Why a strong values messaging strategy is critical to the performance and profitability of your business.
So let me be absolutely clear on what I am saying here. If a company:
a) identifies its core values - who it is and what it represents,
b) articulates those values as clear, compelling, positive messages and,
c) integrates those messages into the sales, customer service, human resources, operations and all the other functions of the business.......
a) identifies its core values - who it is and what it represents,
b) articulates those values as clear, compelling, positive messages and,
c) integrates those messages into the sales, customer service, human resources, operations and all the other functions of the business.......
The people and practices that constitute the business will realign to conform to the core values as defined in the messaging strategy.
Hence Talk the Walk. By saying it's true well enough, often enough and consistently enough in your business, the values that you want to project and the practices that support them become true. Or, at least, more true. They become your business.
This is a pretty well accepted idea in the human behavior department. It's called Fake it till you make it by the cynics, and Create your own reality by the mystics. It's most easily verifiable in studies that have been done with school children and the establishment of high expectations in a "You can do it!" environmnet. These kids, pretty much without exception, do better. They are responding to a strong messaging strategy that says "you are smart, you are a high achiever....", and creates expectation that are in line with that - "You will get high grades, you will be top of the school".
This example of individual, human behavior in response to strong messaging strategy would not have created a compelling case for change in the way companies do business up until now. However, a shift in consumer values and preferences means that people are looking for a values based, emotional and experiential engagement with the companies that they buy from. This is not unlike the way those same people meet and make friends and it is very different from the more utility and product brand based consumption that we have seen in the past. Consumer engagement, and hence sales, relies upon a companies ability to identify, articulate and project core messages that are in line with the prevailing landscape of consumer values. What consumers are starting to tell business is that "We have to like you before we will buy from you." First impressions are a big deal in this scenario and, a well executed core messaging strategy allows companies to, both make that impression, and move their organizations towards meeting the expectations associated with it.
All of this places strategic values messaging at the center of the larger strategic development of a company, right where it belongs. It highlights the huge, material significance of the funding developing and executing sound messaging strategy within any business that seeks to engage today's Conscious Consumer.
This is a pretty well accepted idea in the human behavior department. It's called Fake it till you make it by the cynics, and Create your own reality by the mystics. It's most easily verifiable in studies that have been done with school children and the establishment of high expectations in a "You can do it!" environmnet. These kids, pretty much without exception, do better. They are responding to a strong messaging strategy that says "you are smart, you are a high achiever....", and creates expectation that are in line with that - "You will get high grades, you will be top of the school".
This example of individual, human behavior in response to strong messaging strategy would not have created a compelling case for change in the way companies do business up until now. However, a shift in consumer values and preferences means that people are looking for a values based, emotional and experiential engagement with the companies that they buy from. This is not unlike the way those same people meet and make friends and it is very different from the more utility and product brand based consumption that we have seen in the past. Consumer engagement, and hence sales, relies upon a companies ability to identify, articulate and project core messages that are in line with the prevailing landscape of consumer values. What consumers are starting to tell business is that "We have to like you before we will buy from you." First impressions are a big deal in this scenario and, a well executed core messaging strategy allows companies to, both make that impression, and move their organizations towards meeting the expectations associated with it.
All of this places strategic values messaging at the center of the larger strategic development of a company, right where it belongs. It highlights the huge, material significance of the funding developing and executing sound messaging strategy within any business that seeks to engage today's Conscious Consumer.
