Marketing Communications - How To Communicate Your Business

Some weeks ago we showed you how to identity your target customer groups when we showed you what is marketing.

Now you have your marketing groups we will show you how best to communicate your marketing messages.

Marketing Communications

Marketing communications is generally the area of marketing that everyone knows about -- and has an opinion about !

Communications is how your customers will see you in the market place.

But communications of your business to your target groups should be both targeted and well thought out before any messages are delivered.

Remember that every time a customer sees a communication piece about your company, they will remember this and build up a picture about you.

Marketing - Brand

Brand is the overall statement of what your company stands for.

It's not products or services -- it's the foundations of your company.

You'll need to decide how you want your company to be perceived, and this is broken into several segments:

• Corporate identity - most people think this is the brand but it is simply colours, fonts and logos.
• Positioning - where do you position yourself in the market? Think about this in terms of your target customers (eg: are they rich or poor) and you price positioning (are you expensive or cheap?)
• Brand personality - This is very important but sometimes just simply evolves. If you are targeting children versus professionals you will have a different dialogue with the two groups. Think of this like the personalities of your friends. They behave differently and so do the ways in which companies portray themselves (Think BMW against Tango)
• Brand values - What do you stand for? What are the basic building blocks of what you are offering? These could range from "choice" to "value for money". Your brand values will unpin the way you communicate

Communicating To Customers

Now you understand how you are going to communicate your business you'll need to calculate what marketing methods you will use and what channels to communicate your messages.

Remember that marketing communications is not only in print or on TV. Every time you or one of your colleagues speaks to a customer they are carry your message to potential customers -- and these need to be consistent (think "New Labour" - always consistent)

Next time we'll take you through some of the communication channels you can use and how best to use them.

If you have any comments on this discuss them in our business forum

All the best for your business success,

Peter Hale
Teneric Business Plans Ltd

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