When updating your messaging, it may be tempting to immediately dive into brainstorming new taglines and positioning statements. While these are important aspects to any marketing plan, it is imperative that you back any messaging with extensive research. There are three elements that should be integrated when creating or updating your company’s messaging.

Element 1: Competitive Research

While many marketers understand the importance of conducting research before implementing new messaging, many tend to overlook competitive research. It is imperative to understand how your competitors are positioning themselves and any key differentiators they are using. Without knowing this information, it is extremely difficult to set your company apart from the rest of those in the industry.

An easy way to do this is by constructing a matrix of your company’s current messaging and your competitor’s main points. This allows you to compare your messaging side-by-side with your competitor’s messaging. Are you saying anything different than them? If not, a goal for your messaging update would be to develop key differentiators that set you apart from other companies.

While competitive research is important during the initial phase of message development, it is also equally as important to conduct this research regularly, since conditions change frequently in the business environment – companies update their messaging, new competitors enter the field and other changes occur.

Element 2: External Interviews

It is also important for your messaging to connect with your target audience. After all, if it does not connect with them, they are not likely to pay attention to what you have to say. Therefore, an essential element of developing a message map is speaking with your target audience.

Sometimes it is easy to make inferences or assumptions either based on personal opinions or research you have done in the past. It is important, however, to back up your recommendations by having a complete understanding the mindset and preferences of your target audience.

When developing messaging for clients, we focus on a target audience research approach that includes interviewing prospects, lost deals and current customers. We like to focus most on prospects and lost deals, because while customers may provide valuable feedback, they can also be biased.

Element 3: Internal Interviews

Your internal team can be invaluable for vetting proposed messaging updates. This is especially true for employees who are working in the field and interacting with prospects regularly, as they will know first-hand what prospects are looking for and whether your messaging will make an impact.

After you have implemented a messaging change, continually seek feedback from these internal resources. They will be able to tell you what is and is not working in the field. Because they have their fingers on the pulse of the industry, you can depend on their expertise to let you know when updated messaging is needed.

Message development projects can take a great deal of time and effort to complete. Therefore, it is important to develop the most effective messaging you can. Integrating all three of these elements into your message development process helps to ensure that your messaging will resonate with your audience, attract their attention and drive them to take action.

Need help with your next messaging update? Contact Launch today. Be sure to like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest B2B marketing tips and tricks.

When you look at stats collected from various sources, it proves that lead nurturing programs are a definite necessity, since many qualified leads turn out to be longer-term opportunities, versus immediate sales. So, the question is not “should I have a nurturing program?” and instead is “what do I need to do to create the most effective lead nurturing program?”

Here are five points to consider when creating your lead nurturing program:

• Define and Segment Your Audience: To setup a successful nurturing program, you must first understand your audience. To do this, you will need to think about new leads, as well as dig deep into your current leads, map out the different stages of the buying cycle and key criteria that defines each stage, identify areas of interest and create nurturing segments based on what is uncovered.
• Set Program Goals: It is important to identify the goal of your nurturing program up front and the actions that you want your different lead segments to take as they progress down the pipeline. Remember to vary offerings throughout communications to make sure you appeal to a variety of interests and always keep your offerings relevant.
• Personalize Your Messaging: Grouping leads based on their stage in the buying cycle and preferences will enable you to tailor messaging to appeal to their unique interests. The more tailored your message, the better the program will perform.
• Determine the Mix of Activities: In general, people respond to different types of communications. It is because of this that it is important to define a diverse mix of integrated activities as part of your nurturing program.
• Establish the Frequency of Communications: For your lead nurturing program, you will need to determine a communication frequency that will align with your leads’ preferences. In addition to regularly scheduled communications, you should also map out actions that will trigger communications based on a lead’s activities. While communication frequency may vary across segments, the time between scheduled emails should remain as consistent as possible.