Speaking with one voice

Communicating with your current and potential customers is a fundamental part of any business strategy, even if you are a very small business.  Sending out that communication need not be expensive, but to be most effective it does require relevancy and consistency at all times.  Here are a few tips ...

Simple and to the point

The most effective communication takes place with the exchange of concise and relevant information.  But it is always easy to get carried away with extolling the benefits of a product or service and end up trying to communicate far too much, which only serves to confuse.

Much harder is to focus what you want to communicate down to simple ideas that are relevant to the reciever. As one wit once put it, "I'm sorry for the length of this letter but I didn't have time to write a short one!".

Painful though it is, it is well worth investing the time in making sure that what you communicate to the market is simple and to the point. It will generate a much more positive response.

Who am I talking to?

The best way to achieve this is to have absolute clarity over who you are planning to communicate with. Putting yourself 'in their shoes' will allow you to work out which product or service benefits are the most attractive, what method of communication will have the most impact, what style of language has most resonance, and so on.

Another technique is to divide your target customers into groups, using a common factor that drives their purchasing behaviour.  This will help you simplify your communications even further as you can focus solely on highlighting the most compelling benefits for each grouping.

But maintaining consistency across all communications is paramount as some target customers may be classified as members of multiple groups, and some communciation tools (like advertising) can be seen by multiple groups. To send out conflicting messages only confuses the audience that you are trying to attract and defeats the purpose of communicating at all.

Memorable marketing

Thinking and working pragmatically like this will help you to make your marketing work better for you in a more memorable way. This means that your target customers will be able to differentiate your products and services from those of your competitors and clearly see the value in buying from you.

If you would like some advice on memorable marketing techniques for your own business, or you know someone at another business who might need help, then please contact us. The sooner you start, the sooner you will benefit.

Marketing Communication

Download this handy guide which highlights 10 steps that you can take to make sure that your marketing communications are most effective and focused on your business's and your customers' needs.

Written by the Chartered Institute of Marketing as part of their ‘10 Minute’ series, this document makes easy reading for business people of all experience levels.

Marketing Effectiveness Assessment

A free service to small businesses in the Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire area, the Marketing Effectiveness Assessment delivers a professional audit of how a business is using the tools of marketing to communicate to existing and potential customers. It also includes a series of simple and cost-effective marketing activities that the business can implement immediately and at low cost.

Download the factsheet now.

Useful Links ...

Adduce Marketing

Chartered Institute of Marketing

Marketing UK (information portal)