3 Steps to get your messaging right !

Among all the marketing strategies for startups, founders should focus on,one of the most important one is that of Messaging and Communications

In the early stages of a company there is no in-house communications expert nor does the startup have the budgets to engage a good communications & media agency.

Typically the startup would start including allfeatures of their products or services in their communication material flowing into pages and pages of information because of which the key USP and thereby their competitive advantage gets lost.

This article shares 3 steps to get your startup’s messaging and communication crisp and loud and which should be included in your startups marketing plan

Let us first start by following the process in which brochures and other communication are normally created. It starts with listing all the features of the product. Reasonable time is spent on the language in which the features are presented including how each of the features are unique in themselves.Then a designer would put in place all this information into the brochure or the website or email or any other medium of communication. The final output is pages and pages of information about the product.

Writing excellent 5 page poetry of your product to convey all that the product offers would be counter productive as nobody would open it and there would not be even one click through on your website.

So the key is to devise a progressive messaging policy to break all the information we have into 3 parts and start with the first to

1. grab attention, I term it as Teaser 2. get them interested, I term it as Read More and then 3. feed all information, and I term it as Detailed information
The messaging policy for each of the step is different. Let me walk you through these three and explain the usage of each. Let us start with

Teaser messages should be very less, direct and loud.

In this era of information overload getting the attention of people is the toughest part. Now with an overload of information dumped onto every consumer, screaming from billboards, TV, news channels, mobile, desktop, pamphlets etc consumers are only scouring headlines to stop and read deeper only and only if the topic interests them.

So the first step is to grab the consumers attention and for that we just have a few seconds, which means we have to summarise our product within 5 to 12 words.To sum up all the information about the product or its advantage in a few words is the most difficult part. Anyone who gets this part right gets the eyeballs.

Thus it is important to spend a lot of time to brainstorm the right words to be used. What are the words that can be used to explain this. The best way to get to these words is to first list down all words that best explains the benefits to the consumer. Then through a process of elimination pin it to 10-15 words depending on the space available and medium of communication

Temptation would be to squeeze in a few more to fit in more benefits however remember “less is more”.

Let us take an example if your product is a Fuel efficient car Engine. In that case there is only 1 messagethat you need to communicate initially to get the attention of the prospect.

If your outreach to the prospect is over Social Media or email then the messaging should be “Reduce fuel consumption by 20% thus saving fuel cost by $ 5000 per year“

This whole sentence is a precursor to creating the Teaser Message. Depending on the space available the above sentence can be cut down further to meet word restrictions.

Teaser messages would be the single caption on headlines, advertisements, packaging, on brochures, or as website headings. These are meant to grab attention to the wandering eye. This could also be used as Social Media messages, on billboards and as heading on any form of written communication channels.

Sometimes Teaser Messages are unrelated to the product and purely attention grabbers. This strategy is akin to having models in front of cars at an auto expo which is the attention grabbing teaser for that car.

The pros to this strategy is that it is sure toget a lot of visitors. However the cons of this strategy is that a major percentage of visitors would however get disinterested and drop out, thus increasing time and cost of managing the extra database of probable interests that got generated.

Next step is to create a messaging for all those who got interested after viewing our Teaser Messages. Which means they would want to “read more “about the offering. So let us call the next step as “read more Messaging”

At this stage the visitor should be provided with some more information about the product lets say with initial specifications. It should of course highlight its USP and its unique advantage features. The objective is to provide just enough information to continue to maintain the interest of the visitor. Too much information can overshadow the must readinformation provided.

Taking the same example of the automobile engine, our engine may have other advantages over competition viz less heating, low maintenance, lesser moving parts, higher acceleration, better connect to drive chain etc… The focus should continue towards explaining features, and usefulness to the consumer.

Stay away from detailed tech specs and usage instructions as that would be too much information at one go.

If this information is displayed on the website this is where the visitor would click on “read more” or click on the product to be led to get additional information about the product.

If it is on the packaging of a physical product then this is the additional information displayed on the sides of the product. The visual size of information provided as “Read More’ should be at least 50% ~ 75% lesser than that of ‘Teaser’ to ensure the message from ‘Teaser’ stands out.

It is good news when a visitor has consumed all information provided at Teaser and “Read more” messaging and is now seeking for more information which means he is more inclined to buy.

Next is to create a messaging for all those who got interested after reading our Teaser & Read More Messaging.

The visitor would now seek “detailed information “about the offering. So let us call the next step as “detailed information Messaging”

This is the easiest part and has a comprehensive detailing of the product complete with technical specifications, usage, cautionary message, approvals, accreditations et al. Since this document contains a lot of information it should be perfectly indexed and indicative.

If this message is part of a display, virtual or on the shelf, the detailed information should be tucked away deep inside and yet accessible depending on the communications channel. If it is to be displayed in the website this should be 2-3 clicks away after the visitor is fed with the teaser followed by the essential Information. If part of on shelf display the same should be as a manual which should be displayed distinctly different from the Teaser and Brief Information

If the visitor has reached thus far and is looking for more information his interest level to purchase is very high

To sum up what we need to remember is that just as we are focused and passionate about our product and services, the client is taking out time from his daily activities to read our material or attend to our presentation. If he does not see anything that interests him he may not spend time on our message.

Thereby it is very important to focus on these three messaging types distinctly.

Similarly when we are connecting with a potential customer for the first time on WhatsApp, or SMS or Social Media and if the customer shows interest and next time then there has to be a follow on email and the third one is when he is completely interested and now wants a detailed information, so we should split our communication in such smaller parts.

Many sales folks in the first email itself dump them with so much information that the consumer does not open it at all. So it is very important to follow these 3 steps distinctly at all times.

Whenever you think “ How do I grow my business”, remember the phrase ‘speak Less to convey More’

Thank you and all the very best