For Better Promotional Writing, Start With a Strong Core Message

Even among really smart people with great businesses, I often hear the lament, “I don’t know how to talk about what I do.” Sometimes you can be so close to your products and services that it’s hard to communicate about them in an understandable way. The solution, and the key to promoting your business clearly and consistently, is a strong core message. Once you have a core message developed, you can use it to reinforce your position throughout your promotional materials, like newsletters, brochures, social media, your website, your elevator speech, and your blog.

It is important to do this not just to achieve more “touches” (interactions with prospects), and therefore more sales, but also to build credibility. When contacts or prospects see the same message broadcast on your Twitter page, on your website, in your blog, and in your newsletter, they can be confident that yours is a legitimate business. Even if your business IS legitimate, you may be turning people away if your promotions don’t reflect it.

So, what is a core message, and how can you develop one? Here are a few tips to get you started:

Start With the Basics

A core message should contain the following information:

• Who you are
• Who you serve
• What you do
• How you do it

Here’s an example: “Final Draft Communications helps business, nonprofit, and marketing professionals to communicate their value by developing polished, professional written documents that reflect each client’s unique, authentic voice.”

Ask Around

For such a brief statement, a core message can be harder than it looks to create. Some companies provide many services and don’t know how to identify them in a unified way. If this is the case for you, ask yourself what all your offerings have in common. Not sure who your target market is? Try developing a persona and “asking” that person what they most want to know. And, if you don’t know what your value is to your clients or customers, ask them!

Test It

Once you have developed a core message, run it by customers and colleagues to see if they feel it reflects who you are and what you do.

Use It

Now that you have a core message that has been given the stamp of approval, use it as a starting point for all your promotional materials. Keep in mind that you don’t have to use the exact same wording each time, but you should try to convey and expand upon the same ideas. For example, using my core message above, I might want to say in a brochure that I write, “clear, compelling documents,” rather than “polished, professional documents.” The idea is the same, and is compatible with my core message.

Refine It

Even with a stamp of approval, you may not get your core message 100% right the first time around. Also, every business changes over time. Return to your core message every so often, and make sure it still accurately reflects what you have to offer.

What have been your experiences with using a core message? Please share in the comments.

About the Author: Karen Marcus, M.A. is a Northern Colorado copywriter who has been helping clients in a wide range of industries to put their best word forward for 13 years.

Need assistance creating a core message? Karen can help! Click here for contact info.

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