Communicating through the noise

How brands can buck distractions and hit their targets

There are so many shiny objects, new tools, hot trends, and verbose opinions flying around the marketing and communications ether, especially for those spending a lot of time on social media for their work. This can be overwhelming because it may feel like you have to be doing everything everywhere all the time. Staying consistent and coordinated transcends that overwhelm and allows you to hit your target no matter the distractions. Whether you're just getting started, already boasting a considerable audience, or are somewhere in the middle, staying consistent and coordinated with your communications strategy will yield positive returns. But what does it mean to be consistent and coordinated?

It all starts with consistency

Before diving head first into all the writing, producing, and ideating that it takes to deploy a coordinated content campaign, decide where all of this energy is going to flow to and through. This forces you to beg the questions, who is your audience and where are they spending their time? Devising your media mix around the answers to these two questions is the crucial first step to getting consistent with your messaging. This is where the temptation to be everywhere all at once comes in, but in reality, you're better off choosing a set of 1-4 core channels to focus on and table the rest. The second step is constructing your publishing parameters for each channel. This can oftentimes come down to budget, and your posting cadence will want to maximize the potential value for each channel you build into your mix. Each channel will demand unique content that's the best fit for that respective channel's formatting guidelines. Budget aside, your particular skills and interests - whether that's just yours or those of your team - will be deciding factors. Maybe you're a strong writer but not the best videographer, or maybe you can create compelling graphics but aren't as keen on long-form storytelling. Focus on what you're already good at, and if you absolutely need the things you're not as strong in, then you know what to hire for.

Look at your consistency system like a bunch of scrambled puzzle pieces. It'll all make sense and flow cohesively once you figure out how it all fits together. That's when you can turn your attention to the coordinated dynamics of your communications strategy.

Coordination needs to be consistent

To get all of your puzzle pieces coordinated, you'll need to define a set of principles that'll govern your decision-making. Some call this a style guide, a messaging matrix, or even a brand bible. Jargon aside, you need to establish the pillars of your communications. What are the major themes, tones, and points of emphasis that pump the blood of your brand's DNA? This is where you not only decide what to say and what not to say, but how to say it, why to say it, and when to say it. You'll formulate your approaches to educating, informing, supporting, and persuading (i.e. selling to) your audience. You'll even know what holidays to participate in whether that's a significant occasion such as Juneteenth or International Women's Day, or a hashtag holiday like National Ice Cream Month (which happens to be this month of July, by the way). Perhaps the most important aspect of this entire framework is understanding whom you're communicating with. What are your audience's personas, interests, or problems? What value are they getting from you, and how can your communications not only sustain that value but add more to it? Hashing out the details to these questions will be the glue that holds the entire puzzle together.

The only way to establish true coordination throughout your communications plan is to establish consistency first, and then apply that consistency to deploying all of the coordinated intricacies of your entire system. Whether you're selling through an ad, advocating through a blog, or supporting through an email, you'll know which puzzle pieces to tap, when to tap them, and how to tap them.

It's not about making a big splash

So many still hang on to the illustrious dream of going viral, yet few genuinely understand the process it takes to position a brand for virality in the first place. The truth is, if you want to make a big splash with one piece of content, the platforms will happily let you pay for it. Buying ad space on social media sites is undoubtedly an effective technique for maximizing the potential of just one piece of content or one content campaign. The best creators know that the real value lies in the aggregate. In the big picture. The big picture, assembled through consistent and coordinated execution, will get you recurring returns routinely and reliably. Eventually, this consistency and coordination will make big splashes that get bigger and bigger.

If you've ever heard of the phrase, you get what you give, well it applies to brand communications too. Give consistently and with coordinated intention, and the platforms will reward you consistently and with coordinated results.