The Science of Marketing

In his recent blog entry, Is Marketing Your Business?, Chris Garrett makes a good argument that in today’s connected world, companies need to make marketing their business. "Consider how many times we see legal teams, PR departments and company representatives all singing from different hymn sheets" particularly struck a chord with me. So, let me amplify this important aspect of corporate communications.

One of the primary goals of marketing is to develop a framework of messaging — the core ideas, and proof points behind them, that promote a company’s place in the market. A messaging framework serves as an underpinning for all external and internal "touch points", those vehicles through which a company and its key audiences connect — sales presentations, news releases, web content, brochures, and even company update e-mails from the CEO.

Because today’s marketplace is extremely noisy and highly competitive, it is extremely important that all parts of the company — executive team, sales and service, A-, I-, M- and PR, board of directors and every employee — consistently say the right things. Not developing, aligning on and documenting a messaging framework is where companies usually go wrong in consistently saying the right things. The legal teams PR departments and company representatives all sing from different hymn sheets simply because there aren’t any. The result of a good messaging framework is verbal brand that helps establish and reinforce a company’s unique place in the market.

Continued in Communications Part Two:…To the Right People

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