Message

Message

What Comprises Corporate Messaging?

Corporate messaging comprises the core message of a company and all of the methods used to get that message into the minds of consumers and stockholders. Companies use corporate messaging hand in hand with public relations to develop and maintain company branding. Without a central corporate message, investors and consumers might wonder what the goals and motivation of the company are. Small businesses use the same corporate messaging techniques to solidify their position in their market and inform the community in which they operate.

Central Message

One of the key components of corporate messaging is the actual message the company intends to convey to the public, its shareholders and employees. The message varies depending on the type of company and product sold. For example, the corporate message of a large retail store might be to have "the lowest prices for customers while producing quality products in an environmentally conscious way." The central corporate message typically is created at the executive level in company management.

Strategy

Corporate messaging involves the strategy public relations employees and other company spokesmen use to get the message out to the public. The strategy might include updates on a company social media page, television commercials, print advertisements, press statements or a combination of all of these. For example, a press relations employee can create an informational press release to send to news outlets that details a new environmentally friendly process for creating products. The press release is technically news, but it also saturates the public with the message of the company.

Communication

Internal company communication is essential to effective corporate messaging because it ensures that everyone working for the corporation understands the central message of the company. If a chief executive officer creates a new corporate message for her company, but she tells only her executive colleagues and the public relations staff, she risks jeopardizing the strength of the message. For example, if the company wants to create a more environmentally conscious operation, but uninformed employees are dumping machine oil into sewer drains, the company cannot reinforce its words with action.

Damage Control

Damage control is a part of corporate messaging used when the company fails to satisfy its central message for one reason or another. For example, if an investigative journalism piece finds that some of a company's products come from child-labor in an another country, this undermines the ethical standards of the company. The company would then take corrective action and stress in its corporate message that it strives to act in a socially responsible manner in the production of its products.

Messaging is the cornerstone of a company’s competitive market positioning—making it key to any marketing strategy.

Messaging tells external and internal target audiences the benefits of associating with a company. Messaging concisely covers why the company is different and why the target group should care.

Positioning Statements

The root of messaging is the positioning statement, which is also referred to as the brand promise or brand position. In our series of branding articles, we delve deeper into developing brand promises. Here, we’ll talk about how to develop messaging from the brand promise.

The positioning statement clearly describes the company or product and what makes it different through a target, a frame of reference, differentiation, and support points:

Target:The target audience that will benefit from the product.

Frame of reference:The category or business segment where the company or product operates.

Differentiation:What makes the company or product different from other options.

Support points:Proof that the product is different.

Let’s take a look at a possible Mercedes Benz positioning statement:

Through continuous pursuit of uncompromising innovation and refinement, Mercedes Benz gives wealthy, discriminating drivers the pinnacle of luxury.

Let’s break this down:

Target:Wealthy, discriminating drivers.

Frame of reference:Driving experiences

Support points:Continuous pursuit of uncompromising innovation and refinement.

A product’s positioning statement will then flow into a company’s key messages.

What the Audience Should Know

To develop key messages, companies should think about which three to five key pieces of information target audiences should know about them. A company will then tailor these messages to each audience.

For example, a medical staffing company’s brand promise is

to consistently deliver cost-effective clinical staffing that enables optimal patient care.

The company wants the target audience to know these three things:

We deliver significant cost savings for hospitals and surgical centers over other options.

We offer the security and stability that allow medical professionals to do what they do best.

Our highly-trained medical professionals provide exceptional service.

The company has three primary audiences:

hospitals that use the company to provide clinical staff,

physicians who work with the clinical staff the company provides, and

the clinical professionals the company seeks to hire.

Consumer-focused companies also have multiple audiences. Sunny Delight, for example, markets to parents (gatekeepers) and children (end users).

In the medical-staffing-company example—as in many business-to-business marketing situations—each of the three audiences has multiple influencers. For example, the hospital prospect will have a CEO and an operating-room director—and each role will have a different set of criteria on which to evaluate the vendor.

Each of the company’s key messages is then tailored to each of its audiences—and each influencer within each audience. Messages must be tailored to each group without causing conflict or contradiction. (This is far more of a challenge than it sounds sometimes!)

A Look at Message Differentiation

Above we use an example of a medical staffing company and list its three audiences. Its competitors have the same three audiences—obviously. So how can the example company stand out from the herd?

It needs to hark back to its market segmentation and customer targeting (read our article on this topic for details). Exactly what hospitals does it target, for example? Why exactly will those specific hospitals care about the company’s service offerings? The messaging needs to speak specifically to the targeted customer.

For another example, let’s look at Target and Walmart. Both companies have similar offerings in the affordable retail space, offering a variety of products for the family and household in one big-box store. However, Target and Walmart appeal to different audiences. Walmart targets people looking for the lowest possible cost and the highest cost savings. Target seeks people seeking quality products at value prices. Each company’s messaging clearly addresses its specific audience groups.

There’s no marketing without messaging. Don’t take it lightly. Companies need to spend the time and energy needed to precisely craft and target key messages.

Corporate & Brand Key Messages

Key messages are created to help describe who 3M is and what solutions we offer, both in words and images. Key messages are not intended to be used word-for-word. Instead, they are to serve as guides, and as the foundation for expressing 3M’s distinct personality and tone.

Below you will find key messages that support our company (the foundational elements of our philosophy and structure as a diversified technology company) and our brand (the messages that leverage our brand promise and essence to connect external audiences with the power of the 3M “authority” brand underlining innovation).

You’ll note that our Corporate Key Messages are accompanied by proof points. These are meant to provide a launch point for you to tap into key areas that may help substantiate communication regarding our profile as a corporate enterprise. Depending on your communication objective, you may want to explore such proof points more deeply to bring your message to life when describing our company.

Some content on this page is secured. If you have a 3M ID number and login as a 3M badge holder or 3M contracted supplier, you may login here to see secured content.

If you are in one of those groups, and do not have a login id, contact us for more information.

The Brand Key Messages provide more color around what we stand for as an innovation company. Such messaging is helpful to communicating the personality, culture and vision of 3M that enable us to achieve our ultimate purpose: to make progress possible.

Like all of the tools on this site, these are meant to get you started in the right direction. In addition, 3M Brand Identity and Design department members are always available to assist you in better understanding and bringing these messages to life in your marketing and communications efforts!

Your Mission Statement: The One-Sentence Story

Once you have all of that language in place, challenge yourself to define your company in just one sentence. Use what you’ve written, and pick out the most important information and some of your favorite words and phrases. And make sure to ditch the jargon! While you want this statement to be written in the voice of your brand, you also want it to be clear, concise, and compelling to anyone who hears it.

For a bit of inspiration, here are a few examples of start-ups with great mission statements:

Artsicle: “Artsicle is here to help you discover your personal taste in art, from the comfort of your couch.”

HowAboutWe: “HowAboutWe is the fastest, easiest, most fun way to go on awesome dates.”

Airbnb: “Airbnb is a trusted community marketplace for people to list, discover, and book unique accommodations around the world—online or from a mobile phone.”

Distilling your brand down to just a sentence (or two) will help you keep your message clear, not to mention make it a whole lot easier to get someone else quickly excited about your brand.

Sources:

·         Marquis, A. What comprises corporate messaging? 2015 (http://smallbusiness.chron.com/comprises-corporate-messaging-26226.html)

·         FrogDog. Messaging to Your Audiences. 2012 (http://frog-dog.com/messaging-to-your-audiences/)

·         3M. Corporate & Brand Key Messages. 2015 (http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_WW/Corp/Identity/Strategies-Policies/Key-Messages/?MDR=true)

·         Forbes. The Secret to Selling Your Company's Message. 2012 (http://www.forbes.com/sites/dailymuse/2012/04/18/the-secret-to-selling-your-companys-message/)

·         Slideshare. Messaging Overview And Framework. 2013 (http://www.slideshare.net/GeniusWave/messaging-overview-and-framework)