How to Develop a Marketing Communications Strategy that Works Marijana Kostelac Ever tried to quickly explain what your product is about, but ended up with a long-winded monologue that made little sense? Have you had a new marketing team member that struggled to translate your idea into a marketing message that resonates? In marketing, there’s so much room for confusion. Instead of showing up for your target customers with confidence and consistency, it’s easy to end up sharing anything that’s related to your industry. This can make you sound like everyone else. You know that a marketing communications strategy would help you align your products with your messaging and carve out your unique space in the industry. However, every time y ou’ve tried to create that strategy, you got overwhelmed by a long, corporate-sounding document that ended up collecting virtual dust on your computer. With this guide, that will no longer be a problem. You’ll learn how to: Speak directly to your ideal customer’s pain point instead of addressing a vague audience. Align your messaging to each channel based on what your target customers already expect on it. Build an easy-to-reference marketing communications document , so your team, other teams, and future hires can use it with ease. A marketing communications strategy depends on four elements: Your marketing communication strategy is a set of tools and processes. It will help you deliver the right marketing message, to the right person, at the right time, and through the right channel. This i s also its key benefit, which we’ll dive into in a moment. It supports your marketing and business goals, including everyday marketing activities as well as product launches, limited-time promotions, hiring goals, partnerships, and more. Why You Need a Marketing Communication Strategy Here’s the thing: you could just publish what feels best at any given moment. At times, that might work. More often than not, this approach won’t get you where you want to be. You’ll miss your goals, and you’ll even struggle to analyze and understand what went wrong. Here’s why having a marketing communication strategy helps you avoid this scenario. The Right People Will Get the Right Message at the Right Time and Place The important thing about this benefit is that all four parts need to be fulfilled in order for the marketing communication strategy to work. People (your audience) Message (what you’re saying/selling) Timing (day, week, month, season, etc.) Place (channel you chose) Let’s unpack this with an example. A home g oods online store sells furniture and home decor. These might be the four parts of their marketing communications strategy: People: Primarily newlyweds, young families, and new homeowners Message: Customizable furniture to match spaces of all shapes and sizes Timing: Evenings and weekends Place: Instagram and YouTube If they create a piece of content following all four of these, they’ll maximize their chances of getting found and loved by their target customers. Let’s look at what happens if they miss one of these. For example, they may do everything right but publish it on LinkedIn. Their efforts on LinkedIn will fall flat. Why? Because if you look at LinkedIn’s homepage while you’re logged out, this is what you’ll see: In other words, it’s not that people who want to buy home decor aren’t on LinkedIn; it’s just that they aren’t on LinkedIn for that reason. Another mistake this fictional home goods store could make is to consistently publish on weekdays at 10 a.m. Their target audience loves home decor projects, but they focus on them after work and on weekends. That means they entirely miss this content during the week. Maintain Brand Consistency on Every Channel Lucidpress analyzed the state of brand consistency and found that: Brands with consistent branding expect to earn 23% more annual revenue than inconsistent brands. Brands that are consistently presented to consumers are four times more likely to experience brand visibility. If your online presence is inconsistent, you risk confusing your potential customers and losing them for good. Drive Business Growth By Delivering Value to Potential Customers Want to show your potential customer how you can make a difference in their life? One of the hardest ways to do that is to use the same, generic message — regardless of how focused it is on their pain point or how aware they are of you and your product. In other words, if a sales person called you and interrupted your family dinner, you’d have a very different conversation if they’re from a company you’ve never heard of compared to the one from a company you’ve been buying from for a decade. Although the content marketing funnel is far from linear, it can still be divided into the top, middle, and bottom. Plan Your Marketing Communications Strategy in Six Simple Steps 1. Identify Your Target Market 2. Identify Your Target Customers 3. Identify Your Unique Selling Proposition 4. Match Your Audience Problems to Your Product Solutions 5. Match Your Messaging to Channels You Choose 6. Set Your Goals and Identify a Way to Measure Them