What will you communicate to your audience?
Status updates are permanent. They're not, but you should think of them as such. In the past, public relations and advertising specialists planned for weeks, if not months, to launch campaigns; they highly scrutinized and controlled all public-facing material before "posting." They often used something akin to a Creative Brief or Style Gu
Status updates are permanent. They're not, but you should think of them as such. In the past, public relations and advertising specialists planned for weeks, if not months, to launch campaigns; they highly scrutinized and controlled all public-facing material before "posting." They often used something akin to a Creative Brief or Style Guide to stay "on brand" with consistent elements or statements. This wasn't that long ago.
Branded elements aren't new, but their modern ubiquitous use makes them more crucial than ever. Large corporations generally control most front-facing communication, whether advertising, public relations, social media posts, or otherwise. Smaller organizations with limited personnel and changeover can struggle to convey their brand message consistently over time, especially when different people manage various channels. The day-to-day tactics for overseeing a channel like LinkedIn differ from YouTube. But, the objectives for the multiple channels in your mix are the same—contribute to the overall Marcom goals.
Consistency is key. It's easy for one individual to be consistent with their tone, mission, personality, and values over time across all their media channels. Depending on their audience, they may not even have to try. Managing content for a company's Website or Twitter account is different; each channel manager needs to echo the brand's voice for all comments or posts. Ultimately, each manager is speaking for the brand.
Creating your organization's "Style Guide" is a crucial step in keeping all your communication elements in one place to ensure consistent messaging. We think of it as a Creative Brief for modern media.
The Vagary Style Guide is a directory for all your company media. Here's a list of some items you'll want to include:
The Vagary Style Guide is a directory for all your company media. Here's a list of some items you'll want to include:
These are just a few of the items you'll want to put in your style guide. You might already have these items in various places, such as your website, but keeping them in a single location ensures different team players can easily reference them whether they respond to a comment, create a display ad, or otherwise.
Modern media options allow real-time interactions with consumers and stakeholders, and often that's what they expect. Considering the number of channels in the average media mix and the various personnel needed for those channels, you can see the utility of a readily accessible Style Guide (directory). Consistency with your brand over time is the goal, whether you're
It isn't realistic to expect that all public-facing communication will come from a single individual or small group. Larger companies will have more consistency issues over time than smaller ones. When you consider personnel turnover, the value of the style guide becomes more apparent over time.
Your style guide enables your team players t
It isn't realistic to expect that all public-facing communication will come from a single individual or small group. Larger companies will have more consistency issues over time than smaller ones. When you consider personnel turnover, the value of the style guide becomes more apparent over time.
Your style guide enables your team players to participate across media channels with more confidence, keeping your organization's positioning top of mind. As in the past, the primary consideration for your style will likely be your target consumer, but with today's media platforms, you need to consider additional stakeholders, audiences.
Communicating consistently with a distinct voice will help you build trust and transparency with your audiences. Depending on your business and target consumer, slang and "viral" content might be entirely suitable, but, chances are, your company needs to define the boundaries for external communication.
Vagary will help you create a style guide (directory) that supports your organizational goals. Your web developers, photographers, graphic designers, search marketers, outsourced experts, social media gurus, or otherwise will all have opinions about how to craft communication for your business. Their input and style are essential for your company's growth, but they won't always have your higher goals in mind. Proactively creating a style guide will help you keep everyone on the same sheet of music when they need to be.
Manage by objectives.
Consider all your audiences.
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