The processes, technologies and channels through which you share your story and your target audience engages with your company have fundamentally changed. As a result, companies must rethink how they develop and deliver their corporate message throughout the customer experience.

The fact is, most companies today do not have enterprise processes in place to ensure a clear, compelling and consistent story is delivered throughout the buying process and customer journey. As a result, prospects and customers experience a disconnected and inconsistent journey as they travel from one touchpoint to another. Make no mistake about it, these disconnects and inconsistencies negatively impact business performance in three key ways:

Customer Acquisition
In the age of the customer, your target audience expects personal, relevant and consistent messages as they consume your story online and offline. Confusing and inconsistent messaging in the self-service and sales phases of the buying process significantly reduce audience engagement, slow or even break down sales cycles and dramatically reduce customer conversion rates.

Customer Retention
Once a prospect becomes a customer, they expect the promises made during the buying process to be fulfilled. However, if the customer service, support and delivery sides of the business are unaware or incapable of building on your promise and message — fear, uncertainty and doubt creep into the newly acquired customer’s mind, jeopardizing future purchases and share of wallet.

Customer Loyalty
Loyalty is only achieved when trust has been earned with a customer. Trust is earned when a customer’s overall experience is consistent with their expectations — expectations that you set based on the messages they consumed in the buying process. Inconsistent conversations, interactions and experiences with your employees can quickly turn a potential loyal customer into a liability — negatively impacting the lifetime value of that customer and the perception of your brand in the marketplace.

These are just a few ways business performance is intrinsically tied to your ability to deliver a clear, compelling and consistent story. To be successful, you must change your approach to messaging development and delivery in three fundamental ways …

  • The ability to deliver a consistent story in the market must be viewed as a strategic, enterprise-wide initiative — not a marketing tactic.
  • You must “enable” employees to share a consistent story by implementing holistic education, training and activation programs.
  • You must be much more intentional about where, when and how your story comes together in all customer-facing areas of your business.

Marketing and business executives who make these fundamental changes and deliver a clear, compelling and consistent message will thrive. They will become leaders in their space. And they will accomplish this by delivering a superior experience that improves customer acquisition, retention, loyalty and ultimately … business performance.