Earlier this week we discussed how the channel by which you deliver your message can impact the way a buyer interprets the meaning of that message. In case you missed it, you can check out our previous post here.
Choosing the right channel requires setting up a proper communications plan. For experienced marketers, this may seem redundant but the truth is, creating a communications plan helps you develop tailored and effective messages. In turn, tailoring communications allows for a better understanding of your audience. Once this happens, you can determine what channel to use much easier and you can measure your efforts to figure out areas for improvement.
Let's look at the 5 steps to creating an effective communications plan.
When constructing a message, it is important to create a communications plan using the following steps:
- Determine a communications objective
- Identify your audience
- Develop your message
- Choose the most effective channel
- Measure efforts and evaluate effectiveness
Step 1: Objective
Before beginning to craft your message, first things first: consider your communications objective. At this stage you should be asking questions like: What do we want to achieve? Who needs to be onboarded if we're going to achieve it? and, How do we reach the desired audience? (Source: Grant Craft, 2009). Answering these questions at the outset will assist you in making the most of the planning process.
Most importantly, you should be focusing on the outcomes that you want to achieve. When creating an objective there are three important components that should be defined: how you will inform, persuade, and remind your target audience about your products and services (Source: Marketing Communications Blog, 2013).
Step 2: Identify Audience
Once you have outlined your objectives, identify your target audience. Keep in mind that defining your audience as only people who are ready to make a purchase decision will result in a communications plan that is far too narrow (Source: Pharma Phorum, 2014). A prospect who isn't quite ready to purchase should still be considered part of your audience, if applicable. It is also important to remember your secondary audience such as those people who may influence a purchase decision - key opinion leaders, secondary buying influences, potential investors, existing and potential employees, the community, and the press (Source: Pharma Phorum, 2014).
When considering your target audience, remember that an audience can perceive your message in various ways and that the use of every communication channel is not necessarily desirable at all stages (Source: Cotrugli Business School, 2014).
Creating and using buyer personas will assist you at this phase and also provide greater awareness of the audience that you are targeting. A buyer persona is best defined as a conceptual representation of your ideal (and current) customer based on market research and data about your current customers (Source: Hubspot, 2014). Creating a profile for each buyer persona using demographics and buyer behavior will help marketing and sales teams to better understand customers' needs and their current place in the decision journey.
New to buyer personas and want to learn more about how it can benefit your marketing efforts? May I suggest reading our previous post, ‘What is a Buyer Persona and how does it Influence Digital Content”, found here.
With respect to producing content, 85% of B2B marketers say that they struggle to create content that actually engages their buyers (Source: Smart Bug Media, 2014). If you can utilize a buyer persona however, you will not only understand your customer better, but you will create content that is actually appealing to them. Additionally, with the help of digital sales aids, marketing and sales reps can work together to create more engaging content that will better relate to their buyer personas.
Already created buyer personas? We discuss the most effective ways to use personas in our previous post, “Buyer Persona Best Practices for Your Sales Process”, found here.
Step 3: Develop Message
Keeping your communication objective and audience in mind, you are now ready to create your message. Remember, the most important part of crafting your message is adding value to your interaction with your buyer (Source: Cotrugli Business School, 2014). Messages which are relevant, to the point and add overall value will prove to be most effective. The content that you send to customers impacts the way that they view your company as a whole. Customers are looking for valuable conversations and if they feel like they aren’t getting any value from engaging with you, the will perceive you as having nothing of value to contribute as they travel through their decision journey (Source: Cotrugli Business School, 2014).
Don't forget to keep all messaging is consistent! (Source: 6P Marketing, 2014) Using uniform content, themes, and even keywords will create a seamless message across all channels. This is especially important if you are considering creating an Omni-channel experience for your customer.
When looking to combine the strategy of full-channel accessibility and tailored frontline communications, sales enablement software is among the best tools that marketers and sales reps can use for seamless and consistent messaging.
If the subject of Omni-channel engagement catches your interest, may I suggest reading our previous posts, “Introduction to Omni-Channel for Effective Digital Sales”, and “Understanding a Seamless Omni-Channel Sales Process”.
(Image Source: JWT Inside, 2015)
Step 4: Choose Channel(s)
It is now time to choose your channel. At this point you may choose one or several channels to distribute your content, keeping in mind consistency across all platforms. The channel(s) that you choose should also relate in terms of the tone of the message that you are trying to send. The channel(s) acts as an extension of your message, so choosing a channel that doesn’t reflect the tone could negatively influence the way that buyers interpret it.
When deciding on the most effective channel(s) to use, marketers must be aware of opportunities and barriers to reaching target audiences. Marketers should plan and be prepared for any barriers that might prevent your communication efforts from reaching your audience. Understanding what these barriers are allows for the creation of different strategies and opportunities to reach key audiences, and how those barriers can be overcome (Source: Putnam Consulting, 2011).
[RELATED CONTENT] Want to learn more about the many barriers and challenges facing sales reps and marketers in 2015? Feel free to download the first chapter of our sales enablement success series.
Step 5: Measure & Evaluate
In order to determine the success of your marketing efforts, you must measure and evaluate them. Measuring key indicators such as number of leads, sales volume, and profitability is a concrete way to determine the success of your outlined objectives (Source: Pharma Phorum). Looking at these key indicators will also allow for the evaluation of the effectiveness of your communication plan and give you the knowledge required to craft stronger and more tailored communications in the future.
Sales analytic software is an essential tool used by many best-in-class companies to better measure and evaluate communication performance. Sales enablement comes accompanied with sales analytics software built-in, and compliments the frontline communications delivered by sales reps and marketers.
Setting up a communications plan enables the creation of more tailored and effective communications, better selection of appropriate channels, and improved overall results of the communications strategy. Sales enablement and sales analytics software, detailed above, helps to enhance your awareness of communication effectiveness while contributing to stronger channel delivery.
Interested in learning more about effective use of content? May I suggest you take a look at our white paper below, “Using Data to Impact Marketing Campaigns”.
If you're interested in seeing how real sales enablement software unlocks data insights and channel reach, feel free to request a demo and let us give you a tour.
