Think About It

 
Consider Bill Clinton. You may see him as a hero ... or a huckster ... or something in between. Whatever you think of his politics, he has something to teach us about a crucial element of communication: consistency.

In 1992, Clinton's campaign was defined by a now-famous phrase: "It's the economy, stupid." The mantra reminded Clinton to focus on one topic above all else.

A Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, Clinton could have spoken intelligently on any number of subjects. But his campaign managers knew that the economy was the issue that resonated best with voters - the one compelling issue that could win him the White House.

Like candidate Clinton, each of our organizations has a central, compelling characteristic - what we call the brand promise. Also like Clinton, we could discuss with intellect and conviction any number of other facets of our companies. But we shouldn't loiter in those other places. We should keep returning home to the single point that stands to help us win in the marketplace, reminding ourselves, "It's the ______, stupid," filling in that blank with our brand promise.

Consistent communication requires more than simply saying the same thing all the time. We have to assure consistency in all three aspects of presentation:

• appearance: how we look
• message: what we say
• voice: how we say it

How consistent are your communications right now? Here are five quick exercises to help you find out.

1. Look at your organization's logo as it appears on a company shirt, a trade show booth and a business card. Are the colors and design reproduced faithfully in each one?
2. Spread out several recently produced pieces of print collateral on a table. Do they have a similar look? Your print package shouldn't be a one-way ticket to Dullsville, but all the pieces should look like members of one family in terms of colors, imagery, fonts and so on.
3. Read the text from the "about us" page on your Web site, the boiler plate paragraph on a press release, and the general "who we are" information from a brochure. Do they all emphasize the same key points?
4. Compare a few pieces of sales collateral with some employee-facing materials such as training guides or newsletters. Yes, we hear your protests: "Wait! Those are two different audiences!" But how you talk about yourself internally sets the stage for how your employees will talk about you externally. Are you telling the same story inside and out?
5. Randomly select three pieces of communication aimed at one audience. Read aloud one paragraph from the first piece, then one paragraph from each of the other two. Are you able to maintain a single persona reading from all three, or do you feel like you're morphing personalities, say, from hip college kid to starched-shirt college professor?

How did you do? And what does it mean if you didn't score well? Why do organizations fail to achieve consistency? At POV, we find it's usually one of two causes.

• Undefined brand. Some organizations haven't invested the time and thought to evaluate and articulate their brands. Nobody knows what "it" is. Communications in such cases are easily influenced by trends, short-term marketing campaigns and personal preferences.
• Brand ignorance. In this scenario, the top brass has developed a brand ideal, but has enshrouded it in a complex document that's left to die on the marketing director's bookshelf. So, the people who do most of the day-to-day communicating have no guidance. In their attempts to improve on the look or message, these front-line communicators stray from the brand essence.

So, to achieve consistency, we need:

1. a fully developed definition of the brand;
2. rules for presenting the brand; and
3. a means to share this information widely across the organization.

At POV, we fulfill all three of these needs with a Brand Framework. The Brand Framework defines the brand's position, promise and proof; describes how the brand should be presented in terms of message, appearance and voice; and serves as a practical guide that can easily be reviewed by anyone in an organization.

Do you really need something as formal as a Brand Framework? If you want consistency, yes. Because if you're part of a large organization with decentralized communication, you need a single voice of authority on the brand. And if you're a small company, a Brand Framework can ensure consistency even when you outsource your communications, or in case the one person who really understands your brand leaves the company.

Ready to get "it" together? We're here to help. Download the Point of Vision Brand Framework brief (47k PDF) or call us anytime.