{"id":282,"date":"2018-06-21T07:52:20","date_gmt":"2018-06-21T07:52:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/arrocomm.com\/blog\/?p=282"},"modified":"2023-05-03T04:52:17","modified_gmt":"2023-05-03T04:52:17","slug":"managing-your-message-internal-messaging-sessions-and-the-power-of-preparation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arrocomm.com\/blog\/managing-your-message-internal-messaging-sessions-and-the-power-of-preparation\/","title":{"rendered":"Managing Your Message: Internal Messaging Sessions and the Power of Preparation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Whether you\u2019re early in the product development cycle, are nearing the finish line, or have already launched, it\u2019s absolutely critical that all of your marketing materials and PR outreach<\/a> are working in sync with one another, that all stakeholders are \u201con the same page,\u201d and that you have a solid handle on your company\u2019s brand narrative. This is where internal messaging sessions come in. By drawing out the overarching narrative of your firm and its products, internal messaging sessions can serve as an invaluable tool in distilling your firm\u2019s message to its essence while ensuring consistency in your communications with the public.<\/p>\n

Although it is ideal that you conduct an internal messaging session before diving into your marketing initiatives, sometimes the need for one does not become readily apparent until you\u2019re already in the midst of a marketing initiative and you realize all stakeholders need to get on the same page.<\/p>\n

What does an internal messaging session consist of? At the highest level, an internal messaging session seeks to answer some seemingly basic (but often contentious) questions about your company and its products. We like to think of these as the \u201cwho\/what\/where\/when\/why\u201d questions. They are the raison d\u2019etre<\/em> of your company and its mission, encompassing the purpose behind all that you do at your company\u2014its goals, its history, its philosophy and motivations. During your messaging session, feel free to let the ideas flow: good ideas, bad ideas, strange ideas. You can choose \u201cthe winners\u201d later, but during the brainstorming session it\u2019s important to avoid shutting down potentially valuable ideas.<\/p>\n

Related: Asset Audits: What They Are And How They Can Help Your Firm<\/a><\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n

Messaging sessions will also seek to address educational gaps that may make it difficult for investors to understand your products. This can be a tough area for investment professionals, as they are often so close to their own products, or so specialized in their area of expertise, that it can be hard to put themselves in the shoes of a relative novice that is encountering their product for the first time. An external marketing agency or consultancy may be helpful in identifying educational gaps that may not be immediately obvious internally.<\/p>\n

Finally, a messaging session will attempt to anticipate all of the difficult, skeptical questions your firm might face from the public and reporters in the course of marketing its products. In brainstorming these questions, it\u2019s important to remember that while you may have the complete story behind your products, most people will not, and they will naturally want to completely understand them before making an investment or writing a story. Similar to questions regarding educational gaps, an external marketing agency or consultancy may be a wise choice when it comes to anticipating tough questions from reporters. At the end of the day, the goal is to be prepared during a difficult interview, and to not be caught off-guard by a somewhat hostile question.<\/p>\n

The end result of your messaging session should be an internally-facing messaging document (not for public consumption) that answers all of the key questions\u2014big and small\u2014about your firm and its products: who you are, why you do what you do, and any skeptical questions you can expect from the press in the course of your marketing and PR campaign. By laying out the framework for your company\u2019s messaging, you\u2019ll be well-positioned to produce marketing materials that communicate the essence of your brand identity, all while keeping your spokespeople on the sample page when it comes to your company\u2019s narrative.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whether you\u2019re early in the product development cycle, are nearing the finish line, or have already launched, it\u2019s absolutely critical that all of your marketing materials and PR outreach are working in sync with one another, that all stakeholders are \u201con the same page,\u201d and that you have a solid handle on your company\u2019s brand narrative. This is where internal messaging sessions come in. By drawing out the overarching narrative of your firm and its products, internal messaging sessions can serve as an invaluable tool in distilling your firm\u2019s message to its essence while ensuring consistency in your communications with the public. Although it is ideal that you conduct an internal messaging session before diving into your marketing initiatives, sometimes the need for one does not become readily apparent until you\u2019re already in the midst of a marketing initiative and you realize all stakeholders need to get on the same page. What does an internal messaging session consist of? At the highest level, an internal messaging session seeks to answer some seemingly basic (but often contentious) questions about your company and its products. We like to think of these as the \u201cwho\/what\/where\/when\/why\u201d questions. They are the raison d\u2019etre of your…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":284,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,11,31],"tags":[21,36,22,2,3,37,4],"class_list":["post-282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-branding","category-marketing","category-sales","tag-audience","tag-brand-positioning","tag-content-generation","tag-finance","tag-marketing","tag-messaging","tag-strategy"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arrocomm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arrocomm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arrocomm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arrocomm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arrocomm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/arrocomm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1222,"href":"https:\/\/arrocomm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282\/revisions\/1222"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arrocomm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arrocomm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arrocomm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arrocomm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}