Three Reasons Why Independent Businesses Need Authentic Key Messages To Succeed

Three Reasons Why Independent Businesses Need Authentic Key Messages To Succeed

1. Avoid Direct Competition.

Whether your company operates clothing boutiques, sells insurance and investment products, or makes violins by custom-order, it’s the same. The availability of substitutes or alternatives has grown while communications technology has rendered the world a global village. Because of this, a company not seen as irreplaceable (must-see experts, the leading product, or the highest overall value) increasingly becomes positioned as one of many.

This is how trying harder and doing things that reduce profit margins (e.g. discounting prices, reducing commissions, providing free shipping anywhere) become default ways of competing for business. These can reduce overall profitability and can shorten the life of a company.

With credible, meaningful, authentic key messages, an independent company can claim its turf as must-see experts or the leading product or the highest overall value for its unique value proposition. By doing this effectively, not only can a company avoid direct competition but even grow in service to its niche, serving a broader geographic market than it would serve otherwise, courtesy of the same communications technologies that make intelligently focused niche marketing so important today.


2. Deepen customer loyalty.

A key message concisely communicates identity and purpose, ideally in terms that the target market accepts instantly. Thus, not only can an effective key message (e.g. name, motto, value proposition) gain intuitive acceptance but it can also strike a chord with the values of the market.

Key messages that authentically affirm and harmonize with the market’s values can deepen the sense of personal alignment that loyal clients already feel. This can better ensure their continued purchasing, more business per customer over a given period, and more referrals.

For example, the motto Nothing runs like a Deere from John Deere Corp has transformed some loyal users of John Deere equipment into more dedicated customers. The slogan is so right for some people that it catalyzes their brand loyalty to the point where they do not envision themselves owning any other brand. They talk like it, too. This makes them like an unpaid sales force for John Deere. The rightness of that motto for them encapsulates an overall-positive brand experience into something more.


3. A narrower focus gives a broader reach.

Independent businesses that use authentic key messages to distinguish themselves from competitors and develop greater depth of relationship with their customers often find that narrowing their focus (e.g. from generalists to specialists) is inevitable.

To some, a narrower focus intuitively means limitation and sacrificed opportunity. In some cases, this could be true. On the other hand, independent businesses that narrow their focus often discover that the strengthened status as a specialist brand draws more new business from further afield.

Suppose you go to your family doctor with some health problem. The doctor prescribes treatment and instructs you to return if the condition does not improve in a short time. After a short time, you return with poor results. The doctor then refers you to a specialist.

It’s inconvenient to see the specialist. Yet, you accept this. Care for your ailment has escalated. The specialist assesses your situation and refers you to a more specialized expert in your situation.

Further inconvenience to see the third doctor does not stop you. According to the first two doctors, your medical situation makes it necessary. You view the third doctor as offering the best care and of highest importance in treating your condition.

This principle applies in business situations too. The more a company is perceived as having special expertise, the higher the market values its products and services and the broader its geographic reach.

For the independent business that intelligently uses authentic key messages in its marketing and brand management, competition can be reduced or avoided entirely, customer loyalty increased, and customers willing to pay more could come from farther away. These are three reasons why independent businesses need authentic, compelling key messages to succeed today.


This and the Joe's Hotdogs parable brought to you by
Glenn R Harrington of Articulate Consultants Inc
www.articulate.ca

The Articulate Consultants Overview of Key Messages

“The future of the book is the blurb.” Marshall McLuhan said this in his 1965 book, The Medium Is The Massage. McLuhan foresaw how communications technology would create a global village where succinct, convenient communications would be favoured and bring people together. Now, the right key messages can make those who stand behind them stand out and prosper.

Global village or not, we live in an era when many people encounter much more information communicated to them than people did in any prior era. This is why those who intend to achieve more through their communications must strategically consider what to say, how to say it, who should receive it, and by what media.

A few words matter, particularly in business, where the right few words can differentiate a company from its competitors. Concise, meaningful, authentic key messages are more important now than ever.

what key messages are
Key messages are words that convey the essence of something with a distinct identity and purpose. It could be a company, a team, or other organization; a product line, a project, or discrete bundle of services; or a mission, a philosophy, or set of values. A key message puts a brand into a few well-chosen words.

A key message could be:
• a single-word expression.
• a phrase.
• a single-sentence declaration or exhortation.
• a statement of a few poignant sentences.

Examples:
• name.
• nickname.
• motto.
• slogan.
• mission statement.
• statement of core values.
• vision statement.
• elevator speech.

what key messages do
A key message concisely communicates identity and purpose, ideally in words that the right people accept instantly.

what makes a key message key, or how it is important
Key messages unlock awareness and understanding of identity and purpose, creating clear understanding in a few words. Key messages promote brands to target markets.

what makes a good key message good
In any context, a good key message clearly states the central idea and identifies the benefit it offers. In the context of marketing and managing a brand, a good key message meaningfully identifies the brand and concisely states what it means to the market – ideally positioning it as irreplaceable.

what makes a bad key message bad
A bad key message identifies the brand or central idea in a flatly factual way, lacking a hook. It might state the purpose or intent in a way that lacks any special or unique quality. A bad key message could even repel the people meant to be attracted.

how long key messages last
Just as a slap in the face is always memorable, so a remarkably ill-timed, improper, weak, or otherwise out-of-sync key message leaves a lasting impression – even among those who push it away.

A key message that goes unnoticed because of its irrelevance, blandness, or mediocrity has minimal impact – sometimes despite persistent promotion. When promotion stops, the key message could already be dead.

Just as a sweet melody seems precious to many listeners, so an on-target key message can gain supporters rapidly. A strong enough key message can gain self-appointed promoters who help its spread. (It “goes viral.”) In such cases, a key message can last an era and seem to have a life of its own.

what difference a good key message makes
A good key message has a way of corresponding with the values or mood of the market so that it touches people as intuitively correct and validating or compelling. Whoever stands behind a good key message could be liked by and even find loyalty among those who respond well to it.

For example, consider how “Just do it” helped a sporting-goods company harmonize with its market and increase loyalty and market share. That slogan has had significant equity value to Nike for years.

how to reduce reliance on luck
Sometimes, those who coin a key message that hits the target only succeed after a few lesser successes. Musicians, for example, can perform good music for years before playing a true hit.

Intelligent trial, testing, and monitoring are second-best only to great luck. This is how a company seeking to stand out in its market and succeed can increase its probability of success by working with an expert in marketing who specializes in key messages.

This and the Joe's Hotdogs parable brought to you by
Glenn R Harrington of Articulate Consultants Inc
www.articulate.ca