MarketSense

Product Messaging Techniques - Know your Audience

The fundamental principle behind good product messaging is having a very good understanding of the audience you are talking to. I find that when I have trouble messaging a product it is because I don't really understand the audience well enough.

Here are the top 4 reasons why you need to have a good understanding of your audience before you start working on your product messaging.

1. There is no such thing as a generic audience.



Therefore, there should be no such thing as generic messaging. By generic messaging I mean messaging that is equally applicable for all audiences. Generic messaging just can't connect effectively with the people you are trying to reach and convince.

2. Each audience has its own language.



To connect with your audience you need to speak their language. This means that you need not to speak your own company's language. This isn't easy. We are steeped in our own company's jargon and way of speaking. It is difficult to change languages. Good messaging incorporates the words and phrases your audience uses which creates a basis for common understanding.

3. Each audience has its own motivations.



Different audiences have different motivations. If your messaging isn't addressing those audience motivations that stimulate action, your messaging isn't doing its job. Good messaging shows how your product meets your audience's most pressing needs.

4. Each audience has its own set of critical information needs.



There may be messaging overlap among different audiences. However, if your messaging isn't meeting the essential information needs of the audience, you won't persuade the audience to move forwards in their buying process.

The next thing you need to consider is the role played by the audience you wish to speak to. Different roles require completely distinct messaging approaches and needs.

• Buyers

The buyer is the one who controls the buying process and ultimately makes the decision.

• Influencers

The influencer is someone who helps guide the product decision in a particular direction. Influencer's goals can often be at odds with the buyer's.

• Users

The user may or may not be involved in the decision-making process. Their need may initiate a product search by the buyer. Their adoption of the product may affect future purchases.

I like to use personas (buyer, influencer, user) as the mechanism for encapsulating audience knowledge. They help me focus on the audience attributes that are most important for my messaging. Personas enable me to put an individual face on my audience. They make it so much easier to devise those messages that will compel the audience to act.

How Buyers Find You

In the marketing of my youth, the traditional marketing goal was brand awareness. Building a brand identity and promoting it everywhere a potential buyer might be were the law. Television. Magazines and Newspapers. Bill boards. Mailers. Placement on store shelves. Marketers worked hard to create that optimal number of impressions that brought brand recognition and consideration.

Herald the arrival of the Internet and the advances in Internet search. In a 2007 Digital Consumer Behavior Study by Avenue A | Razorfish,

• A whopping 54% of connected consumers would use a general search engine to begin their search for a product to "see what comes up".
• Another 15% would visit a specific eCommerce site that specializes in the type of product and search there.

Talk about leveling the playing field.

This is not to say that brand identity and awareness play no role in today's buyer's processes. But the sheer volume of money thrown at search list placement would argue that simply being found is perhaps more critical. The importance of being remembered (branding) versus being found (placement) is changing.

Given the growing use of Internet search in being found, the interesting question for marketers becomes what terms do buyers use as they begin their buying process. Marketers need to make sure that their company and products place well in buyer searches.

The challenge is that at the earliest stage of the buying process - awareness of a need - many buyers aren't going to start by searching for your brand name. When buyers first become aware of a need, desire or problem, they often don't have the fine-tuned vocabulary of the marketer who is trying to create blue ocean space for their product.

Instead, early stage buyers search for things like "big screen tv", "birthday cards", and "learn french". Being the leader in "LCD tvs", "on-line greeting cards", or "language learning software" won't help them find you when your products don't appear on their search results list.

It is important to note, that as the buyer works his/her way through their buying process, the terms he/she uses in their searches become more specific. So, don't breathe a sigh of relief just yet. If that big screen tv buyer decides that they really want a plasma tv, you are not going to be considered if you sell LCD tvs.

Rule #1: You must place well in the category searches to avoid being eliminated from buyer consideration at the earliest stage of the buying process.

Rule #2: You must continue to place well in specialty searches to remain in consideration during the rest of the stages in the buying process.

Avinash Kaushik provides an interesting discussion on this issue of being found in his posts on The Long Tail.

Avinash suggests that marketers use SEO for the short head and ad word buys for the long tail search terms.

But before you start buying, you must understand your buyer (think buyer persona) and methodically go through the buying process stages to identify relevant search terms.

A Product Marketer’s New Year’s Resolutions

As the new year turns, you have probably already considered your personal resolutions for the year. Exercise more. Eat healthier. Take more vacation. But how about making some professional resolutions?

2009 promises to be a challenging environment for product marketers and our businesses. What resolutions can we make that will help us survive the year? Here are my top three recommendations for 2009.

1. Get to know your audience(s) better. If you haven’t done it in the past 6 months, go back and update your audience profiles. Speak to individuals that fit those profiles. Open up the lines of communications to existing customers. Take an interest in what they are interested in. Your customers and your target audience(s) are your lifeline to success.
2. Determine how to use what you already have to greater effect. Many of us have been blessed with a rich set of marketing deliverables created with the healthy marketing budgets of the past few years. Take stock of what you have. Restructure, repurpose, and reorient existing content so that it moves your target audience(s) through the sales cycle.
3. Invest in your own skills. As we keep our heads down at work, a world of new ideas and techniques can pass us by. Take the opportunity to bring your skills up-to-date, expand your knowledge, and stimulate your creativity. Enroll in a marketing class. Read a few marketing books. Start a marketing discussion group. Find a marketing mentor.

Have some new year's professional resolutions of your own? I would love to hear them.