Study: Most B2B Companies Are Prone to Inconsistent Messaging

According to a December study of more than 500 business-to-business (B2B) companies by Corporate Visions , just 29 percent implement a formal message development process for marketing and sales content.

35 percent have a formal process but don’t apply it consistently. 13 percent have a formal process that’s rarely if ever followed due to a lack of awareness or accountability.

12 percent don’t have a formal process and just hope for the best. 11 percent don’t have a clue what’s going on.

Instead of using a formal process, 58 percent rely on templates and tools to keep messaging consistent.

51 percent provide training to content creators, but they leave it to the content creators to develop consistent messaging. There’s no accountability.

Only 34 percent provide feedback and oversight to keep content on-message. Nearly one in five think it’s a free-for-all and people just do what they think is best.

Yikes.

The key takeaways from this study apply to all organizations, not just B2B.

Beyond logos and slogans, many businesses aren’t doing enough to control their message. This can lead to inconsistencies in content from channel to channel, department to department, or campaign to campaign.

You could be presenting different or contradictory information.

This can cause people to wonder why they’re getting different answers from different people within your organization.

Which information is correct? Who do I need to speak with to get the right answer? Do these clowns even know what they’re talking about?

Inconsistent information creates confusion and doubt about your company – two major obstacles to a sale.

You could be creating inconsistency with your brand voice.

How you say something is just as important as what you say. If your tone is sarcastic and irreverent on your website but formal and authoritative on your brochure, you’re sending mixed messages.

People may start to wonder if they can trust you. They may question your credibility. You lack authenticity.

People want to work with people they like. People who share their values. But they can’t like you if they don’t know who you really are.

I’ve said it over and over in my blog – nobody likes a phony.

When your brand voice is inconsistent, you can be viewed as unpredictable. Somewhat of a wildcard. Again, doubt and confusion don’t exactly make people reach for their wallets.

And what happens when someone calls you out on inconsistent messaging? It doesn’t have to be an angry complaint. Maybe someone innocently points out that what you said before doesn’t seem to match what you’re saying now.

How do you explain it?

I’ve written that even the best marketing is doomed to fail without a formal process in place for converting leads into sales.

Businesses that succeed have clearly defined, tested processes in place for everything from operations to customer service to crisis management.

When these processes aren’t followed, businesses become inefficient. Risk increases. Productivity suffers. Customer satisfaction suffers. Revenue suffers.

When you take a piecemeal, on-the-fly approach to developing the right message for your content, inconsistency is inevitable.

In a previous post, I suggested creating a basic marketing framework that serves as the foundation for all future messaging. This not only saves you time, but it helps you deliver a consistent, cohesive message across all channels.

But the brand voice needs to be identified and embraced from the start. And somebody needs to make sure all marketing content stays true to that voice.

As you develop your marketing strategy, the information you plan to share needs to be carefully coordinated and documented. This is the only way to avoid inconsistency.

Unless you’re counting on hope and luck. Which way too many businesses seem to be doing.

Consistency in messaging will elevate the quality and effectiveness of your overall marketing strategy. Just make sure you have a process in place for developing and reviewing that message.