author of this article that appears on the Web site of Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, argues that marketing departments have a lot to learn from the way political campaigns are structured.

"In a good campaign, the organizational structure and the use of research…helps drive buy-in for the strategy and consistent messaging across the whole of the organization,” Levy says. “Communications in the corporate world are rarely so efficient, generally because the advertising, PR and sales people are usually in silos.”

So what does this all mean? It means the key is in “consistent messaging” – making sure all of your marketing endeavors communicate the same points to your customer. The flip side of this? Inconsistent messaging – or worse yet, conflicting messaging – which will leave your customers bored or confused, and much less likely to purchase your product or service.

So what is the key to developing a marketing strategy that is consistent? Take a look at the following marketing tips, Presidential Campaign style…

STEP ONE:  Know Your Candidate! Otherwise known as, develop a marketing strategy.

This may sound like the elementary school answer of marketing, but it’s true:  you can’t successfully market a consistent message until you first know what that message is. This requires thought and research into your company’s objectives and capabilities.

“A plan promotes consistency,” writes Karen Morrione in Four Great Reasons to Write a Marketing Plan. “It takes 5-7 impressions to move a prospect to become a client. Each one of those impressions needs to reinforce the others through a clear and consistent message. Consistency is the difference between a revenue stream that just trickles in and a gusher!”

Find out what message you want to get across to your prospective customers. Then talk it over with your business partners, colleagues, friends and family. Is the message enticing? Does it work? Fine tune it till it captures who you are perfectly.

STEP TWO:  The Grassroots Campaign Trail- Communicating the message to your employees so they can spread it for you!

Your employees are on the front lines with the customer. They’ll do more to communicate your message than a radio ad or a Web site ever will. Make sure they understand what the message is and that they’re to emphasize that one, single point – not a whole slew of messages.

Susan St. Maur, in her article 8 Ways to Help Make Your Company’s Marketing Messages More Consistent, argues in favor of putting someone in charge of consistency.

"You need to appoint someone - the right someone - as message consistency champion,” she says. “The consistency champion must be not only someone with the ability to ensure consistency of message across departments, but also someone who has the corporate grunt to make it happen."

STEP THREE:  Be a Candidate of the People! Reach lots of different folks—but keep your message the same.

Most likely you have a lot of different customers who receive advertising in a lot of different ways. Some surf the Web. Others watch television or listen to the radio. Still others prefer magazines and newspapers, while others glance at ads on their mobile devices or on digital displays at the mall.

The message must be the same, but the medium can – and should – vary.

“Diversify the channels through which you tell your story,” says Matt Heinz in his article Using PR as a Direct Response Tool. “If you’re collectively using press releases, contributed articles, blogs (both your own and comments posted on others) print and broadcast outlets, et cetera, you are accelerating the visibility of your message and offer.”

STEP FOUR:  The Organized Campaign Wins! Embracing the importance of your marketing materials.

Marketing materials can come in all shapes and sizes. Examples include pamphlets, Web script, product sheets, brochures, envelopes, letterhead – you get the idea. The messaging on each should be standardized. It might be painful – after all, marketing materials aren’t always cheap – but if the document doesn’t contain the message you want to convey, the best thing you can do is throw it in the trash. Otherwise, it’s almost certain to find its way into circulation (marketing material has a way of doing that). And once it does, it’s certain to confuse your prospective customers.

“Look at your advertising, collateral, communications and environments,” explains Kim Brooks in her article Six Key Components of a Good Brand. “Are you consistent, or does your message waver? Note that the more often you change your message, logo, and branding, the harder it is to apply.”

“One of my clients had a tough time deciding on a message, and kept tinkering,” she warns. “This left the client with outdated collateral, ads, press releases, and Web sites that did not communicate a consistent message.”

The moral of the story? At least in marketing, the consistent candidate wins every time! Keeping your marketing message consistent isn’t rocket science…it can be done. However, keeping your marketing message consistent requires careful planning and close monitoring of your projects as they are implemented. That’s where corecubed can help. From strategy to messaging to design, contact us with any of your marketing communications needs. Visit us online at www.corecubed.com, contact us at 1-800-370-6580, x1 or email us at info@corecubed.com. Strategic, branded and results focused. That is corecubed.

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