Know-How Exchange : Branding

Hi- Your question shows a methodical step by step marketeer so i am going to recommend something that a scientific marketeer can use well.

Your message strategy makes it easier to deliver the same message across all marketing media including Web sites, brochures, advertisements. Consistent execution of the same message is a critical factor.

A great way to do it is by using the House of Quality or Quality Function deployment. House of Quality is a graphic tool for defining the relationship between customer desires and the firm/product capabilities. It is a part of the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) and it utilizes a planning matrix to relate customer wants to how your firm (that produce the products) is going to meet those wants. It looks like a House with correlation matrix as its roof, customer wants vs product features as the main part, competitor evaluation as the porch etc

The importance rating at the bottom gives you the most important threads to base your communication/ message on given that its what your customer wants the most and one you are most geared to deliver on.

Check out this one done on a refrigerator:
https://www.isixsigma.com/offsite.asp?A=Fr&Url=https://www.npd-solutions.co...

Hope this helps.

Hi there,

this is a very scientific approach to communicating a message to your target audience. I had to read it twice to understand it :)

What striked me though, when I was reading is the following...steps that the Product Marketing Manager undertakes AFTER the Product Manager develops the solution positioning and competitive positioning...

I would think that the product marketing manager and the product manager should be working together from the very beginning, communicating every step of the process to the target market, recording their feedback, needs and wants, on which one builds a competitive positioning. No use in developing a competitve positioning if it is not first communicated to the target audience.

Communication with the target audience from the very beginning provides one with the real insight into the markets needs. It is easy to develop a communication strategy once you know this. You just tell them that you have what they told you they want.

Get some representatives of your target market in one room and let them talk about the product. Organise a huge brainstorming like discussion, let them think about it, let them express their views, their comments, their criticism, use their words when addressing the market niche.

I hope this little helps :)
Ciao,
Emi

Very important question posed here! Never rush the wrong message to the market. Here's a process I've used when developing messaging architectures at several companies.

1. Brand attribute brain dump: What does your product or service do? How does it stack up to competitive or alternative offerings? This is an internal excersize -- get your engineers and product managers together and figure this out.

2. Usage patterns: if you have different users who use the solution in dramatically different ways, what are their stories? Write a quick narrative to help you spell this out.

3. Positioning statement development: this is a disciplined approach to defining who you are and who you aren't -- this isn't ad copy. Try this: "____ is the _____ that _____ because ______." Have your team argue over this for a day or so for each of the key user groups. A good way to help define who you aren't is to try this from the vantage point of one of your competitors. If you're launching a new audio device, ask yourself how Sony or Apple would position it. Then compare those answers to how your company positions it. You've now got your positioning statements on paper. Time to take it outside.

4. Validation: I've typically done this in focus groups -- and this is one of the few times where focus groups really help. Take a series of groups through this excersize and have them develop positioning statements organically. Change them on the fly. See what the latter groups come up with. You've probably got a pretty good positioning statement at this point.

5. Metaphor: go for metaphor elicitation while you have your focus group working (after positioning). Good way to do this is with collage development -- have them cut up magazines, make a collage, and then tell you how they feel about your product. Do you see a Swiss Army Knife? A tree in a field? What? They're telling you your product is about safety, or freedom, or feeling alone and wanting someone to help. This is cannon fodder for your ad agency's first creative explorations.

6. Quantify: if you're still standing, put some quantitative research behind it so you're absolutely sure you've got it nailed across user segments. Then, you can take it to the bank.

Do this and you'll have the right messaging. You can do this without spending thousands, but don't cut too many corners.

Good luck!

Three things strike me about your outline: first, that it seems to deal with a static product or offering, second, you do to mention feedback from Sales, and third, you do not address the varying perspectives of different stakeholders in your target companies.

It would seem to me that things are moving so fast that it is difficult to perform tasks using a rigid timeline. For example, in step 2, you understand the relative importance of product features, as they help your clients do their job. Now that you understand what is important, it would be nice to compare your product vs competitors, or conduct "lost sales" interviews in light of this info, but your product manager had already "finished" the competitive positioning.

Features and analysis and focus groups are great... but if you have a professional sales team, it would be nice to get add some feedback from your sales team on the upcoming requirements from specific prospects, and on their perception of most urgently needed additions to the product line. Again, your outline has a "static" feel to it, the product and market are constantly changing... and part of your marketing communications strategy might be to pre-announce planned product features to assist your sales team in competitive situations... if your primary prospect has a clear need for a feature you do not have, but are developing, clearly this can and should impact your message.

... and the "functions" performed by your solution will have different priorities for various stakeholders: the CFO might view your offering one way, while the Marketing or Sales or Operations department might view it differently... and so in the best of all possible worlds, you could, for example, change the order of product benefits based on the target of a marketing piece. I've created spreadsheets listing product features and benefits, and then added columns for various stakeholders, and in each column I've ranked the benefits by functional area. This is a quick and convenient tool not only for writing targeted marketing pieces, but it is also a valuable tool for sales folks, so they can target their message to the folks they are addressing. It is also a great exercise for a sales meeting.

I agree with others that your view seems inward focused. The fact that the product manager has come up with the product before you've talked with individuals in the primary target audience sounds like a product in search of a market. Ideally you'd be delivering a product that satisfies an unmet customer need.

You have to understand that true marketing is about understanding what customers are going to need and then delivering it in a way that will satisfy both you and the customer. It sounds like you are in a situation where the solution has been developed, and your job is to "push" it at the marketplace.

That's a difficult position for a marketing professional. You'll probably have to work with the Product Manager to learn why the product/solution was designed and developed the way it was, and to retrofit the assessment of customer needs and behaviors.

Good luck. Let us know what happens.

One peice that is missing from your equation is teaching the sales force how to best recognize and speak to the value of the product.

We are at a tipping point as far as sales today. The change is the importance of Value. Sales people (in spite of what you read, think) still need a whole lot of help in putting the value story forward. If you have a product that has several value components, you will need to see that sales, distribution, dealers, etc. all are talking about the right points at the right time.