July 3, 2012

Marketing communication essentials

I’m often asked how early-stage IT vendors should prioritize their marketing communications, and specifically their investment in collateral. They don’t have nearly the budget or management bandwidth to do everything; so what should they do first?

Most commonly, my answer is a variant on:

Beyond that, I’d say:

Where, by way of contrast, do I favor being frugal?

Some of my reasoning behind these views includes:

1. Basically, the end goals of marketing communication are:

In various combinations, those audiences all need to be persuaded that:

My suggestions touch those bases.

2. Credibility is everything. (If you can fake that, you’ve got it made!) There should be enough detail behind your stories for them to seem real. You shouldn’t oversell. Excessive marketing glitz can feel like overselling. So can overwrought PR.

3. A basic paradox of marketing communications is that they both:

The answer is NOT the old sexist joke about “Short enough to be interesting but long enough to cover the important parts.” Rather, right from the getgo, your marketing communications should have both concise and detailed portions.

4. You shouldn’t address all audiences. You don’t want to sell to a prospect who’s unlikely to buy. That goes for influencers too.

Comments

14 Responses to “Marketing communication essentials”

  1. Marcomm Advice for It Vendors via Curt Monash | Tech Marketing Scoop on July 3rd, 2012 10:48 am

    […] For full article see Curt Monash’s post: Marketing communication essentials […]

  2. Marketing communication tips | Strategic Messaging on January 14th, 2013 3:55 am

    […] Our overview of marcom essentials […]

  3. Marketing advice for young companies | Strategic Messaging on March 1st, 2015 8:26 am

    […] survey of young-company marketing communication essentials, with some generalities at the […]

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