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September 4, 2007
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Wow, do we overcomplicate business communications!
I learned long ago that it can be boiled down to three key questions: What do we have that no one else has? Who would be interested in it? What are the best ways of getting to them? You can challenge me on oversimplifying but that is the basic framework for branding and marketing. What makes us unique? Who is are target audience? What channels should make up our marketing mix?
I know it gets much more complicated when you drill into each. There is no longer a single point of differentiation now it is a bundle of things that work in concert with each other to make a company, product or service truly different (so the brand becomes an experience competing on emotional not just functional attributes). Also now target audiences are no longer significant homogenous groups (remember suburban families with 2.4 children?) but rather a myriad of micro segments each with increasingly harder to find shared attitudes, beliefs, and values. And channels and how they play off each other are proliferating and are harder to track for effectiveness - they have become a veritable Rubik's Cube of communications.
Hhhhm so maybe we haven't overcomplicated business communications - maybe it is complicated and that is the fun and challenge - you decide. This blog exists to delve into the trends and best practices in business communications. It is also here to closely follow the business of communications - what is happening in the communications industry. So share with us your latest thinking, ask questions because plenty of experienced people will be joining, and stay with the conversations as they take us different directions in business communications. Lastly enjoy this quote attributed to a chap named Frank Outlaw:
"Watch your thoughts;
They become words.
Watch your words;
They become actions.
Watch your actions;
They become habits.
Watch your habits;
They become character.
Watch your character;
It becomes your destiny."
Let the biz blog begin . . .
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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on September 4, 2007 1:21 PM.
The next post in this blog is Consistency Redefined.
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Comments (5)
Digital District GmbH
Nice new branding.
I am curious about this blog-thing at DDB!
So let it begin...
Aleks
Posted by Digital District GmbH | September 5, 2007 2:45 PM
Lorena Noriega
I agree with the idea that Business Communications are complicated and the challenge is to simplify them but not avoid their complexity. It is about clarity and consistency. As you mention in the first blog, theoretically this is easy but then we realize the brand is a conglomerate of elements that need to be expressed differently to diverse audiences and through different channels. What you do not mention is that audiences are not static – they change in preferences and tastes. I also wanted to comment on Word of Mouth, it is more powerful than other communications channels and it should be the goal of communication professionals to strive for it so target audiences become advocates and not just users of the brand.
Posted by Lorena Noriega | September 5, 2007 5:13 PM
David Maister
Congratulations on the launch of the blog (and the rebranding.)Attracting and sustaining blog participation is a challenge in itself, and I shall watch with interest how you approach it!
Posted by David Maister | September 11, 2007 7:42 PM
Rachel Cheung
Not all brands have a competitive advantage. In the marketplace today, competition is so abundant that is no longer that easy to gain a competitive advantage. By itself, competitive advantage in marketing term stands for: "what is it that you have in which your competition doesn't?" Nowadays, this is merely impossible to achieve. Branding then is no longer delivering an unique promise, an unique propostion, but rather, it is more about positioning. Consistency then comes into play in supporting your position so that all touchpoints will say, do, act in a way to reinforce this position your "brand" wants to have in the mind of your target audience.
Posted by Rachel Cheung | October 12, 2007 8:29 PM
Susan Plunkett
For some reason reading Rachel's comment reminded me of ad placement and the fact that the best designed ad in the world can fail simply because of other facts not considered. For example, a dairy marketing board had a great ad created in order to encourage drinking of milk. It was a very appealing ad with funky looking bovines and nice features. However, in one large rural region the ad repeatedly followed one on worms in cattle. A nice graphic of those worms was included.
Who wanted to drink milk after seeing the worms?
Posted by Susan Plunkett | November 14, 2007 11:19 PM