Is your Core Message Driving your Content Development?
What is your organization’s core message? If you had to distill into one sentence what you wish to convey to the world, what would that sentence be?
Most companies struggle to answer that question. They may think they know what they’re trying to say—but boiling it down to a single sentence or phrase is tough.
It’s necessary work though. Your core message should influence all aspects of your company messaging, and that most definitely includes your content development.
Build your Core Message around your Superpower
To craft the most compelling core message for your organization, first define your superpower.
What’s the one thing that makes your product or service great? What’s the one phrase that sums up what your company truly stands for?
For a fintech offering home refinancing online, your superpower may be the simplicity of your service. Your software takes what may be an otherwise onerous process and makes it user-friendly and straightforward.
For a volunteer organization providing meals to the vulnerable, it may be the power of giving. By serving food to those in need, the giver receives fulfillment in kind.
For a cyber security consultancy, it may be delivering peace of mind. Making a client aware of network threats then helping them mitigate the risk is reassuring.
Once you have defined your superpower, expand on what this means in practice.
Expanding Core Messages
For the fintech firm, brainstorm a few user-friendly, supporting statements—three is ideal. These statements should naturally flow from your superpower and accurately describe how your company feels about the issue.
For example:
Simplicity of Service
Refinancing can seem burdensome.
It shouldn’t be this way.
We make the entire refinancing process easy for you.
Iterate and test numerous versions of these statements. The process of refinement may take a few days or even weeks. You will probably need to shop it around your firm.
But once you’ve settled on the language, the upsides are massive. Because from it, you’re able to build the basic framework of your content strategy.
Core Messages Meet Content Development
This is where the process starts to gain momentum. Your core statements are ready to drive your broader content development. Take the first claim:
Refinancing can seem burdensome.
This assertion is rife with opportunities for content development. Topical questions that might emerge include:
What is refinancing?
What are its pros and cons?
How much paperwork is typically involved?
What do most borrowers find most complicated and bothersome about the process?
When exploring each question, contemplate different types of content.
For practical insights on refinancing’s pros and cons (question 2), consider an interview-based article featuring an expert.
For customer experience insights (question 4), develop a feature piece that profiles homeowners who have recently gone through the process.
In this way, your content development evolves naturally out of your core message. Each piece of content you produce is an opportunity to reinforce—both directly and indirectly—your core proposition to customers and prospects.
Periodically Review
Strong messaging will stand the test of time. But like anything, keeping an important part of your operation under review is sensible management.
To this end, institute a process for reviewing your core message and supporting statements on a periodic basis. Do they still accurately reflect what your company wishes to convey?
Next, and perhaps more importantly, analyze how effectively the core messages are influencing your company’s content development. Look for signs of divergence and breakdown in process. How consistently is the message flavoring your content output across all channels?
Never Too Late
So, what is your company’s core message? Can you write it down in one sentence? And how effectively does this message inform your general content output, from blog articles and case studies to e-books and social media posts?
If the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, according to the Chinese proverb, the next best time is today. When it comes to your core message, the same thinking applies. It’s never too late to start the work.