Developing a persuasive message for your product – and a meaningful "story" that presents your message in a logical sequence so that your audience understands why they should care about it – is an important supporting step in establishing the product’s positioning and its subsequent usage. However, even after effective messaging is developed for a product, in a dynamic marketplace it is critical to also monitor the product’s message over time, to make sure it continues to resonate with customers and continues to reinforce the desired brand positioning.
An effective product message is really the culmination of a multistep process that starts with understanding the market landscape and identifying where your product would fit into that landscape – or how it might even change it. Then with this as the foundation, the next step is to craft the appropriate positioning for the brand. Once that is achieved, the task of optimally communicating that positioning to your audience is key – and using a toolbox of messaging research methods is the best way to guide this process.
In an article written for Medical Marketing & Media, Donna Kelly, Ph.D., Executive Vice President, Alice Liftin, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, and Stacy Vaughn, M.B.A., Vice President, GfK Healthcare, provide an overview of the research process that can be used as a blueprint for developing and refining the product message across the product’s life cycle. More specifically, the authors outline six steps for building and refining effective product messages: market segmentation, attitude, trial and usage studies, message development research, wargaming, message testing and sales force effectiveness research.
To download the article, 6 Steps to a Dynamic Message, please click here. (Note: download may take approx. 30 seconds)
