Speaker 1: Hi there and welcome back to the Message Marketing Pod. I'm your host, Christopher Melotti from Melotti Media and this is episode 119. How to give customers clarity through business consistency in communications. Now, it's a bit of a mouthful, but very critical for today's businesses. Now, let me start with the question. What makes something memorable and relatable? Or how about this question? What makes something recognizable and significant? Well, the answer is two things. One, clarity. Two, consistency. Why? Because when you're clear about something, there's no confusion. And when there's consistency, then there is familiarity and acceptance. It works exactly the same with brands and businesses like for customers, right? So it's exactly the same thing. Whether you're a multinational corporation, a large merchandising business or a small startup software company or everything else in between, you must always be clear and consistent in communicating the value your brand offers. Now you might be thinking, oh duh, but like, that's really the biggest problem that businesses have today is that they are not clear and consistent. So therefore they are easily forgettable. Because like if you don't have that clarity and consistency with the branding and the communications that you use, customers end up confused and they just simply ignore you. I mean, you would if a brand was not relevant to you, it doesn't matter what they think. If you think that, then you don't follow them. You don't continue to pursue them. You leave, you ignore, right? It's as simple as that. The way that your brand conveys itself can make a big difference to three things. One, how your business will be positioned to the market. Number two, how your products and services will be perceived by your customers. And number three, how you will thrive against your competitors. So the question I always ask is this, are you proud of what your brand or organisation is saying to the people who matter? Unfortunately, most businesses can't answer a solid yes. Like they kind of go maybe, or they shrug, and you're probably thinking the same thing right now. And it's nothing to be ashamed of, right? Remember that you are in your business every single day. It's growing, it's evolving. I mean, even my business has these challenges. So it's important that as businesses, we don't fight against it. We recognise it. Okay. And the reason why people can't answer a solid yes to that question is that not only do businesses find it hard to come up with the right customer centric messaging that will make them relevant in their customers' lives, but they also typically lack brand clarity and consistency, leading people to overlook, forget, or even ignore those brands totally. So what's the solution? How do you provide customers with clear, consistent messaging? Well, simple. It's by having the suite of core messaging document that help businesses articulate their value and communicate it to their audiences in a way that helps them stand out. So what that means is, if you have a brand guidelines, which most businesses and corporations do, then what you need to have is a messaging guidelines as well. So I'm not talking like we are funny, we are happy, we are bold. I mean, of course there's some of that, but what it is, is actual messaging for the sales team, actual messaging for the customer service team and messaging for the marketing team. All of that will help you get all of your team on board and make sure that you are clear and consistent. It also helps you define your service offering. So even if you're a startup, you have to have a messaging guidelines so that you can articulate what it is that makes you different. Especially if you've only got a short time, like imagine if you have to stand up in front of a crowd and they say, you know, hi there, like, so what do you do? If you don't have that elevator pitch ready and consistent and clear, then it's going to be, people just ignore, right? And so that's why I'm talking about this today. It's such an important topic for businesses. So why is brand clarity and consistency so important for your customers? Well, the reason is simple and you should know this as well, being a customer yourself, is everyday people are bombarded, right? That your market is absolutely saturated. Everything and everything is, it's just everywhere, right? And people are seeing things in every single direction. There are TV, radio, online ads, billboards, flyers, social media, emails, there's everything. So all of these are constantly thrown at your customers. So people, you know, naturally tend to screen out the messages that are not engaging value adding, or of course relevant in their lives. But if your business uses a clear and consistent brand tone and message, then it's targeted specifically at your customer's relevancy or relevant needs. You can capture their attention, be memorable and give them the information they need to solve their pain points. Like there's a reason why, like, look at how, like a lot of people go, Oh, don't you get bored with your own marketing? No, but like, look at Nike, they've had that tick for ages. They've got the same, you know, just do it. Their campaigns mix things up, right? They use different campaigns to give that branding some extra dimensions. But in the end, it's always consistent and clear. And that is what it takes. If you are mixing things up too often, what happens is your brand loses traction in people's minds. So just remember though, that message clarity and consistency are critical. If you want your messaging and your communications to be heard by the right people, understood by the right people, and of course, remembered by the right people. With so much competition and noise around, it's important to communicate trust and provide a sense of familiarity so that your brand will remain at the forefront of your audience's mind. Now, fortunately, like Melania Media, we've cracked the code to communicate with clarity and consistency. And it really is, as I said, from those, what we do, which is we do brand core messaging documents and we can help clients and brands and businesses just like yours, develop all of that messaging for you. So if you come and talk to us, all you need to do is, and we'll walk you through the whole process, but having a core brand messaging document for your sales team, for your corporate level, for your marketing and so forth, it means that you're equipped with a complete framework of wording, messaging, and communication styles that enable people like your teams to connect with people. And then those prospects and existing customers can easily identify your brand and relate to it. And that's what you need is it's think of it as a brand languaging playbook that you and your team can use across all of your marketing sales and communication channels, both online and offline. So that's where it comes down to. If you really want to give your customers the clarity and the consistency that you need to, in order for them to remember, then you need to start with a strategic book or something that you can work on. That's like a Bible. That's like your brand definition. And trust me, it's worth spending the time to do this because if you can't do it, and if you can't gain that clarity and consistency, how do you expect your customers to? So that's all I have to say on this, making sure that remember your brand needs to be clear and consistent. If you want people to remember you across all of your communications, because it's just too easy to get lost. It's too easy to confuse. So if you need help, I'd love to help you out. You know, you can reach us at malottimedia.com.au or email us at inquire, E N Q I R E at malottimedia.com.au. We'll be happy to discuss your business's needs. Thank you so much for listening to the message marketing pod. I'm your host, Christopher Mellotti from Melotti Media, and please subscribe. And I look forward to talking with you again in the next episode.