It was not a surprise to read in Adweek about the quickening decline in media spending. With consumer confidence at an all time low advertisers are cutting back on media expenses. No doubt, gut reactions are driving these decisions as most statistical models are stumbling around in uncharted territory.
So how can marketers fill the gap? With less dollars being spent on media it’s time for marketers to spend more time developing messengers – the sales people out there representing products and services. However, I would argue that the space across the desk from the customer or prospect is typically the “media” space least understood by most marketers.
I wrote a short essay on this a few months ago outlining 4 key steps to making sales forces effective brand messengers. This is a critical channel in the B2B world where deals are won and lost based on the sales person ability to make the offering relevant and compelling to the customer.
The messenger is also a sunk cost that doesn’t require an expensive media buy to turn on. What it does require is a strong foundation of sales messaging and a practiced discipline of communicating to and through your various sales channels.
Regarding sales messaging, Michael Cannon has written several articles on the topic of Sales Messaging including Sales Messaging Defined and Top 10 Principles Of Great Sales Messaging. It’s worth the read especially when you consider that companies routinely see a 15% to 25% improvement in market share, revenue and net income when they implement great sales messaging.
Talk is cheap and, in this case at least, extremely valuable.
