After more years developing creative messaging than I care to admit, one day I finally had an epiphany about the right and wrong way to go about message development. Better late than never I guess….
The Importance of Developing a Core Messaging Platform
What I realized is that there is a critically important step that should be addressed before implementing creative content in a marketing or branding campaign. And I am not talking about a creative brief. Development of an organization’s dialect addresses, helps simplify, streamlines and creates consistency across all the different vehicles being implemented as part of the overall strategy.
Tips When Developing a Core Messaging Platform
1- Don’t try to do this by committee. I find that the strongest messaging comes from the work of an intimate group. Keep it small, 3 or less works best.
2- Use it. Once the platform has been established, start using it right away. This and only this constitutes a final approval. Getting comfortable with and used to having “boilerplate content” is an important step. I find that people who don’t publish the content write away, fuss over it way too much and end up changing it again and again (usually not for the better).
3-Take some liberties. This is marketing, this is not a thesis. Of course your core messaging should serve the purpose of educating your audience, but your core messaging should also represent your brand’s tone and work to set it apart from other competitors (yes, you have them…they come in many forms). My point is, don’t forget this is not just a straightforward process about packing the core messaging full of facts; it is about creating a strong position that will serve you well far into the future when your once wide open market becomes completely saturated.
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