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MenuHow can we create consistent brand positioning and messaging for multiple target audiences?
We have innovative product that has unique features compared to conventional products. The product is great for totally 2 different target audiences. For this reason, we created 2 separate websites with consistent visual branding to serve these 2 audiences. However, we have problem to find consistent brand positioning and message because the targets are different. Our main problem is with the message.
Answers
You have to create a different message for different markets.
Let's think about Sears marketing for a moment....
For the ladies - See the softer side of Sears
For the men - lifetime warranty for Craftsmen Tools.
Many companies can market to multiple areas. The one main difference is they are creating selling points, slogans and strategies for each market.
There isn't a "One Size Fits All" option when marketing to different target audiences.
I'd love to help you.
Give me a call and to set up different messages and marketing strategies for your two target audiences.
Create an overall brand position that speaks to the unique benefits of the brand and its products, an overarching position that could work for most audiences. The key is to tailor the brand message to the individual audiences as appropriate, emphasizing the benefits that are most relevant to each audience.
The messages for each audience should support or at least fit under the overall brand position. A Marketing Specialist with brand positioning expertise should be able to help you with this. It is very possible to do successfully however the most common issues are trying to define the overarching brand position so generally that it is trite or meaningless and attempting to craft your messages in a manner in which the way they relate to one another and how they demonstrate support of the overarching brand position. The trick is to create a hierarchy of benefits and messages that work at an overall brand level but also with individual audiences.
Hello,
in my experience, the first thing to do it's analyze your market, then your audience and the possible ''many different shades'' of your audience.
Then target them with something specific that can breach their interest. ...but I'll need more details to give a precise advice or applicable strategy.
Hi,
You have few awesome answers already but I will try to chip in from a different perspective.
Before you go any further with your message and marketing , you need to find answers to the following questions:
What is your business model?
Who are your customers ( demographics ) and Who is/are your perfect clients/customers?
What is the purpose of your product/s?
What issues are you solving with your product/s?
How do I benefit from buying your product?
One off buying or repeat business?
What is the story behind the product?
Once you answer these questions fully and honestly, you can go to the next step as the message will be clearly visible to you.
<imagine..scenario> < problem> <I have a solution> < Hook>
E.G - Message - Imagine a day without pain!
Foot pain that won't go away? Imagine a day without frustration and pain! Our new and innovative solution will make your problems vanish. For only $19.95...
Sounds good?
For consistent brand positioning keep the following points in mind:
1. The Brand Platform: Brands need a consistent, universal identity that is the same regardless of whom you communicate with. For this reason, brand positioning starts with defining precisely what the brand stands for. This is called the brand platform. The brand platform may include a variety of descriptive elements to paint a clear picture of what a brand represents. Some brand platform models are overly complex, with ten or more inputs. Others are simpler and more streamlined. The brand platform begins with the organization’s mission statement, since the ultimate purpose of a brand is to help the organization achieve its mission. It also incorporates the value proposition for whatever the brand promotes. Remember that brands may operate at the company level (needing a company-level value proposition) or at the product or service level (needing an offering-specific value proposition). In addition to the mission statement and value proposition, the basic elements of any brand platform are a brand promise, core values, a brand voice or personality, and a brand-positioning statement.
2. The Brand Promise: The brand promise is, in effect, the singular experience your brand promises to provide to your customers. It expresses what you want them to feel when they interact with your products and services. Year in, year out, the brand promise is what your customers count on and, ideally, it is the reason they keep coming back to you. The brand promise should be unique and linked to your competitive advantage: something other brands do not and cannot deliver in the way you do. It describes the most salient benefits your brand provides, including benefits that create an emotional connection with customers. The brand promise is important not only for customers, but also for employees and other internal audiences. It sets the tone for how the company operates and for the experience the brand provides to customers across all segments and all points of contact. Finally, the brand promise should be simple and easily understood, so it is easy to communicate and reinforce. Some marketers equate the marketing tagline, or advertising slogan, with the brand promise. While there are some exceptions, most brand-promise statements do not use the same marketing language that is used in ad slogans. For instance, Nike’s “Just Do It” slogan works very well as part of an ad campaign, but it is not very illuminating as a brand promise. Similarly, fast-food chain Taco Bell never intended its catchy “Make a Run for the Border” tagline to be interpreted as a brand promise. Also, taglines, which are part of marketing communications, may need to be updated more frequently than the brand promise. In contrast, the brand promise should be the global, enduring commitment you stand for over time.
3. Core (Brand) Values: Core values are guiding principles for how an organization does business. These values express a perspective on the world, and they govern both internal conduct and external behaviour. While the brand promise explains what consistent experience a brand will deliver, the core values describe how the company will behave as it delivers that experience. An excellent example of core values infusing a strong brand comes from online retailer Zappos. The company’s ten “Family Core Values,” listed below, are written for current and prospective employees and describe Zappos’ operating principles. At the same time, these values also set the tone for what customers can expect from Zappos and how they interact with the Zappos brand.
4. Brand Voice and Personality: Just like people, strong brands have an outlook, tone, and personality that help reinforce the consistency of what and how brand gets communicated to customers, employees, and other stakeholders. The brand voice and personality are rooted in the brand promise and values, but they help flesh out the brand’s distinctive image and presence. A useful template for defining brand voice and personality is the “is/is never” template. Using this template, marketers define the voice and personality attributes of the brand, almost as if it were a person. For example:
a) Brand X is strong, authentic, independent, resourceful, and classic.
b) Brand X is never frivolous, trendy, or fake.
A well-defined brand voice is a window into the personality of the brand. Together, the brand voice and personality set the linguistic tone for all brand-related communications and promotions. They also guide the choice of visual design, logo, and the look and feel of the brand, ensuring that the overall visual representation is a good match for what the organization wants the brand to convey.
5. Brand-Positioning Statement: Brand positioning follows the same process for product and service positioning outlined in the positioning module: understanding market and competitive dynamics, confirming competitive advantages, defining the market niche and positioning strategy, and delivering on that strategy. Fortunately, the brand promise should provide strong guidance around the competitive advantages and market niche that should be represented in the positioning statement. Note that the target audience for the brand-positioning statement should include all the audiences for the brand, not just the specific, narrowly defined target segment you would expect in a product- or service-positioning statement. The brand needs to be relevant to every conceivable audience you are trying to reach (which may include multiple target segments). For that reason, the brand-positioning statement needs to be written in such a way that it has a broad enough appeal to speak to that “larger” audience. As with a product- or service-positioning statement, the brand-positioning statement becomes a guiding document for decisions about the key messages the organization should communicate about the brand, as well as other marketing activities.
To execute a successful brand messaging strategy, you will need to pull all the above together to create the messages themselves. You will also need to create brand messaging guidelines. It will help you maintain a consistent voice across all channels, including your website and in marketing materials a fundamental ingredient in creating a brand that customers can connect with, and want to stay loyal to.
Your brand messaging guidelines should include:
a. Your brand’s USP
b. A detailed description of your target audience (or audiences)
c. What your company stands for and its goals
d. Any slogans or taglines
e. Any other messaging that might be used
f. Your brand stories
g. The tone of voice that should be used when writing messages for the brand, including examples of it in use – i.e. snippets of web copy and sample social media posts
h. Any words or phrases you do not want used in brand messages
i. When these messages or tone of voice should be used i.e. do you expect staff to adopt a particular tone of voice in emails? Or is it only something they need to worry about when creating content that will be shared publicly?
Once you have created these guidelines, they should be distributed to every member of your team, as well as to any agencies or freelancers you work with, and incorporated appropriately.
Besides if you do have any questions give me a call: https://clarity.fm/joy-brotonath
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