The ABCs of Marketing Communication

Here we are in October already. I know it sounds cliché, but where has the year gone? Unbelievably, 4Q09 is here, so that means it’s time to plan for your 2010 marketing. That’s a big job to tackle for some people. Where do you begin?

Depending on whom you ask, you could get many answers to that question. But a recent milestone for my family inspires me to answer with just: the basics. See, my 5-year-old daughter, Skylar, started Kindergarten this Fall, and the basics are what her class has been focusing on so far. Establishing the rules, learning to share, writing and saying the alphabet, counting….you know, all the All-I-Really-Need-To-Know-I-Learned-In-Kindergarten kind of things.

So I thought maybe it’s a good time to get back to the basics with my version of things: the ABCs of marketing communication - with a focus on your marketing message, of course.

So class, let’s begin.

A - Advertising:

Good thing this starts with an “a” because advertising is about as basic as it gets. After all, everyone knows what advertising is, right? Well you might be surprised how frequently it - and variations of a traditional advertising - is confused with other methods of marketing communication.

Take for example an experience I had a while back with a new client. Initial word came that they wanted a press release. Okay, great. But as the project progressed, things got a little muddy. Long story short: the “press release” was to be sent to a specific newspaper. And they were paying to have it published. RED FLAG!

See, according to Wikipedia, advertising is a form of communication used to influence individuals to purchase products or services or support political candidates or ideas. To that, I would add that advertising is a paid form of communication. In the case of my client, they were looking for an advertorial, which, again according to Wikipedia, is an advertisement written in the form of an objective opinion editorial, and presented in a printed publication—usually designed to look like a legitimate and independent news story. And again, you pay for the coverage. In contrast, a traditional press release is a written or recorded communication directed at members of the news media for the purpose of announcing something claimed as having news value. And you don’t pay for it to be published. (There is a new world of PR, however, where the press release has a new opportunity. More on that in a later post, though.)

There are a couple of reasons it’s critical to know this information. First and foremost, if you’re doing the writing, the content and style of an ad (or any paid communication) versus a traditional press release is very different. Simply, if you’re paying for it, you can write just about whatever you want, however you want it. But with a traditional press release, you have to write for the gatekeepers, a.k.a. the editors and writers you’re sending the release to. That means there must be that news value mentioned above and it should ideally be written in the industry standard AP Style. You can quickly lose credibility with media if you don’t give ‘em what they want.

The other reason it’s important to know these differences and lingo is to save your budget… if you’re working with a copywriter like me. As in the example of my client, I wrote a traditional press release only to find out – despite lots of questions along the way – that wasn’t at all what they needed. So, I had to re-write the piece in a completely different format, tone and style, which significantly increased my fee.

So, basics lesson for letter A? Advertising is paid communications.

B - Buyer Personas

I first heard of buyer personas while listening to David Meerman Scott in a webinar as part of the 2009 Social Media Success Summit. I learned more while reading his book, The New Rules of Marketing & PR. And most recently I’ve seen that Adele Revella has an entire blog dedicated to buyer personas. So, it’s a pretty big concept. But what exactly does it mean?

In short, buyer personas are the several different types of customers you identify as having an interest in your organization and/or a need or desire to buy or use your products or services. Meerman Scott explains the concept further as breaking buyers into distinct groups and then cataloging everything you know about each one. You could even give each a name, something that’s pretty popular in the political arena. So, think ‘NASCAR Dads’ from the 2004 election or ‘Joe the Plumber’ from the 2008 election.

This is much different than the targeting you may have done in the past because it’s more than determining demographics. It’s figuring out the specific and unifying needs, wants, desires, problems, opportunities and scenarios among several groups of people within your target audience. And then by creating these buyer personas, you can create marketing content – for web or print - that’s targeted just for them.

So, basics lesson for letter B? Step away from the one-size-fits-all marketing approach and create buyer personas to better connect and communicate with your audience.

Well, I had hoped to make it to “C” in this post, but I think that’s enough to digest for now. More on the ABCs of marketing communication over the next couple weeks… Until then, what's on your marketing basics list for A & B? I'm sure the list is quite long, and I'd love to hear your ideas. Leave your comments here and let's discuss!