Recently it came to my attention that the Visceral Concepts website wasn’t very clear about what it is we do as a company. People mentioned to me, “I was visiting your website recently, and I couldn’t figure out what it is that you do.” Heh, ok, that’s a clue. If I had only gotten that from one or two people, I might have written it off as fluke, but it was from a significant number of people, so I listened.
I went through the process of clarifying the service section on the site, seeking to make it as plain as possible what it is my company does. It may seem like a “drop in the bucket” type thing, but it matters a lot that people really grasp what you do.
That being said, whenever you try to communicate what it is you do, your intentions, your ideas, or really anything else you’re trying to convey, clarity is key. Without a good sense of clarity, the message can quickly become muddled and it won’t create the result you’re looking for.
I think we can sometimes get lost in the language specific to our companies or industries. It’s language we use every day that we have either inherited from the industry or created internally to help keep that sort of internal communication clear. That language doesn’t necessarily translate well to people outside of those circles.
For example, I used to feature a service that I called “integration”. What I intended by that term was to explain the idea that we use our talents to bring together software, hardware, and employee training into a complete package in order to help your employees do a better job servicing your clients. We refined that idea in to “customer experience”, which we felt was a better explanation, but went over many people’s heads as well. So, as you will notice, we now talk about the four key areas that people are familiar with. I may add “websites” and “personnel training” as separate services later, but for now, this makes sense.
It matters a lot that people grasp what you do
While these all fit under the categories of “Brand Image” and “Customer Experience”, and under the broader umbrella of “Brand Development”, breaking them down is significantly clearer. Now, when I talk about brand development, I talk about these areas, and it’s clear.
When you’re developing your marketing materials, or conveying your message at all, you need to work your way from the bottom up, describing your services at a basic level, but coming from the broad idea that your company represents in terms of a service. If you can manage that, you’ll wind up with a clearer message overall.
