Whilst flicking channels the other week, I stumbled across a programme from my childhood called “Bullseye”. This type of programme had never been a particular favourite of mine but as it preceded “The Big Match” on a Sunday afternoon, became a regular watch. These were after all the days where there were only 3 channels and limited live sport on TV so anything resembling “car crash TV” afforded a diversion from the more traditional Sunday afternoon programmes.
The programme itself blended general knowledge skills with darts proficiency and the prizes ranged from power boats to saloon cars; quite ground breaking for the times. The combination of brain and brawn regularly contributed to weekly viewing figures in excess of 8 million.
What was interesting to observe though was how precise the words used during the show were and how there was a perfect sync to their target audience. Subjects such as “geography” were called “places”; a subject called “words” was used for “spelling”; unsurprisingly science and moreover maths (or should that be numbers?) were never tested! This set the tone for the programme and perfectly resonated with their demographic.
During this moment of nostalgia, a memory of my first foray into the world of social media content flashed through my mind and I was reminded of an article that truly identified with the concept of marketing tone and its differentiation from marketing voice.
In summary, prior to embarking on any form of communication programme with your audience make sure that these 5 key factors are in place:
1. Stay true to the core values and central spirit of your product or brand
2. Use the right vocabulary to create and maintain a brand personality
3. Use humour when available and where appropriate
4. Tell the story of your brand/product using your new found language
5. Disseminate this message throughout every person in your organisation to create and maintain a strong and consistent marketing culture
Marketing has often been cited as playing “darts in the dark” but sticking to the above communication guidelines and knowing the language of your customer will no doubt move you closer to your target of revenue growth…who knows you may even get a “Bullseye!”
