Author: Marleen Jolitz
Publication date: 25.09.2024
“Communication is Key” - we’ve probably all heard that term a thousand times. Although often used as an empty phrase, it is nonetheless true. Especially for businesses, effectively communicating brand values and products is crucial in order to reach the right target group and create brand credibility. In the following, you will find out why every marketing strategy needs to be based on a profound communication strategy for it to lead to success and what needs to be considered in order to achieve it.
The Consequences of Poor Communication
Clearly communicating a company’s message potentially will make it gain thousands of new customers, while bad communication skills may hurt a company’s reputation and could lead to a huge loss of customers and/or a company’s profit. An example for this is the 2014 Victoria’s Secret campaign called “The Perfect Body”. Even though the term “Body” referred to the lingerie piece, the use of super skinny models with seemingly flawless skin in that campaign suggested a message about what a perfect woman body is supposed to look like - which resulted in a lot of criticism saying that the campaign might be hurtful to women’s self-esteem and health, suggesting that women should have a super slim body and thus leading to eating disorders. After a petition signed by over 30.000 people that asked Victoria’s Secret to apologize and correct the campaign, they changed its name to “A Body for Every Body”. Although this was considered the right step, damage to the company’s reputation was already done.
The Effects of Good Communication
On the other hand, good communication will enhance the success of a company. A best practice example for a good communication strategy that also represents a good contrast to the Victoria’s Secret campaign is Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign that started in 2004. This campaign aimed to break regular beauty standards and promote the beauty of all different types of bodies, which back then was a very new approach in promoting a beauty brand. The campaign not only included advertisements embracing the naturality and diversity of women’s bodies, but additionally published interview-like videos with women discussing their concept of beauty, as well as workshops in schools to teach a positive self-esteem and body image. By this, dove strongly communicated their brand values and created a unique brand image that made them memorable.
Dove’s communication strategy had a huge impact on the company’s success, as it is considered a pioneer company in the body positivity movement and now has a brand value estimated at over 5 billion US$.
How to develop an effective communication strategy
These are just two examples of many proving the significance of good communication skills in Marketing. But how exactly does a company implement effective communication in their marketing strategy? What are the Do’s and Don’ts?
1. Analyzing the target group
First, you need to know what the communication strategy is about. A good communication strategy connects your company’s marketing message to the right audience, through the right channels at the right time.
So, the first thing you gotta do is analyze and think about how you can reach your target group in the best way possible. What are they like, where and how can you get their attention best? Do you think you will generate more brand touch points (=every contact with your brand a potential customer makes) with the relevant audience on Instagram or through classic advertisement on TV? Should you go with a more humorous approach or be classy and serious?
2. Creating and communicating brand image
Next, you need to build a consistent brand image and communicate it on all your channels. What does your brand stand for and how can you make that brand image get across?
This is probably the most important part of your communication strategy, as you need to think about your Unique Selling Proposition and how to communicate it to stand out and make people feel like they need your product. What is your company or product about, why do people need it and what does your brand stand for? After you developed your ideas of your brand message, sticking to this message is key. In order to build a brand image, you need to constantly communicate this exact message and company values so that people are able to remember you and connect your brand with that exact message, just as in Dove’s case. Otherwise, people might be confused and don’t really know what your company stands for and what they can expect from you. Using Dove’s case again, when people come across the topic of body positivity or good cosmetic products, they are much more likely to connect it with Dove and maybe talk about it with their friends than if Dove didn’t use this topic with such consistency. In this step, you also need to consider visual aspects, e.g. a brand logo or website design, what colors and fonts to use and what those designs communicate or trigger in your target group. A company selling skating fashion probably should use a different design than a B2B-company that offers legal advice for other companies.
3. Planning the presence on your channels
Lastly, you need to develop a plan and schedule for your online presence as well as other advertising. On which channels do you want to be present, do you want to use Social Media Marketing, how, when and in which cycles do you want to post something e.g. on Instagram or your own website blog? What should your advertisement look like? If you choose to show yourselves on your Instagram or TikTok account, be aware of your body language and your looks in general, as it should always fit your brand image.
If you choose to go with poster or billboard advertisements, how many of them do you want to use, where and when? Here, the correct budget planning is crucial, as those types of advertisements cause higher costs.
The balance between consistency and process
These are some crucial basic steps for your communication strategy, but you need to consider that this is not some kind of checklist that you can consider “done” after pursuing the steps, but that it is rather are a constant development and you always need to check if there have to be adaptations or changes made, as they are influenced by the constant developments and changes on the market and channels. Yes, patience is very important and a good and well-thought communication marketing strategy of a new business will not result in thousands of new customers from one day to another, but it is also important that you are open for change and that you keep analyzing your numbers of reach, brand touch points, sales etc. in order to see how effective your strategy is. If you realize that even after some time you do not really reach the right audience the way you were planning to, you should be open to make a few changes to your strategy and try something new.
I hope this article helps you with understanding the importance of good communication and how to start with your communication strategy. And always remember: Communication is a process!
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