Insight Agents, a strategy consultancy, described the critical nature of consistent messaging when they noted, “… clear and consistent messaging across all channels is vital in providing an authentic, believable and coherent customer experience.” What this means is if you want your message to be a difference maker, your story must be delivered consistently throughout the customer journey. It also means that where, when and how you communicate your story must be viewed as strategic at every level of the organization.
The secret to developing a clear, compelling and consistent story is being disciplined and intentional. Your goal is to achieve complete alignment and consistency between your strategy, story and ultimately your customer’s experience. For this to happen, you need to get the entire leadership team and eventually your entire employee population to understand one simple truth: words matter. The words you use play a critical role in the perception your company creates in the minds of your customers. In fact, Insight Agents found that almost 50 percent of a brand’s image is attributed to what it says and how it says it.
Most companies wonder why their message isn’t resonating or connecting with employees or customers. More often than not, it’s because the message is not being delivered consistently. Black Sun LLC, a strategic communications firm, recently completed a study that showed inconsistent messaging within corporate websites and annual reports in more than half (64 percent) of Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 companies. The study focused on basic building block messages like who the company is, what they do, the value they deliver and what makes them different. Why is consistency so important? Because inconsistent messaging creates confusion for both employees and customers. Lack of clarity and consistency damages the brand, reduces trust, and, in the end, negatively impacts your customer experience.
Delivering a consistent story isn’t just problematic in print and digital communication. It is also a huge barrier in face?to?face conversations with customers. A recent report published by CEB shows 53 percent of sales executives say that consistent messaging in the sales process is a significant challenge.
To deliver a consistent story you need a disciplined, enterprise?wide messaging development and delivery process — a process that ensures your strategy, story and customer experience are fully aligned. Alignment is best achieved by developing and deploying a comprehensive Messaging and Storytelling Platform. A Messaging and Storytelling platform provides stakeholders involved in the customer experience with a single, comprehensive resource that contains the entire company story. It contains the compartmentalized messaging content and storytelling tools that are critical for consistency in customer?facing situations.
Your ability to deliver a consistent message can be a difference maker in the customer experience. The difference between a highly trusted and memorable experience or a confusing and fragmented customer journey.
