In the last five blogs I’ve mentioned numerous times what you already know: a labor shortage is upon us. And I’ve written about ways to respond by looking at customer service, product performance, ease of purchase and more. But what about messaging?
Why Effective Messaging is All About Time
Brand messaging has the potential to affect customers’ time just as much as the products themselves. Bombarding your audiences with messages not relevant to their needs is worse than simply an interruption. It actually can damage the buyer-seller relationship.
Popular estimates say that the average American is now hit with as many as 4,000 to 10,000 ad messages or media exposures per day. Some of these messages may be relevant to the buyers they’re targeting, but others, not so much.
And building products buyers in this market don’t have time for disruptions. So brands should be critically thoughtful about using a messaging strategy that saves time, by considering:
Market Segmentation Strategy: A painter in Arizona will be interested in different messages than a builder in Maine. And contractors and architects want messages that respond to their unique needs. Segmentation forces a more thoughtful plan as well as more relevant dialogue with core audiences. Nobody has the time to read messages that aren’t relevant.
Context: Messages that are sensitive to weather, time of day and geography can connect key product attributes to realtime needs. Think weather-resistant sealants, waterproof jackets, and seasonal needs. Messaging in the right context expresses insight and awareness of buyer needs, which by the way, includes time.
Format: It’s a mobile world, so make sure your messaging is smart enough to know the format your audiences need. Nobody wants to slog through more than they need when they’re on their phone.
Media Strategy: Stop thinking about the way you should spread the “peanut butter,” or media dollars, and focus on messaging that is proven with real-time analytics. Poor performing media should be more than a data point. It’s screaming that you are wasting your audiences’ time.
Advertising or imposition?
If you thought your messaging was a possible imposition, would you think differently? We do.
Start combining data insights, marketing automation, media, and creative strategies and quit wasting customer time and your money. Next week we’ll discuss how martech can create more dynamic and valuable time driven customer experiences.
For additional details on these insights and all the components of an ideal messaging strategy in the building products market, get in touch.