By Whitney Satin

Sales and Marketing leaders don’t typically agree on a whole lot, but they’re certainly on the same page when it comes to messaging: it matters, and we’re not doing a great job at getting it right.  When there’s little message consistency across the different interactions with the company, customers lack a clear understanding of why they should choose one company’s products or services over another’s.

The first step is to build greater consensus (and clarity) around the unique benefits customers get as a result of doing business with you.  These are the common threads that should appear in every messaging effort and that will ultimately tie sales and marketing activities together.

But just as critical: effective commercial messaging comes down to a lot more than just changing your collateral.  Yes, the unique benefits should be the focal point of your glossy brochures and tradeshow materials, but these can’t be the only venues for highlighting the strengths you provide.  Every touchpoint—from the Web site to sales interaction to product packaging—is an opportunity to articulate your unique benefits to customers. The best marketers use even those commonly ignored touchpoints—think product spec sheets and invoice statements—as additional opportunities to reinforce benefits.  They’re admittedly not “sexy,” but they’re communications you’re sending out anyway and, with a few small tweaks, can actually do some heavy lifting for you rather than just clog a customer’s inbox.  I say heavy lifting because it’s this constant reinforcement that gets customers to buy into the effectiveness of your solution and, most critically, your unique ability to deliver that solution.

So treat all touchpoints as equal opportunities when it comes to messaging.  That said … some touchpoints are more equal than others.  In particular, both the company website and the actual sales interaction stand out as crucial moments to make sure you’re reinforcing one clear, coherent message about the company’s benefits.  For the web site, this means you’ll want to look for ways to highlight unique benefits while connecting content to the buying process.  Those interested in further musings on what makes for a truly effective B2B website can read Rob Hamshar’s earlier post on the digital high-performer.

As far as the sales interaction goes, teaching customers about your company’s unique benefits should be something that reps are always trying to achieve and an inherent part of how they sell.  Storytelling is a compelling way to present information to audiences in a way that creates drama and suspense. By hardwiring the connections between a company’s benefits and customer emotions and pain points, commercial teams can improve the effectiveness of selling interactions.  (More on what this actually looks like in a future post).

The bottom line for marketers: don’t squander any touchpoints when it comes to messaging your unique benefits. 

MLC members, check out Philips’ benefits-driven messaging campaign that used a variety of different outlets to reinforce how customers benefit from using energy-efficient devices.

Related posts:

1. Improve Message Consistency In Just 3 Steps
2. Are Mixed Messages from Sales and Marketing Leaving Your Customers Confused?
3. So Many Touchpoints, So Little Time (and Money)
4. Customer Experience Myth: Touchpoints Matter
5. Deliver Unique Benefits and Customers Will Follow