I was talking with a client the other day about how the marketing business has changed so much. Hardly anyone worries about printing anymore. Just slap up a web page or crank out a PDF sales sheet.
This marketer--a VP at a technology company--was complaining that people no longer even worry about spelling or grammar. She said she routinely sees misspellings in proposals, web sites, everywhere.
Then it hit me: marketing has reached the status of paper plates. It's now disposable. Don't like yesterday's message? No problem, make up something else today. The email blast didn't work? No worries, just blast out another one. It's all virtually free anyway, isn't it?
But in fact, there is a high cost to ineffective communications. Time goes by. Competitors make headway and seize market share. Customers buy from you…or they buy elsewhere.
The challenge for marketers today is to rise above the fray of Disposable Marketing and find a way to make a lasting imprint on the marketplace. To do that you need a messaging/creative template. This is much like a design template, only it works at the message level. The template is built on a marketing strategy, provides a theme and creative directions, and gives flexible guidelines for creating any kind of advertising or other promotion.
Some might call this branding, but in my experience, branding is too often an ivory-tower exercise in pop psychology, with a tagline thrown in. A message template needs to be very practical; so practical that every marketing project can make easy use of it.
In any case, the bottom line is pretty clear: the more marketing becomes a throw-away commodity, the more you need a message platform that stays with people.
Learn more about my writing and editing services at www.westcopy.com.
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